An aerospace engineer by training, Steve Nichols’ real dream was to design Formula One cars. Nicholas spent the 1970s designing rocket engines for Hercules Aerospace, gaining valuable experience working with carbon fiber. His knowledge of the material allowed him to join McLaren’s design department in 1980. Working his way up the ladder, seven years later Nicholas became McLaren’s Chief Designer.
During his time at McLaren, Nichols designed the MP4/4, the wildly successful beast that dominated the 1988 F1 season, driven by Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.
Nicholas retired in the early 2000s. But in the years since, he’s grown bored. “When I was looking for a project to keep me amused in my old age,” he writes, “the idea of taking a fresh look at the very first McLaren, the M1A, had great appeal.” The M1A is the car that put McLaren on the map in the 1960s:
By 2017, a consumed Nichols began designing an homage to the M1A. This year he finally unveiled his creation, changing one letter to dub it the N1A:
“Having headed the design team at McLaren during arguably their most successful period ever, I’m a McLaren man through and through,” Nichols writes. “With the Nichols N1A I’ve gone back to the very first McLaren for inspiration, combining lots of classic lines with modern engineering for a car of extraordinary performance and presence.”
“Initially intended as a prototype, but time and registered interest has meant pursuing it with the aim to turn it into a beautifully finished vehicle worthy of its, and my, McLaren roots.”
“The new Nichols N1A is a stunning piece of sculpture which brings M1A design language thoroughly up to date. Not a single panel is the same. The N1A has a significantly more aggressive stance from its ground stroking nose to its abrupt and purposeful tail.”
“Underneath the skin the N1A is thoroughly modern featuring a bonded extruded aluminium and carbon fibre chassis. The pontoons on the side of the cockpit are also load bearing. They are made from carbon fibre sheeting, with a separate bonded infill, also in carbon fibre to produce a double skin.”
“Sat in the fully reclined driving position, you get an idea of what Senna and Prost experienced in the MP4/4; the main difference being that it is possible to experience the N1A on the open road.”
The N1A weighs just 1,984 lbs (900kg), but is powered by a 7-liter V8 that produces 600bhp. It will be going into small-batch (i.e. hand-built) production.
Everything is bigger in Texas. Except for this tiny electric truck, by Texas-based startup Ayro. Even the name suggests shrinkage: It’s called the Vanish.
“The Ayro Vanish addresses a market that falls between full size trucks and golf and utility carts,” the company writes. “With the payload capacity of a pickup truck, it’s still compact enough to navigate narrow pathways and double doors.”
The company refers to the Vanish as an LSEV, for Low-Speed Electric Vehicle. (Top speed: 25 MPH.) It’s meant to be an on-road work truck for “campus mobility, last-mile delivery and micro distribution” as opposed to long-haul; the maximum range is 50 miles, and the maximum payload is 1,200 lbs.
“The lightweight architecture of the AYRO Vanish is designed to limit vehicle weight and maximize payload capacity. The vehicle offers highly adaptable bed configurations to support both light-duty and heavy-duty needs in a variety of applications.”
The vehicle is actually built in Texas, and as has become fashionable in the U.S. these days, “with components primarily sourced in North America and Europe.”
The Vanish is currently up for pre-order, with a $250 buy-in and a starting price of $33,900; curiously, the company provides no transparency on how the different configurations affect the cost.
The Strap collection includes 11 distinct seating elements such as armchairs, stools, benches, loungers and stackable chairs.
Strap seating recalls pool furniture from the 1970s
The range is unified by its shared composition – each piece is made up of aluminium straps that appear tautly wound around simple tubular frames.
The pieces are informed by Lotersztain’s childhood memories of the sun loungers around his local pool.
“I had this same kind of pool furniture, with slatted plastic straps you could wiggle your toes through,” said Lotersztain.
The seating is made of lightweight and robust aluminium
The Strap collection is manufactured in Melbourne, New South Wales – Lotersztain wanted to photograph the collection in various local areas, including against the backdrop of the outback, to demonstrate its Australian origins.
“Our purpose wasn’t merely to produce a catalog of aesthetically pleasing images against a white backdrop in the comfort of a studio,” explained Lotersztain. “Instead, we viewed this photo shoot as an opportunity to immerse ourselves in the reality of what’s happening in this country.”
The collection includes armchairs
The seating was designed to provide a “residential feel in public spaces” and given its robustness is suitable for use across university campuses, shopping districts and other urban environments.
