As the world becomes increasingly more connected, and, by default, more social, the inherent problem-solving systems that design-based concepts bring to the global table become more meaningful to an ever-increasing group of people. In order to get a clearer picture of what global design is today and how it is changing people and adapting to different cultures, Haworth partnered with Metropolis Magazine and the Luxury Marketing Counsel to hold an event in Haworth’s New York showroom on the topic. Inviting an audience of leaders that are in charge of a spectrum of design services and applications to attend the event, Haworth showcased four short subjects, each given by a diverse range of design leaders in their own right. The result was a thoroughly engaging dialogue that focused on the thought processes of what drives the day-to-day experiences of people everywhere regarding how they use products and design services throughout the world.
Expertly moderated by Susan Szenasy, Editor-in-Chief of Metropolis, the event began with a brief introduction by Mabel Casey, Haworth’s VP of Global Marketing. She began with a comment on collaboration, the touchstone theme in interior design today, and the subject of a similar multi-speaker event hosted at Haworth’s showroom last year. Ms. Casey pointed out that while many collaborative efforts often have the same needs, “Each solution is somewhat different based on their culture and where they’re from, how people behave in their particular area of the world, even how the spaces themselves are created.” Those factors, and many others, drive the kind of solutions that are created to help people understand and market to each other, which can ultimately result in a global collaboration on a scale that is only imaginable today.
The first presentation was given by Francois Farion, who heads the design strategy and design context lab for Nissan/Infiniti in America. Mr. Farion’s unique perspective on global design has been informed by managing the design and marketing for companies across Europe and the US; from his perspective, and as far as the design segment of the automotive industry is concerned, their focus is on the future.
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