Beat Karrer was born in Zurich and this is where he has his studio and lab today. Beat is an active guest critic at ETH Zurich, lectures all over Europe, participates in juries and holds summer workshops for the Vitra Design Museum. Beat Karrer’s ideas have appeared in many publications and various books, such as the “International Design Yearbook”.
 Beat Karrer Beat describes himself as a problem solver who sees no reason to waste material, which is in line with OFFECCT’s sustainable design philosophy. We see Beat’s design as avant-garde, with clean cut lines and a clear statement, notably exemplified in our product SPINNAKER - reflecting Beat’s design motto “shaping ideas into smart solutions.”
 OFFECCT's SPINNAKER by Beat Karrer SPINNAKER is a free standing room divider with unlimited connection possibilities, creating airy spaces instead of building walls. Inspired by a cruising sail ship, SPINNAKER is reduced to a balanced shape that has neither bottom nor top. It can easily be placed upside down for a different angle and to change the bottom line. SPINNAKER consists of a zincked pipe construction with chromed fittings and feet in black ABS, which can be covered with various textiles: black transparent polyester net or white sound absorbing 3D Mesh polyester fabric.
Beat himself believes progressive projects react to innovation, at the same time reflecting the requirements and respecting the environment.
“Where does a product designer get his ideas from? From new materials which encourage challenging new application possibilities. From new production techniques which make the previously unthinkable possible. And by observing everyday life manifesting unsatisfied needs.” Beat Karrer.
Also, check out:
Beat Karrer’s web site: beatkarrer.net
Beat Karrer’s Facebook page: facebook.com/StudioBeatKarrer
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OFFECCT’s Design Manager Anders Englund and designer Patrick Norguet travelled to Essen, Germany on 5 July 2010, in order to take part in the awards presentation of the “red dot award: product design,” one of the largest and major international design competitions.
 Red Dot Design Award 2010 |
 Fly Chair by Patrick Norguet |
 Geo Soundwave by Ineke Hans |
As mentioned in an earlier blog post, Patrick Norguet’s Fly chair, and the acoustic panel Soundwave Geo designed by Ineke Hans was chosen to receive the Red Dot Design Award for 2010 earlier this year, and now the awards were presented at the Aalto-Theater in Essen.
Since Essen and the Ruhr area is the 2010 European Capital of Culture, the award ceremony included cultural features such as Russian virtuoso pianist Nikolai Tokarev, and the Aalto Ballett Theater Essen performing pieces from the ballet “La Vie en Rose” by Ben Van Cauwenbergh.
The Red Dot jury about Norguet’s FLY:
“Fly presents itself in an organic design language. Because very little energy is necessary for making the fabric, the chair meets the demands for sustainable production.”
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”We seek the beauty and intelligence in every project and tailor our approach to our clients’ needs, while never compromising on quality”, says Andrea Ruggiero about his design philosophy.
 Andrea Ruggiero Beauty, intelligence and superior quality also describes the result of OFFECCT’s collaboration with Andrea, namely the chair / writing plate / work surface Tempo. Tempo is an informal, transitional seating for public spaces. The writing plate / work surface is manufactured in laminated plywood with lacquer finish. Frame in wood. Seat in cold foam upholstered in fabric or leather. Chromed or white lacquer frame. Tempo was awarded the Good Design Award 2008.