The pieces are made from 70 per cent recycled aluminium, which can in turn be recycled once they reach the end of their lifespan.
The collection comes in white and black powder coated finishes as standard, but can be specified in a range of other colourways.
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Power banks or portable batteries are a common part of modern life. While our devices are continually getting more powerful, the batteries inside them haven’t exactly evolved at the same pace. Faster charging and power banks are our stopgap measures until batteries become a lot better without increasing their sizes. Thanks to this situation, the market for portable batteries has grown and thrived, offering people a dizzying number of choices ranging in size, capacity, and features. Of course, there are also different designs as well, but the majority of power banks seem to come in elegant yet drab shades of white, black, and gray. From time to time, however, we do come upon a distinctive-looking design, such as this rather cute power bank that emulates the look of an old-school cassette tape almost perfectly.
OK, it isn’t a completely faithful rendition of the well-known medium. It’s rather thick, closer to a Video 8 than a cassette tape, but the markings are all in the right places. Naturally, there are no reels to turn, which would have required a more complex internal design that would make it more inefficient as a portable battery. Accurate imitation shouldn’t get in the way of functionality, especially for a critical accessory such as this.
Regardless of those minor drawbacks, the Remax Powerbank Tape still packs quite a punch when it comes to visual appeal and “wow” factor. Whether it’s the yellow original, the Apple Lightning-equipped red variant, or the new green and yellow update, the cassette tape battery is sure to catch people’s attention, especially once you take it out and plug it into your phone. It even has a transparent case just to complete the illusion of an old-school product.
The Remax Powerbank Tape isn’t lacking in features either, at least on paper. The original model supports both the old micro USB connector and USB-C for input, while only the red has support for Apple Lightning to charge the power bank itself. The newer 2023 model sets itself apart by including two pull-out USB-C cables for output. There’s an assortment of other ports, though, including full-sized USB-A, and in some cases, a small LED flashlight. The location of the ports also depends on which model you buy, and there can be different options, depending on where you’re looking.
That said, you might have second thoughts about investing in this rather adorable blast from the past. Availability is a hit or miss, and you can’t exactly be assured of the quality when it comes to online retailers. There are also some inconsistencies with the specs, like the actual rated capacity of the battery versus its advertised capacity. Given its low average selling price, though, it still makes for an interesting gift, like those short-lived power banks some people give away at events.
Earlier this year, real estate developer and hotelier Izak Senbahar transformed a storefront on the street level of his Upper East Side icon, The Mark Hotel, into the latest location of the decadent restaurant Caviar Kaspia. The Mark is an appropriate home for the glamorous establishment, as the hotel already houses a chic bar and The Mark Restaurant by Jean-Georges, one of NYC’s most celebrated culinary destinations. For Senbahar, Caviar Kaspia was the final piece of the hospitality puzzle. Since its grand opening in February, aligned with the start of New York Fashion Week, the restaurant and its photo-friendly food items have amassed unending buzz. And continued gastronomic developments—like a delectable lunch menu featuring lobster rolls, king crab cakes and a smoked salmon club; as well as the recent announcement of limited edition, weekend-only caviar bagels in collaboration with local favorite PopUp Bagels—have attracted hotel guests and locals alike.
Courtesy of Brett Wood
To step into Caviar Kaspia at The Mark is to feel ensconced in old-world charm. This warm, welcoming and quietly luxuriant design is due to Senbahar’s continued collaboration with celebrated French interior designer Jacques Grange—who also co-designed The Mark Bar, The Mark Restaurant and the hotel’s rooms and suites. For Caviar Kaspia, everything is custom—from the chairs and banquettes to the bar top. And The Mark Hotel aesthetic is meticulously woven into that of the original Caviar Kaspia restaurant in Paris.
“There is a subtle link between The Mark Hotel identity, its reception bar and restaurant, and the new Caviar Kaspia in New York,” Grange tells COOL HUNTING. “This started with the choice of wall-to-wall carpet of the same quality and same pattern but different color. Then, there’s a touch of white and black stripes at the bar, as well as the same desire of warm colors and extreme comfort for both bars and restaurants. But the identity of Caviar Kaspia remains in other details, as per the deep emerald velvet of the banquette, the wall lights, oak and alabaster walls, along with sophisticated and welcoming chairs. It was a real game and challenge, I enjoy this kind of exercise very much.”
