KEY POINTS:
For 30 years Lars Engman worked in various design and production roles at international Swedish design giant, Ikea, and for the past 10 the laid-back Swede led the design team there. But even he will admit that "not everyone wants 100 per cent Ikea in their home."
And while his newly renovated kitchen in Sweden contains a fair bit of Ikea, Engman, who is in New Zealand for the Better By Design conference in Auckland, has a fairly eclectic collection of furnishings at home. And, he says, there are no rules about interior decor. "What's nice and what's ugly is up to your individual taste. My preference has always been for more classical designs because then you can live with them over time."
To view video clips and images from the Better by Design CEO Summit go to www.betterbydesign.org.nz
10 OF MY FAVOURITE THINGS
1. All my books. I have a lot of art, design and architecture books that I have bought over the years. And they're from all over the world because I travel such a lot. I particularly like ones about the Bauhaus period of design because it was such an important movement, and my former company, Ikea, has their design grounded in this philosophy. I also have a great book from China about Chinese furniture - I can't read it but I can look at the pictures.
2. My grandchildren. They're young and active and so inspiring.
3. The Bolshoi Ballet and Theatre. I was running a project at the architecture school in Moscow when I was able to see the Bolshoi Ballet perform. Again, so inspiring. I think it's the combination of the fact that they are the best in the world, the beautiful old theatre and the tradition. It's so outstanding and so professional.
4. The Poang chair by Ikea. I've been involved in the development of a lot of Ikea products and this one was made when I was working as a product manager. At that time we had a Japanese designer there and he came up with these drawings. The chair went on the market in 1976 and it was and still is a huge seller. It's an Ikea classic. It's also really, really comfortable.
5. The Memphis design movement. I was very impressed by this in the 80s because it was such a revolution in design at the time. It was a real statement and it changed a lot in the design world. And I'm really pleased to say I've been able to meet a lot of the designers in this field.
6. My friends all over the world. I travel a lot and being able to meet up with people who are locals is a real privilege and an inspiration. Different cultures feed design. Design is international because basically all humans need to sit, eat and sleep. The rest is fashion or culture.
7. My Bruno Mattson chair. I will never forget it. When I was just starting out as a designer, I went to the biggest furniture fair in Scandinavia at the time, in Copenhagen, and I ended up having dinner with Bruno Mattson [a renowned proponent of Swedish modern design who worked mainly in wood]. That was a really big thing for me then. And I decided I wanted one of those chairs. So later, when I had enough money to buy it, I did.
8. The Klippan sofa by Ikea. In 1979 my daughter was 6-years-old and I had these two really expensive white Italian sofas in our home. My daughter and all her friends jumped around on them, basically ruining them. So I started to think about something smart, where you could take the cloth cover off and wash it in your own washing machine because dry cleaning is very expensive in Sweden. It also had to be the right price. and this is what we came up with. The design is 27-years-old and it's still a good seller.
9. The Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim museum in Bilbao. I haven't seen this in real life, I've only seen pictures, but it just seems like something really special. I have however met Frank Gehry, when we were both keynote speakers in Hong Kong.
10. My Ingo Maurer "Bulb" lamp. I bought this around 1970 and I still have it. I've always been fascinated by lighting design and he's just a master in this field. This lamp design had just come out when I started work as a designer in 1968. And it was just so different back then, which is why I bought it.