 Tempo by OFFECCT and Andrea Ruggiero Andrea was raised in Italy, China, and Austria, and has studied at the prominent Domus Academy in Milan. Later Andrea received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Product Design from Parsons School of Design in New York, where he also met fellow OFFECCT designers Eero Koivisto and Mårten Claesson. Today Andrea is a member of the faculty of Parsons School of Design, with furniture and product design as research interests. Andrea is actively in involved in the development and design of furniture, packaging, environments and visual identity systems. His work if featured frequently in renowned lifestyle and design publications and has been selected for several awards, such as the aforementioned Good Design Award, ID Magazine’s Annual Design Review, the Industrial Design Excellence Award (IDEA), and the Award for Design Excellence (ADEX)
According to inside sources Andrea is also an avid bass player, and a proud owner of the exclusive and hard-to-get Kubicki Ex Factor. Kubicki’s basses have a unique tuning module located in the body of the guitar rather than the headstock, as seen on most bass guitars. Needless to say, the Ex Factor looks just fine…
 The Kubicki Ex Factor Andrea Ruggieros web site: andrearuggiero.com
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OFFECCT has entered into a partnership with one of the main sponsors of Falsterbo Horse Show, Mercedes-Benz.
 Falsterbo Horse Show Falsterbo Horse Show goes on from July 3 to July 11 2020, and is always as much Horse as Show. With almost a thousand horses and riders, fifty different disciplines and over six hundred people working in the Falsterbo Horse Show crew, you soon realize Falsterbo Horse Show is not just an ordinary event. It is a lifestyle, a venue and above all, the week of the summer everyone is waiting for.
Mercedes-Benz has got a number of lounges – or temporary showrooms, if you like – where this prestigious car maker displays a number of their latest car models. OFFECCT’s partnership with Mercedes-Benz means that these lounges are decorated with some of our trendy, qualitative and sustainable products such as FLY, GROW and FLO. Together we have created an attractive meeting point for the visitors of Falsterbo Horse Show. Welcome!
 OFFECCT's Grow by Teruhiro Yanagihara
We will publish a number of profiles of the designers that OFFECCT collaborates with in the coming months. First out is Alfredo Häberli.
Alfredo Häberli was born in 1964, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He moved to Switzerland in 1977, where in 1991, he graduated in Industrial design at the Höhere Schule für Gestaltung in Zurich. He received the Diploma Prize, SfGZ in 1991. From 1988 onwards, he worked in Zurich for the Museum für Gestaltung, where he was responsible for numerous exhibitions. In 1993 he set up his own studio, and besides OFFECCT Häberli has worked for firms such as Iittala, Joop!, Moroso and Volvo.
Alfredo Häberli has designed Pick Up as well as the easy chairs Solichair and Solitaire for OFFECCT.
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 Alfredo Häberli |
 Pick Up by OFFECCT and Alfredo Häberli |
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 Solichair by OFFECCT and Alfredo Häberli |
 Solitaire by OFFECCT and Alfredo Häberli |
“For me it is extremely important that furniture encourages activity and movement. Nowadays people work in a different way than they used to, which puts new demands on our environment – people are expected to take more initiative in discussions and to be more active in meetings. I always try to develop and create new solutions. Good ideas should be able to be expressed in one or two sentences. I keep history in the background, and always endeavour to invent new design aspects.” says Alfredo Häberli
Alfredo Häberli’s web site: www.alfredo-haeberli.com
Alfredo Häberli’s Facebook page
As you probably have noticed 3D technology is experiencing a major revival at the moment. Hollywood is releasing motion pictures such as Avatar in 3D versions, and leading manufacturers of electronics – such as Samsung, LG and Sony – are presenting TV sets developed for 3D viewing at home.
As the summer holidays are getting closer, we all hope for a beautiful weather. Although, we better prepare ourselves for a number of rainy days, and what better way to do that than in three dimensions?
We would therefore like to remind you of OFFECCT’s 3D tool, which gives you the opportunity to plan a lobby of or a conference room using a selection of our products in different settings, textures and colors. Are you ready to get inspired in three dimensions? Great. Click here.
 OFFECCT's 3D Tool
Yesterday we handed out OFFECCT Priset (the OFFECCT Prize) to Daniel Johansson for his thesis Urban Corridors – a Stockholm Fantasy. The 2010 nominees were – besides Johansson – Anneli Åhlén, Anna Jacobson, Karl Johan Nyqvist & Daniel Sundlin and Caroline Csemiczky.