Courtesy of Angela Pham
To learn more about Senbahar’s mission and vision, we spoke with the entrepreneur following a dining experience at Caviar Kaspia.
Can you discuss your design partnership with Jacques Grange?
I met Jacques 15 years ago when I was looking to gut renovate the hotel and I really wanted to work with someone who had done homes. I am a little bit of a design freak. I follow designers. I’ve read so many design books. I had been following Jacques and I liked what he had done for Yves Saint Laurent and Princess Caroline. I reached out and we became fast friends.
15 years later, he can give me sketches and I can build from them. That’s how we built Caviar Kaspia.
We met at the Caviar Kaspia in Paris, over lunch. Caviar Kaspia at the Mark Hotel is in a space that was previously used for retail. The challenge was how do we make a retail space look warm and elegant and like a townhouse. We wanted it to have a Parisian feel. We started with these ideas and then Jacques sent me some sketches. We took inspiration from a Viennese bar where the seating was wood. We knew if we brought wood, it would warm up the place and soften the look.
Courtesy of Angela Pham
How does it feel when you’re in the space?
To be honest, when I am opening something I am always nervous. That’s why I like to see it first on my own. I always want a lot of time. I need an hour or two. I want to sit in every chair and on every banquette. That first feeling is very important to me. Sometimes it’s great; sometimes it’s not that great. For Caviar Kaspia, I liked it the first time I saw it. And when we opened up the bar, I liked that as well. I think we did the lighting very well. It all feels comfortable.
Courtesy of Angela Pham
What are your thoughts on the menu?
We sent our people to train at Caviar Kaspia in Paris for two weeks, and then their people came here for two weeks to help with the opening. To do the menu from Paris was one month of training. Since, we have also introduced vegetarian versions of truffle caviar. We want to introduce a caviar pizza. We want to make the menu not just about caviar. If I go there three times a week to entertain guests, I get different things and I want us to be able to do even more. The pasta and the potato are very good. And most people come for caviar; the caviar is great. But I want people to have options.
Courtesy of Brett Wood
How does Caviar Kaspia support the other food and beverage outlets at The Mark?
I look at all of it—the hotel, the restaurants—as an entertainment business. Or even a circus, in a way. I love the concept of a three-ring circus. If you get bored with one ring, there are always two others there to entertain. I thought that one more brand under The Mark—one more venue for our guests, one more option for dining—would be a good idea.
Courtesy of Brett Wood
And did you think that the values of Caviar Kaspia aligned with those of The Mark?
Caviar Kaspia is a memorable place. The Mark is a memorable place. They both offer unique experiences and both of them are an old-world type of establishment with a European feel. The synergies are there.
Most people that stay in The Mark, they stay for a week. They eat at The Mark at least two or three times. One of the reasons they stay at The Mark is because they love the Jean-Georges restaurant. We have statistics that the hotel audience is looking for something convenient. The same can be said about the neighborhood. We’ve been welcomed by the neighborhood for bringing another hangout to the Upper East Side. Caviar Kaspia a different culinary genre than a lot of what else is around, so I thought it would be good for the neighborhood as well as my hotel.
Is there something you want people to know about The Mark Hotel or Caviar Kaspia?
We want to hire nice people. The first quality you want for a person in the hospitality industry, whether it’s for a restaurant or a hotel, is that they’re nice. If you don’t want to be hospitable, this is not the industry for you.
This is a business where the only thing I want is that people have a good time with good food and they want to do it again. The Mark is like a home. When people tell me they had a great night, I feel good. That’s the reality.
Biophilia is the methodology that aims to establish an intrinsic human connection with the natural world through direct and indirect references to nature. Although modern life provides us with many conveniences, it is essential to establish a beautiful connection with the natural world and ensure its occupants’ psychological and mental well-being. One can do this by adding elements of nature into the built environment of architecture and interior design. Note that green building principles are responsible towards the environment with efficient use of sustainable resources. At the same time, a biophilic design focuses on the well-being of the occupants who use the spaces.
Biophilia embraces a human-centric approach to interior and building design by focussing on the human connection to the natural world. Some of the benefits of a biophilic design aim at creating an area that is in harmony with the environment. It includes improved physical health, enhanced mood, and a feeling of well-being. Along with this, biophilia helps improve productivity, reduces stress, enhances concentration and creativity, improves mental health, reduces fatigue and creates a positive space that is in harmony with nature as man has an affinity towards nature and is dependent on it.
