interview | imm cologne

Interior design trends and design highlights at imm cologne 2012: an interview with Dick Spierenburg

„Wir werden auf der imm cologne 2012 einen Einrichtungsstil und Produkte sehen, die ihrer Zeit weit voraus sind.“ (Dick Spierenburg, Creative Director Pure Village)

“We’ll be seeing a furnishing style and products that are way ahead of their time.” (Dick Spierenburg, Creative Director Pure Village)

Dick Spierenburg is Creative Director of the imm cologne’s new design highlight: “Das Haus – Interiors on Stage”. For the first installation, he has invited London design studio Doshi Levien to build a sort of turnkey vision of what living in one’s own four walls can be like in the midst of the Pure Village hall.

Which interior design trends do you think will dominate the next few years?
A lot of developments are apparent right now, but I think trying to infer trends from them is going a bit too far. The complexity of the developments made it difficult to focus on the four trends we depicted in the annual Trend Book. There are always several directions that remain constant as well: quieter ones that aim for simplicity and livelier ones that use lots of colour and materials. That won’t ever change, because there are so many different people out there, so many different clients and interior designers. But it isn’t possible to name totally new and completely different trends every year.

Defne Koz about the trends of tomorrow: “I want my future back!”

Whether it’s a vase, glass collection, ceramic tile, luminaire, car tyre, sofa or wash basin – her creations are quite simply beautiful – and sensuous. And she has the looks to match. In the course of the interview, however, multi-award winning product and interior designer Defne Koz turns out to be not just charming and sensitive but tough and uncompromising as well – especially when it comes to quality issues in design. She thinks today’s design scene is lacking in diligent research, serious design, passion and courageous visions for the future. Following her participation in this year’s Trendboard Workshop for the imm cologne, she joined us in a café on the banks of the Rhine for an extensive interview about trends and the future of interior design, the power of design traditions and the hierarchy of visions.

The design philosophy of the Turkish-born product designer who currently lives in the USA was shaped by none other than Ettore Sottsass – it was in his studio that she completed her training. With branch studios in Milan, Istanbul and her new home town of Chicago, she is making her quiet but enduring mark on a wide range of sectors, from jewellery design all the way to architectural projects. She designs furniture for Mobileffe, Liv’it and MPD, luminaires for Foscarini and Leucos, decorative objects, household goods and accessories for Alessi, Egizia, Aski, Cappellini, Guzzini, WMF or Authentics, impressive tile collections for VitrA and bathroom items for Rapsel-Nito and Merato.

Designer’s Voice: Patricia Urquiola about innovation, sustainability and interior design trends

Patricia Urquiola, member of the imm cologne Trend Board. (photo: Koelnmesse)

Patricia Urquiola is a member of the imm cologne Trend Board and was born in Oviedo, Spain and now lives and works in Milan. She attended the faculty of architecture at Madrid Polytechnic and Milan Polytechnic, from which she graduated in 1989 having completed her thesis with Achille Castiglioni.

In 2001 she opened her own studio, working on product design, architecture, installations and concept creation. In 2006 Koelnmesse invited Patricia Urquiola to build one of the ideal houses for imm cologne. Urquiola‘s clients include, among others, Agape, Alessi, Artelano, Axor, B&B Italia, Bisazza, BMW, Bosa, De Padova, Driade, Salvatore Ferragamo, Flos, Foscarini, Kartell, Kvadrat, MDF Italia, Molteni, Moroso and Panasonic.

During the imm cologne’s Trendboard workshop, you didn’t just name four of the most influential tendencies in interior design right now, you discussed other trends in the design scene as well. How much of it do you think is really important?
I think there is a new trend regarding the idea of what is innovative. Innovation was always primarily connected with the idea of industrial progress, i.e. with a more traditional idea. More and more, however, the term innovation is coming to be associated with values like sustainability and with what people really see as innovative – for instance if something is surprisingly intelligent or opens up new usage possibilities. People are paying more attention to how something is done and why it is done. More importance is being attached to the concept.

Designer’s Voice: Martin Leuthold about fashion, trends and the imm cologne

Martin Leuthold, member of the imm cologne Trend Board. (photo: Koelnmesse)

Martin Leuthold was born in 1952 in Hegi-Winden, Switzerland. He completed an apprenticeship as an embroidery designer in his youth. Since 1973, he has been employed as a textile designer at Jakob Schlaepfer in St. Gallen (Switzerland), a company that makes innovative textiles for the fashion industry and interior decoration.

Martin Leuthold has held a management role at Jakob Schlaepfer since 1989 and, as Art Director, heads the creative division. In this function, he was and is involved in projects including the development of numerous new textile design processes and the laser and inkjet processes for printing on textiles.

What was the most interesting about the imm cologne Trendboard Workshop for you?
The various presentations by the different personalities who got together for the workshop were very interesting in themselves. And it was very rewarding to hear the various opinions and interpretations of the new trends. Another important aspect of this meeting was that we all want to safeguard our future.

Designer’s Voice: Defne Koz about trends, quality, design and new ideas

Defne Koz, member of the imm cologne 2011 trendboard. (photo: Koelnmesse)

What was the most interesting thing about the imm cologne Trendboard Workshop for you?
It’s always interesting – and important – to reflect on what we do and share our ideas about design. I like the fact that the Trendboard initiative is able to structure our collective thoughts into something that could be useful and helpful to other designers.

