CEO & Design Manager at Blå Station | JOHAN’S TOP HOME TIPS 1. Drink wine with your food 2. Turn out the lights and use candles 3. Put away everything except the things you love
Today, my sister Mimi and I run Blå Station.
I usually say that I was born and raised in the furniture industry.
I’m a true designaholic, more interested in products than decoration, but the two
go hand in hand. I have an immense need to keep myself updated, and I explore
new design on a regular basis. I want to know what’s happening and what’s on the
horizon. But I read images, not text. I only read the text if I want to know more or
if I don’t understand something. I get inspiration from questioning the accepted and
letting myself be swept away by the opportunities presented by opposites, or by
perceiving new behaviour.
I love to study people and their behaviour, and above all how young people – boys
and girls – behave, how they communicate, socialise, study, eat and drink, how they
move, cycle, take the bus or the train, and how they do everything at the same time,
together and separately. Young people’s behaviour is the key to the future. They are
the multitasking generation. The conscious generation. This new generation isn’t going
to change, either itself or its behaviour; these young people aren’t going to adapt
merely because they have moved away from home or started working. But they will
defnitely adapt their frst home to their own behaviour, and they will undoubtedly
have an impact upon their workplaces and all of the other environments they have
the opportunity to affect.
Everything we surround ourselves in and with is undergoing constant change, much
of it at incredible speed, some barely noticeable; materials, machines, technology,
processes and behaviour. Our behaviour changes along with the new technologies,
gadgets and opportunities we come into contact with. When we develop new
products, a large part of our analysis is about our behaviour and the environments we
populate, about what works and what can be changed and improved. The other part
of the process is about fnding problems; problems that we believe can be solved.
From our design perspective, we always say... “Everything can be better!”
Our vision is to make a signifcant contribution to the necessary change currently
facing the Swedish and international furniture industry. We want to unite innovation
and materials with industry and design in order to achieve humanitarian,
environmentally-conscious progress. We refuse to take the easy short cut by choosing
low pay countries or to abandon social responsibility.
We work with design management and not with marketing strategy. We don’t work
with designers just because they are well-known and established – and we never ask
ourselves what the market wants. Instead we are self-reliant, constantly seeking out
designers who want to solve problems; often young designers and very frequently
those who are still seeking to establish themselves. Because these are designers who
haven’t yet been defeated by major problems, who believe that everything can be
overcome, and that you can change the world if you only have suffcient energy and
desire – two extremely important ingredients in the design process. But age actually
isn’t important. It’s drive and enthusiasm that we want.
Our philosophy is “design from an innovative perspective”. Creating change and
improvement is what I’m passionate about – and so is Mimi and Blå Station.