1. Bring In Fresh Air
Open the windows daily, even during the winter season, to increase the airflow throughout the home and create a well-ventilated space. It is a great way to improve air quality and replace stale indoor air with fresh outdoor air. Also, open windows bring in the sounds of birds and whistling trees into the home and fill it with positivity.
Natural light from windows, skylights and clerestory openings form an integral part of a biophilic design as it helps to regulate our mental health, mood, wellness and reduces stress. The most significant advantage of natural light is that it regulates our hormones, controls our circadian rhythm, ensures sound sleep, and is one of the biggest sources of Vitamin D. Hence, the home should have large windows to maximize natural light and establish a brilliant visual connection with nature. Organize and arrange the furniture to ensure good energy flow and remove blockages that can prevent natural light penetration. Introduce sheer curtains to filter in natural light during the day and consider reflective surfaces like glass and mirrors that can reflect natural light. Layered lighting can brighten up one’s mood, and the addition of mirrors to reflect natural and artificial light can improve the overall lighting of the home.
Tip: If you are working from home, make sure your desk is close to a window to enjoy the outdoor views, absorb sunlight, and enhance productivity.
Bridge the gap between your home and nature by incorporating minimally processed natural materials like bamboo, cork, sustainable timber, wool, natural stone, cotton, linen, and rattan. Opting for natural over synthetic materials using natural stone and wood adds a natural aesthetic and feel to the room and is an excellent strategy for creating a biophilic design. Decorate your home with plenty of natural wooden furniture, flooring, and wall panels that celebrate the organic beauty of wooden grains. Since natural wood is expensive, you can also go with wood finish laminates, flooring, veneer, and tiles. These materials can be incorporated into the upholstery, bed linen, throw cushions and carpets. Use natural stone materials like marble, granite, limestone, and slate for flooring.
Nature is all about imperfections, so incorporate nature’s organic and natural flowing shapes like soft edges, curves, patterns, arches, abstract forms and asymmetrical shapes. Note that right angles and straight lines are seldom found in nature.
Plants are one of the best ways to bring in greenery and create a soothing mental effect. It has excellent air-purifying properties and enhances one’s mood. Also, green is one of the most peaceful colors that help restore our energies and reduce stress. Add freshness and create a direct connection with nature by bringing in a lot of fragrant plants, succulents, a vertical garden or air-purifying plants that can be grown in floor pots, as hanging plants, or placed on the kitchen sill. This is one of the easiest ways to create biophilic décor. One can add a green or living wall as it forms an eye-catching feature, create a rooftop garden, and line the indoors with potted plants. It purifies the air from toxic chemicals and absorbs harmful organic compounds like formaldehyde and benzene, usually found in paint, carpets, and household cleaners.
It is essential to live in a compatible and harmonious relationship with the natural world, so bring the forms and patterns of nature into the interiors. Create nature-inspired interiors by introducing floral prints in throw cushions, upholstery, curtains and pillows or even kitchen accessories.
Choose a neutral or earth-tone palette that is derived from nature. Let the interiors mimic the seasonal colors of nature through wallpaper, wall paint, upholstery and even the flooring tiles. Go for a peaceful color scheme that reminds you of the blue skies and water alongside nature’s earth and vegetation tones. Some of the colors include soft greens, yellow, brown, orange, and off-white to name a few.
8. Install Art
Pay homage to biophilia through artwork and the love for nature that can be incorporated into the built environment. Create a gallery wall with an artistic representation of forest views, rising sun, ocean, moonlight, birds, animals, tropical foliage and so on, as it can directly affect your mood. Beautify your walls with botanical wallpaper or accentuate the walls with nature-inspired photographs, art, prints, murals, landscape paintings, and floral or vegetal patterns to create a symbolic connection with nature.
Designer: Weijing Tan
9. Add Natural Sound And Scents
Evoke rich sensory stimuli with the sound of water and nature-inspired smells. Introduce a small water fountain within the home as water creates a sense of tranquility, has a calming effect on the mind. A saltwater aquarium, pond and water feature can create a healing atmosphere and bring in the sense of relaxation and finds opportunities to connect to the richness of our sensory system. Add natural scented candles or an essential oil diffuser and relaxing music.
