The I-X Exhibition by Form Us With Love

In its first major retrospective, design studio Form Us With Love presents a number of early pieces, celebrated classics and new work—exploring a decade of industrial design consultancy, business ventures and civic projects.

As a studio, Form Us With Love has spent the past ten years repositioning brands through design. Utilising progressive manufacturing techniques and nurturing on-going dialogues with each client, the studio has sculpted innovative collaborations with the likes of IKEA, Muuto, Absolut, Menu, La Cividina Cappellini, + Halle, DePadova, FontanaArte, Bolon, Ateljé Lyktan, Design House Stockholm and Hem.

"For us this exhibition is about the alchemy of getting things right. There is a narrative element to all our projects, as well as a cultural side, and therefore many areas for people to get interested in. Take the Plug Lamp as an example—a light we developed during 2007/2008—integrating an electrical socket into a lamp as an answer to the increasing demand of charging laptops and phones," says Jonas Pettersson co-founder of Form Us With Love.

The studio describes its role as ‘design-led investors’, acting as a bridge between production challenges and behavioral patterns, a methodology growing in popularity but one at the studio’s core from the very start. Looking into this mix of smart, well-informed and warm hearted stories gives an insight into the potential for this approach to design.

"The design industry as a whole has matured. A new a stronger strategic sense is prevailing—as if the ‘yet another product’ designers, who were around when we first started, have finally been outgrown. Today, every product is a brand and that puts pressure on all designers to be lateral. This exhibition is about the lessons we’ve learnt," says studio co-founder John Löfgren.

About Form Us With Love | FUWL - www.formuswithlove.se
FUWL was started in 2005 by John Löfgren, Jonas Pettersson, and Petrus Palmér. They met studying Product Design at Kalmar University, in deepest, darkest Småland, a county in southern Sweden known to be the heartland of Swedish furniture manufacturing.

Even if the number of products that carries its name is big for a relatively young design studio, the biggest achievement for FUWL isn't the actual product, but the process of thinking, creating and communicating design. Through its relentless search for new opportunities and collaborations FUWL has shown that there are still great opportunities right under our noses. FUWL's ambition is to be part in creating the top design companies around and has a strong belief that holistic design thinking is the way to get there.

All photos Copyright © 2016 Form Us With Love

3M Further Amplifies Design with Announcement of New 3M Design Center

3M, the global innovation company long recognized for diversified technology and collaboration, announced the development of the 3M Design Center, an incubator for progressive ideation and the creative heartbeat at 3M. 

Underscoring the 3M Design mission that revolves around collaborative creativity, the new facility will be the central hub for design professionals with multi-disciplinary expertise, driving competitive advantage, customer experience and positive global impact.

Rendering: 3M Design Center Exterior (Photo: MSR Design)

"This important initiative will elevate design and propel dynamic opportunity to enhance everything from branding solutions to product innovation to sustainability and social impact," says Eric Quint, Chief Design Officer at 3M, who is at the helm of this design transformation. 

"Design Thinking is about unlocking future value in partnership with research & development and marketing. Our collective goal will be to deliver transformative value for 3M, its partners and customers."

Located at 3M headquarters in St. Paul, MN, the 3M Design Center will stimulate creativity as an open, multi-level studio environment, four times the size of the current design space. The interior architecture will incorporate use of 3M solutions and technologies throughout, as well as energy efficient systems and recycled materials demonstrating that sustainable, smart design supports a better future. 

Flexible spaces - including a fast prototyping lab, materials library, brand labs and an interactive area known as the "Design Hive" - will foster spontaneous connections and ignite cross-functional collaboration among partners, thought leaders, customers and colleagues at 3M headquarters, connected to 3M Design studios around the globe.

Rendering: Interactive area, known as the "Design Hive" at the 3M Design Center (Photo: MSR Design)

As 3M continues to apply science in imaginative ways around the world, design helps translate insights into useful solutions, bringing meaningful experiences to life every day. 

Quint adds, "With our diverse product portfolio, Design represents a critical and strategic platform to define and differentiate 3M, bridging our strong legacy of innovation with creativity toward the future, uniting purpose with partnership."

3M Design applies integrated, creative thinking to identify future customer needs that innovate industries. Ranging from digital applications in the dental business to the migration of safety materials and technologies into the fashion world, 3M products cast a global footprint with design as a catalyst for change. The new Design Center will provide a timely complement to such initiatives, enriching innovation and enhancing new business opportunity.

Development of the new 3M Design Center builds upon recent momentum that is driving design forward at 3M, evident in the elevation of design leadership and governance, which yields business value and impact on a global scale. 

The award-winning design team continues to receive international recognition for design excellence. In 2014, 3M Design received more than 25 awards across multiple creative disciplines, and recently, two 3M products received Red Dot "Best of The Best" design awards for product design among nearly 5,000 entries. The ceremony took place at a gala event attended by international media, design experts and manufacturers in Essen, Germany. Later this week, 3M Design will be presented with a Top Winner International Design Excellence Award (IDEA) by the Industrial Designers Society of America.

About 3M Design

3M Design is the creative engine driving design for brand and innovation at 3M. As a global team of diverse talent that creates meaningful and consistent brand experiences, we stimulate collaborative creativity to translate insights into solutions that inspire and positively impact our customers, our employees, and our world. 3M is a global innovation company with $32 billion in sales, employing 90,000 people worldwide with operations in more than 70 countries. 

For more information about 3M Design, visit www.3M.com/design or follow @3MDesign on Twitter.