Thomas E. Alken,
furniture designer
Thomas runs his own renowned design studio called Format Design and he is a board member in Danish Design Makers.
I want people to think
“Wow, can I be this comfortable in so little?”
Thomas E. Alken is happy about his very comprehensive and detailed brief because of the opportunity to design and create a cool seating object for a tough contract market. He hasn’t designed a lot for the indoor contract market before, so this is a challenge, but also what makes the brief interesting.
The company seems very conscious about who they are, what they want, and don’t want. I hope to make them happy with my design”.
Thomas has managed to design several variations of his product in a very short time. And he has thought about every little detail of all the functions he wants it to have. He considers how different people and age groups will use it, he thinks about how it can be moved when cleaning, and he has ensured users’ private space in an elegant way.
Furniture made for the contract market must live up to high durability, stability, and safety standards, which makes the reduction part another challenge. Thomas works his way around this by not compromising too much on the amount of material that goes into his design but rather he puts his focus on optimizing the use of the standardized measurements of the materials to minimize waste and left over materials.
He also works with an alternative to upholstery and considers in detail how he can create high comfort without using the traditional upholstery materials.
“Comfort is really important to me, so if I can make a comfortable product without foam and glue, I have succeeded”.
Balancing climate knowledge and creative expression
Thomas thinks that the Målbar climate screening tool is very useful and important.
“As a designer, you might have all kinds of ideas and assumptions about the climate impact of different materials and processes, but often you do not have anything to pin it on. We get that in Målbar’s tool. Prove or disprove of our conjectures”.
On the other hand, as an Associate lector at the Royal Danish Academy of Design, Thomas also experiences that some design students are somewhat paralyzed by their knowledge about the environmental impact of materials and production. Some don’t even allow themselves to use specific materials on modeling level. This is a balance that can be difficult for some to master.
I like the idea of using Målbar’s tool in schools, but it must not restrict or limit the room for expressing creativity. I fear that the new generation of designers will be too afraid to do anything if they do not realize that the creative process requires us to use some materials. If we do not experiment with different materials, shapes, and techniques, we won’t be able to design products that have a place in world. The main part of the climate impact of a product is determined in the design phase but stems not from the materials we use for modelling. When we succeed in making less emitting designs, the modeling material we have used aren’t wasted”.
From Målbar’s perspective, it is positive that many design students are aware of their climate footprint even in their design process. But it is sure a challenge if it prevents some from unfolding their creative process and fulfilling their potential as environmentally responsible designers.
Målbar always tries to stay updated on new, promising materials and production techniques, because it is part of the solution to find better ways of producing the goods that we need.
Stay tuned..
When the design has been revealed at ORGATEC on October 22nd, this article will be updated with photos of the final design and more insights from the designer. The climate emission number will also be shared here along with an explanation of how the design choices have influenced the emissions.
Context
Målbar participates in Danish Design Makers’ 2024 design challenge, The Blind Date experiment where 19 designers and design duos answer furniture briefs from anonymous European furniture companies. The designers use Målbar’s climate screening tool to gain insigths into the climate emissions of materials and production processes, learning about the climate impact of their design choices. Ultimately, the total climate footprint of each design will be calculated and presented at ORGATEC in Cologne on October 22nd-25th 2024.
This article reflects the designer’s own opinion and Målbar does not necessarily agree with their statements about materials, processes, etc.