Stimulate the visual connection with nature by mimicking the symbolic textures and patterns found in nature. Bring in biomorphic patterns like honeycomb patterns and the rippling wave patterns of the ocean, and feel connected to nature with visual and tactile textures. These natural textures can be achieved with woven upholstery, smooth and rough surfaces and materials with patina like brass, leather, marble, and copper; they change their hues with age. As nature is full of tactile and visual textures, you can go for woven upholstery, rugs, and smooth and rough materials that add an element of richness to your space. Do not forget to decorate the space with textured pebbles, natural stone, botanical sculptures, floral arrangements, and terrariums.
It is highly recommended to go for a biophilic décor that creates a positive space and deepens attachment with the natural world. Biophilia is a great way to breathe life into the home and establish a connection with our environment.
Designer Alessandra Baldereschi’s glassware Mushroom collection feels fresh and playful, yet doesn’t succumb to often used tropes. The mushroom stem is a step up from simply decorating the glass itself. Made of clear borosilicate glass, it’s dishwasher safe. Available in other colors and there are more pieces in the collection.
Dezeen’s top five houses of the month for July 2023 include minimalist homes informed by Case Study houses and Japanese aesthetics, in locations ranging from the UK to Australia.
The home is split into two blocks, with white brickwork and carpentry used throughout the project, which also features a rear courtyard decorated with a bonsai-style tree.
It is made up of two volumes – one holding living spaces and the other sleeping quarters – connected by a glass link. The house’s white metal roof adds to the geometric feel of the design.
Japanese aesthetics and the philosophy of wabi-sabi, which celebrates imperfections and changes that come with the passage of time, informed this accessible coastal home in Australia.
Designed for an owner with multiple sclerosis, it features accessible and adaptable spaces and a material palette that includes wood charred using the traditional Shou Sugi Ban method.
Saltmarsh House was designed by Niall McLaughlin Architects
Designed to have a high-performance thermal envelope, the house consists of a long living and dining space framed by three smaller chambers – a kitchen, a bedroom, and a bathroom.
The award-winning home is located in a conservation area to the north-east of the island, in the gardens of an 1860s Grade II listed Victorian house with extensive views across Bembridge Harbour.
It is located on the Isle of Wight
“The site is characterised by pasture and rich woodland containing oak, hazel and field maple,” the studio told Dezeen. “It overlooks the remnants of an old tidal mill pond with a sandy duver and the harbour beyond.”
The house was designed to “float” above the coastal landscape of the site, which is designated as a site of Special Scientific Interest due to its distinct mudflats, marsh, low-water pools and sand dunes.
It is a prefabricated home
A winding path through long grasses and fruit trees leads to the house, which is sited at the bottom of a slope at the water’s edge. The home is characterised by four pyramidal ridges of deep brown patinated copper which form its roof.
“The distinctive roof form references the repeating pitched roofed glass modules of the early 20th-century glasshouses which once graced the kitchen gardens further up the hill,” the studio explained.
Niall McLaughlin Architects arranged the building around a 5×5-metre structural grid. Thin quadripartite tubular steel columns rise up to support the lightweight roof, which oversails the interior spaces on all sides and provides shelter to the elevated timber platform on which the house sits.
Saltmarsh House was constructed using insulated prefabricated cassettes for the roof and floor. Its steel frame was also prefabricated off-site. The three pods housing the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom were built off-site and lifted into place.
Steel columns and trusses support a copper roof
The seaward side of the home features three triple-glazed picture windows. Designed with a mechanism involving motorised counterweights, the windows can drop down below floor level and open up the entire southeast facade, allowing for natural airflow across the building.
Inside the house, the building skeleton is expressed, with the steel frame painted a rich gold. The underside of the pyramidal roof is lined with timber and features louvred roof lights to help control solar gain.
The interior was lined with timber
The walls and floor are clad in light timber, providing a warm and natural aesthetic. Bespoke shelving units line the walls and frame geometric woven wall hangings. A wood-burning stove sits at the end of the living space on a raised granite platform.
The interior also features integrated timber seating along the southeast facade, which gives panoramic views across the tidal saltmarsh.
Louvred roof panels control interior light
“Together with the weathered silver deck, these materials reflect the warm hues and cool tones of the surrounding pasture and marshland,” said the studio.
Niall McLaughlin Architects is a London practice founded in 1990.
With IKEA turning 80 this year, Dezeen spoke to its global design managers Eva Lilja Löwenhielm and Johan Ejdemo about AI, working with external designers and why it remains a “unique low-price brand”.
Löwenhielm and Ejdemo oversee Swedish furniture brand IKEA‘s 23 in-house designers, as well as the 200-or-so freelance designers that help create its 2,000-2,500 new products per year.
