"What works good is better than what looks good, because what works good lasts." Ray Eames
Manuela Freigang
As a production and set designer for film and theatre, I have often used IKEA furniture. Billy, Besta & Co are the evergreens of the Swedish furniture company. Cheap, good quality, but not very individual. That's why I started redesigning them.
Society is undergoing a paradigm shift in how we treat the environment and our resources, and this is becoming an integral part of our lifestyle. In search of an individual space in our global world, we are looking for alternative ideas. For things that have history and lasting value. Hopefully, the throwaway society will soon be a thing of the past.
Meanwhile, there are countless web platforms full of ideas and instructions on how to redesign. There is a growing interest in vintage design, and there is a whole genre of redesigning Ikea products - "hacking" them - to create new objects with a personal touch, an identity. I have been watching the growing "Ikea hacker community" and have been toying with the idea of professionally implementing my ideas for quite some time. Finally, in 2018, we gave it a go.
Christian Bachmann
Handicraft - especially working with wood - is one of my favourite hobbies. The love of beautiful materials, combining and shaping them has always been a core interest of mine and ultimately inspired the Neuvermoebelt® project.
As an architect, in addition to design, material properties - feel, colour and quality - are very important to me.
For me, good design is not only about a subjectively appealing form, but also about functionality, usefulness and sustainability.