Lars Engman, Design Director at IKEA, was one of the speakers at the Design Management Institute’s two days seminar. He was offering a broad look at the evolution of the IKEA brand and discussed where the company finds new ideas.

Engman, from IKEA, was less concerned with branding strategy, instead emphasizing the importance of building creativity into the company. "Beautiful products are not all that difficult to develop," he says. "Producing them at an affordable price is what takes work."

To inspire new associations in IKEAs design work, he reaches out to fellow designers at other global companies - places like cell phone maker Sony Erikson, clothier H&M and French auto-maker Renault.

IKEA's designers are asked to take the same approach; each spends one to one-and-a-half months a year on the road, visiting manufacturers and looking for ways to cut costs without compromising aesthetic value.

Beyond Engman's in-house and freelance designers, he works with universities in the US, China, Japan and elsewhere for 8-12 weeks at a time. (Occasionally offering the best students a job back in Sweden.) The motto he extends to all his designers? "To make mistakes is the privilege of the active person."

Picture From France

I'm testing how the image set-up works.