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30 September 2023
Vienna Design Week Insights: Democratic Design and Barbie World by Ikea, Rocking Chairs by Mowo,...
This year the event attracted additional sponsors. One of them is Ikea, which, by the way, presented the most interesting exhibits that day. Other presentations Fashion.at looked closer to were those of a furniture designer, a carpenter and a lighting designer.
Let's start with Ikea. The company has furnished, or rather created with its team, six hotel rooms, such as the room with balcony, dedicated to 'Democratic Design', a design principle at Ikea to create new products according to five pillars - form, function, sustainability, quality and low price. Visitors are invited to 'Get Creative!' as it's propagated at the entrance, to sketch ideas for furniture and take a picture on the balcony where a heart with two open hands has been placed framing the view of Vienna's landmark, the Giant Ferris Wheel, the Wiener Riesenrad.
The interactivity of Ikea's rooms is a highlight of the Vienna Design Week. Like in the one called 'Escape', which prompted Fashion.at to try out the swing and "let the soul unwind", as recommended. The room is presented as the Barbie World or the Hall of Mirrors, inspired by the trends of the Milan Furniture Fair 2023. At https://www.ikea.com/at/de/campaigns/ikea-x-vienna-design-weeks-pub7d96eaa0, the company offers access to a 3D tour of the hotel rooms.
Fashion.at continued the tour and tested the 'Mowo' seats with rocking effect in the hotel room with exhibition pieces by architect (master's degree at the Technical University of Vienna) and furniture designer (Central Saint Martins College in London) Lisa Stolz. The wooden stools offer a movement similar to gymnastic balls, which is beneficial for the spine, and in the short test by Fashion.at seemed to be a possible good alternative to prevent back pain while working at the computer.
Slovenian designer Matej Stefanac's 'Pendulum Lamp' functions as a reading and ambient light depending on the rotation of the lampshade.
The Austrian master carpenter, artist and founder of the label iX Kunst im Raum, Johanna Schörkhuber, exhibited the secretary 'Die Sekretärin' (the feminine form of the word for the work desk, in German 'Sekretär'), a piece of office furniture that she developed during the 2021 lockdown and that now fits the home office trend in Austria. The cabinet can be closed and moved thanks to rollers on the bottom. Before entering the room with the secretary, visitors are greeted with the words 'Autocratic design' and examples of different woods, perhaps making them realize that architecture and furniture design are also about setting rules for how people can live together in a diverse society.
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