The Trend Book shows what’s happening in design right now and what motivates the people who make use of this design offering. In your opinion, where are the strongest influences on product and interior design coming from?
For a designer, there are always multiple influences. Personally I’m curious about art and architecture, but I always centre my inspiration around understanding people, how they live, how their behaviour is changing. That’s the root of new aesthetics.

Johanna Grawunder interview: “Experimental design and Art Design are the drivers for the entire industry”

The Trendboard has been talking about the end of design icons. What does that mean for interior design?
Yes, that’s something we discussed, but I don’t think it’s as absolute as that. In my opinion, there will always be iconic design. Because whether or not an object has cult character depends on the design itself and not on whether it’s marketed using that particular label. Many things are designed without a single thought being given to their symbolism, but they manage to capture consumers’ imagination at a certain moment in time all the same, so they come to represent a certain zeitgeist. What has really changed is people’s need to fill their homes with designer items as if they were toy chests. That attitude has gone slightly out of fashion.

Dirk-Uwe Klaas, Association of the German Furniture Industry, on consumers’ changing mentality

The average German only replaces his sofa with a new one every 8-12 years. Don’t you sometimes wish there was a scrapping incentive for furniture too?
We in the furniture industry aren’t calling for subsidies – we just want equal treatment for all sectors. Instead of getting people to scrap their cars, the politicians ought to be scrapping taxes for normal citizens and SMEs so they’ve got more money left in their pockets and budgets at the end of the month – money they can use however they see fit.

The imm cologne’s Trendboard is anticipating a return to more quality consciousness as a response to the economic crisis. Is “real” quality actually still affordable these days?
We’re living in a time when people are refraining from quick consumption again so yes, you could say people have started to change their mentality. They’re becoming more sensitive to how we use the world’s resources and looking for things that promise value and durability again. That’s why there’s an increasing demand for sustainability and value in our industry too. For earlier generations it was normal not to follow every furniture or clothing fashion or go along with every new style that came out. Then there was a period of rapid and changing consumption. The pleasure was often short-lived and the products interchangeable.

How malleable is a brand? Questions & answers with Oliver Kleine, Leonardo

In recent years, the brand with the white clouds in its emblem has evolved from a glass and giftware provider into a modern lifestyle brand. Today around 80 percent of the German population know LEONARDO, the 1972- registered lifestyle brand of the Glaskoch company from Bad Driburg where, since its opening in May 2007, the LEONARDO glass cube has been giving the brand a constructed architectural face. This year CEO Oliver Kleine celebrated the company’s 150th anniversary.

Studio Vertijet, Kirsten Antje Hoppert and Steffen Kroll: “‘Cosiness’ is a paraphrase for the human aspects of interior design.”

1studio_vertijet Interior designer Kirsten Antje Hoppert and product designer Steffen Kroll have been in business as Studio Vertijet since 1998. Both studied at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Halle. They define the spectrum of their work as ranging from dessert spoons all the way to architecture.

It was their shared ideals and their enthusiasm for “beautiful things with an equally high functional value” that brought them together in the present constellation. “If our products manage to sensitise people, we would have achieved one of our ideals …” they say. This conviction and passion serve as the starting point for their ideas. “Dreaming” and “fanciful ideas of life” are an important part of the product development process – a method they like to describe as “planned intuition”.

According to the duo‘s philosophy, mankind is heading for the ground again – but this time with a few layers of padding between us and the carpet. Those in search of relaxation, say Kirsten Antje Hoppert and Steffen Kroll, cannot expect a solution to their problems either from comfortable office chairs or classic sofas – the fundamental ergonomics of the sitting positions are the same.

We stand up from sitting down, only to go and sit down again. In an attempt to get us moving, Cor‘s “Lava” model therefore introduces new ergonomics for recumbent positions – the first sofa on the planet not primarily intended for sitting on. Kirsten Antje Hoppert and Steffen Kroll live and work together in Halle/Saale, Germany.

Arik Lévy and this year’s furniture trends: “Trends can become a tool – a tool to use and to understand what we see”

arik_levy What are the key trends influencing furniture design this year? We asked designers, manufacturers, retailers and journalists for their assessments and observations.

Arik Lévy, Designer, Paris:

This last one was an interesting period for us all. Many things have changed in people’s eyes, minds and in their way of thinking. For me personally – and confirmed by the fair and some of the products shown – trends are or can become a tool – a tool to use and to understand what we see. Trends change so fast that maybe it is not the trend itself that is important but the way and reasons it changes.

I think the current trend is and will be to get ones identity back, to be honest and to be devoted to ones original ideas. Believe in what you do and concentrate your vision towards the future, towards quality and efficiency, outstanding solutions to real every day problems from the end user to the supply chain, delivery and storage.

imm cologne

Create. Furnish. Live.

Interior design trends and design highlights at imm cologne 2012: an interview with Dick Spierenburg

Defne Koz about the trends of tomorrow: “I want my future back!”

Designer’s Voice: Patricia Urquiola about innovation, sustainability and interior design trends

Designer’s Voice: Martin Leuthold about fashion, trends and the imm cologne

Designer’s Voice: Defne Koz about trends, quality, design and new ideas

Johanna Grawunder interview: “Experimental design and Art Design are the drivers for the entire industry”

Dirk-Uwe Klaas, Association of the German Furniture Industry, on consumers’ changing mentality

How malleable is a brand? Questions & answers with Oliver Kleine, Leonardo

Studio Vertijet, Kirsten Antje Hoppert and Steffen Kroll: “‘Cosiness’ is a paraphrase for the human aspects of interior design.”

Arik Lévy and this year’s furniture trends: “Trends can become a tool – a tool to use and to understand what we see”

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