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| frequently asked questions |
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what inspires you most?
people! watching them, listening to them when they are passionate about what they do. inspiration is mainly about dedication and devotion, and of course about being curious. in addition to that, i gather a lot of energy from my morning rituals. i wake up at 5 a.m., take the dog for a long walk, return for a hot meditative bath where i plan my day before cooking breakfast for my wife. during this time, when the surroundings are quiet and i am rested from a long nights sleep, i have some of my best ideas.
your favourite place at home?
that would without a doubt have to be my combined kitchen and living room that in the summer is naturally extended with a large balcony overlooking the stockholm archipelago.
your favourite household appliance?
i couldn’t live without my built-in cooker (of course it’s from electrolux!). it works great and looks fantastic! another favourite is my teppanyaki (“hot table”). i enjoy to cook asian food so the teppanyaki has brought my friends and me a lot of fun and good food. we use it to cook everything - fish, steak and vegetables. |
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| living together, growing together |
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| good household appliances make our lives easier and simpler. but that’s not all they do. our fridge, our cooker, our vacuum cleaner tell a lot about our personal preferences, our sense of functionality and aesthetics. in the following interview, henrik otto, electrolux global head of design, tells us that for him emotional design is just as much a part of a household appliance as its functional aspects. |
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sometimes, clothing care can be a rather stimulating and inspiring activity. the international appliance manufacturer electrolux (aeg, zanussi, eureka, husquarna ...) knows about this aspect and has a long tradition of “emotional design”. since the company’s founding in 1925, it has been characterised by a typical scandinavian mixture of customer-oriented benefit and extraordinary design. moreover, the “design laboratory” has been established, a place where design students from around the world have the opportunity every year to present their views of the future of household appliances. henrik otto, global head of design of the swedish company, proudly tells us about the first washing machine that cleans with air …
dear henrik otto, can a washing machine be sexy?
i think a washing machine does not need to be sexy, it needs to be personal. it should reflect who the consumer is or would like to be. additionally, as an appliance manufacturer we have the opportunity to develop products that make clothing care a more stimulating task and to make it easier. this can be solved with the help of technology, intuitive design and a healthy portion of blue-sky thinking. take a look at the winner in this year’s electrolux design lab, “airwash”, a washing machine that cleans with air (no water or detergents needed) that provides the user with clean and dry clothes within minutes, including leather, silk and wool, thus eliminating the need for environmentally hostile dry cleaning.
every day, we look at and touch our fridge, we use our toaster, our coffee machine, our cooker. besides cars, household appliances are probably the most extensively used products. what do you think does it take for household appliances to be “likeable” for us?
i think that appliances for the home have to be intuitive and emotional. they have to surpass our expectations both in form and function. for years, household appliances have only focused on function. as the kitchen is becoming integrated with the living room and therefore the home’s natural social zone, people will not settle with boxes in white and aluminium next to their bang&olufsen tv-set or their apple laptops. in a not so distant future, i believe that items for food storage and food preparation will become more differentiated, allowing people to have more personalized kitchens.
do you share the opinion that the emotional joy of an item increases the success of those working with it?
beautiful products are not necessarily good. good design requires form and function to work in harmony. anyone who likes a product, or/and enjoys the task and working with it is likely to have a better result. it is both about personal and emotional fulfilment, both in the product and in the way of interacting with the product.
how difficult is it to design a household appliance that’s functional as well as modern and appealing?
as difficult as it is to design any other product, i would say. any good product is a symbiosis between form and function, if either of it fails, the user will be disappointed. you have to be both holistic and very self-critical. a good product will allow the user to re-discover the product every time he or she uses it. a good product continuously confirms the purchasing decision.
“less is more”, is a popular saying of the language of shapes and design. is there a formula that sums up the company philosophy of electrolux?
the design philosophy of electrolux is based on our scandinavian design heritage. it is not so much related to geography but rather to the way we approach problems. important key words for our design philosophy are “intuitive” and “innovative”.
like in the field of fashion, people also want to display their personal style through their homes. to what extent is the design of electrolux products influenced by current trends and to what extent by durability?
as fashion companies, we also pay attention to trends, but as our products have a longer life-cycle we need to find a good balance between being timeless and contemporary. the home is always a reflection of yourself, or how you would like to be perceived. and that’s how your appliances should be as well. and i promise you, appliances will not be stainless steel or white forever.
despite all technological progress our basic needs always stay the same: eating, sleeping, well-being. what do you think will change most about household appliances in the next couple of years?
our trend mapping shows us that eating habits are changing. people snack more or buy pre-prepared, restaurant-quality foods. there is a main-meal blur. recent research estimates that by 2008, snacks will account for 41 % of eating occasions in europe and 45 % of eating occasions in the us. people are also eating more fusion food - tex-mex, french-asian, asian-caribbean, peruvian-japanese. we live in a world that is an active cultural mosaic – pluralism and diversity are in. will microwave ovens be adapted to fit a large pizza? will there be a special program for warming tortillas? how can we help people make sushi at home? also, fertility rates are declining worldwide. the global population is aging. men are in the kitchen. mobility is on the rise. and households are becoming smaller. in 2005, there are 21 million fewer nucleus families in europe than there were in 1995, a decline of 14 %! so how does this affect appliances? compact kitchens? taller appliances? adjustable stoves? modular dishwashers or fridges? all product development is about constantly questioning and being critical to existing solutions. products need to adapt to peoples behaviour and new lifestyles. in the future, i believe that people will have much higher demands on products, expecting them to be more individual to create personalized kitchens that better reflect people’s individuality and personality. |
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| helmut wolf |
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