OFFECCT Priset is established to reward a young promising architectural student at the School of Architecture at KTH, Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, in our ambition to promote the next generation of architects.
The selection of the five nominated architect students’ theses have been made by a competent and renowned jury led by Thomas Sandell. This year’s jury consisted of Thomas Sandell from sandellsandberg, Bolle Tham and Martin Videgård from Tham & Videgård Arkitekter, Anna Pang from KTH and Patrik Persson from OFFECCT. The jury’s statement reads:
“The project Urban Corridors – a Stockholm Fantasy is a challenging and thought-provoking architectural project. It has its origins in a historical analysis of the emergence of Stockholm where the relationship between land and water has constantly been changed by man as well as nature.
The project proposes the development of Stockholm under the water surface in submerged structures. Powerful images communicate this possible future and jump-start the viewer’s imagination.
The project moves between reality and fiction and discusses what architecture could be.
A very convincing, conscious and visionary project that leaves us with the idea that what is fantasy today is reality tomorrow.”
Below are some pictures from the well attended and appreciated prize ceremony.
The five nominees and the winner is displayed in an exhibition at the OFFECCT Showroom in Stockholm throughout the summer. Welcome to Torsgatan 13!
Visa större karta
Today we are proud to present the first ever OFFECCT Prize, a new architectural award in collaboration with KTH School of Architecture.
Tonight OFFECCT Prize laureate Daniel Johansson will receive the award at our Stockholm showroom for his architectural project Urban Corridors. Daniel’s project was chosen by a distinguished jury led by Thomas Sandell, due to its’ provocative and thoughtful qualities.
We will give you more information about the OFFECCT Prize, the award ceremony and of course about also about the winner in the coming days. Until then we give you a sneak preview…
 OFFECCT Prize 2010
Not only has OFFECCT been awarded with a prestigious Parisian design award, as mentioned in an earlier blog post about this year’s Designer’s Days in Paris.
Now French design portal deco.fr has published an appreciative article about our SOUNDWAVE® acoustic panels.
deco.fr describes our panels as “acoustic and environmentally conscious, simple to install and very decorative. [---] made by top designers such as Karim Rashid and Teppo Asikainen, the panels create a very contemporary and graphical composition.”
Furthermore, the journalist is very impressed by the sound quality created by SOUNDWAVE®, especially the fact that SOUNDWAVE® reduces noise above 500 Hz including voice or phone signals.
The human mind is influenced by all our senses. This fact has been taken on board by OFFECCT in the product development process. We have been working with sound absorbing materials for a long time, and OFFECCT was the first furniture company to launch designed acoustic wall panels. We constantly work with product development of acoustic panels, room dividers and sound reducing furniture materials.
Designed to be used as lightweight sound absorber in the upper frequency range (500 Hz and above). These panels help reduce disturbing reflections of environmental sounds. Soundwave Swell are available as a Swan-labelled alternative.
More about SOUNDWAVE® here >>
Just back from Paris we are proud to report from Designer’s Days in Paris, where OFFECCT and French designer Patrick Norguet recieved the Entreprise Designer award for our FLY chair.
Designer’s Days is celebrating its tenth anniversary in 2010. For the past ten years, Designer’s Days has become a summer rendez-vous attended by designers, architects, interior decorators, brand ambassadors and collectors alike.
The Entreprise Designer award was delivered by L’Express Style and Maison Française, and OFFECCT got a lot of appraisal for our sustainable design philosophy. We also got a lot of media attention from French television as well as from international press covering the event. Examples: L’Express; Liberation; La boite a sorties (blog).
This wonderful Parisian love affair was concluded by a terrific party at the docks of the river Seine, attended by more than 1500 representatives of France’s design elite.
We are thrilled that our collaboration with Patrick has been so well received. Besides the award at Desginer’s Days, FLY received the Red Dot Design Award earlier this spring.
More about our FLY chair and designer Patric Norguet can be found in this blog post >>
More about the Red Dot Design Award >>
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