While some design to specific pitches for different areas of the home, Löwenhielm and Ejdemo also work with teams that are looking further ahead.
“Some designers give us pitches or are in close collaboration with our business areas, and then we also work with what we call collections, where we are more explorative or curious about things,” Löwenhielm said.
“We are in some early exploration projects as well, where we’re working with our innovation teams and looking into things that are maybe five to 10 years ahead.”
As well as creating in-house collections, IKEA also frequently collaborates with outside designers and recently worked with Dutch designer Sabine Marcelis on the Varmblixt collection.
IKEA has collaborated with Sabine Marcelis
According to Löwenhielm and Ejdemo, this is symptomatic of the brand’s curiosity about designs that differ from its own.
“We are curious about other expressions that we don’t normally do, or that are questioning,” Löwenhielm said. “And those depend on the collaborators. So that is the beginning – why do we do this collaboration together?”
“An example could be a curiosity about how we bring light into the home in a different way,” added Ejdemo. “It might be quite close to what we do, but still have a very specific point of view.”
“We will continue to evolve in the ways we collaborate, and the portfolio of collaborations might look different in the future than it has in the past – most probably it will because we try to improve as well.”
IKEA’s Nytillverkad collection features colourful chairs
The brand’s designs have often been adapted and copied, with a number of companies offering their own designs that can be used to refurbish existing IKEA products – something that Ejdemo sees as a positive thing.
“I personally have a very positive view of it. We enable creativity and we enable creative solutions at home,” he said.
These adaptations can also help the IKEA team understand what people want from their products, according to the design managers.
“We probably learn a lot ourselves about things that we might not be doing that we should be doing,” Ejdemo said.
“But those solutions that we refer to, they wouldn’t fit in our vision of being affordable – they often become extremely expensive, and can take a lot of time before you get them.”
Finnish brand Marimekko worked with IKEA on the Bastua collection
The brand is also set to open a store on London’s Oxford Street this autumn.
This change from larger out-of-town stores to smaller stores hasn’t affected the way in which the products are designed, according to the design manager duo.
“We still have the same design principles and we try to be where people are,” Ejdemo said.
While customers are now perhaps more likely to see the products online before going to an IKEA store, the one thing that has been affected is the brand’s logistics.
“The only change we’re working towards is making the size of the packaging more accessible for online sales,” said Löwenhielm. “We have always tried to minimise the material use and be smart.”
“With IKEA, you always design [products] to fit into a box,” Ejdemo said. “We don’t want to transport air, that sits within sustainability and costs as well.”
“It’s in the DNA when doing an IKEA product design – you cannot do the design without having an idea of how it can be broken down to fit into packaging,” he added.
An AI came up with hundreds of iterations of a foldable sofa for Space10
The technology has also been picked up by the designers working with Löwenhielm and Ejdemo.
“The design team is playing around with it already because they play around with everything new, that’s just the nature of who they are,” Ejdemo said.
“[Not using it] would be as wrong as saying that photography wouldn’t be interesting for us because we are painting such realistic pictures,” he added. “Obviously, we are curious about what’s coming in the future.”
IKEA showed the Assembling the Future exhibition at Milan design week
“We always get the question of what has to change and how to stay relevant, ” Ejdemo said. “We are always reflecting the society that we are in.”
“But there are also a lot of things in IKEA that are a constant – we know we have a vision, we know who we are: we are for many, maybe not for everyone,” he added.
“We have an idea that is to make products that are affordable. If our products make you happy, help you imagine how to solve something in your home and don’t put a big hole in your wallet, that’s kind of what we do under our vision.”
IKEA is a “unique low-price brand” Ejdemo said
While mass-production often carries negative connotations, Ejdemo argued that IKEA sees it as an opportunity to drive progress and influence industries.
“For us, [mass-production is] a possibility to drive progress and change and actually influence industries to improve and become better,” he added. “Low-price is an outcome of doing that more efficiently.”
“I usually say that we are a low-price band but not any low-price brand, we are a very unique low-price brand with a very unique point of view on what we do,” Ejdemo said.
“There are very few companies that invest as much in design as we do at IKEA.”
“We’re also a progressive company that wants to lean forward, like [with] AI, and I’m sure there will be mistakes there as well,” Ejdemo added.
“But we are a company that encourages mistakes, as long as we don’t repeat them.”
The photography is courtesy of IKEA.
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