AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.03.2003, Page 39

Oli Jóhann Asmundsson, Architect
From an Idea to a
Product
I have often been asked, „why did
you start to design furniture at fifty
five?” The reason was that I had
been designing systems for the
building industry from1978 and at
the beginning of 1995, I was there
and had developed a new type of
floor for buildings. I had spent all
the year 1994 promoting this sys-
tem abroad with no results and the
downturn in the building industry at
that time did not help. I somehow
got the idea of trying my hand at
furniture design instead.
One of the first things I did was to
have a look at furniture on the mar-
ket. With this in mind, I went to the
local Ikea shop and in a pamphlet
of theirs read the following: „Our
furniture is cheap because you
assemble it yourself.” As I had
previously bought furniture from
Ikea which was not at all easy to
assemble although I am a qualified
carpenter, I could not quite agree
with this ideology. I started thinking
if it would not be possible to design
furniture which could be folded,
stored and moved and would not
take up much space and which
could be assembled with one's
bare hands.
Thinking more about this the follow-
ing basic idea came about:
TO DESIGN FURNITURE WITH THE GOAL
OF MAKING THEM FOLDABLE SO THEY DO
NOT TAKE UP MUCH SPACE WHEN BEING
MOVED OR STORED AND WHICH CAN BE
ASSEMBLED WITH ONE'S BARE HANDS
WITHOUT ANY AUXILIARY MEANS.
Many people have asked me, „how
do you get these ideas?” The only
answer I can give is a reference to
my background. I was born in 1940
and brought up in Reykjavík. My
father and grandfather on my
father's side were both builders. I
matriculated in 1961 from the
Grammar school at Laugarvatn and
took exams as a builder the same
year. I finished my architectural
studies at the University of
Nottingham in 1967. During the fol-
lowing 10 years, I worked as a
planner and house designer but
from 1978 I have been working on
systems for the building industry
and in addition taken an active part
in developing an idea into a product
based on the use of building
boards, designing a factory and
buying machinery.
1995 was spent designing and
developing furniture, but the prod-
uct was put on the back burner for
the next five years. In 2000, my fur-
niture design came to life again
when a chair that I had designed
was chosen for the lcelandic
exhibition hall at Expo 2000. I have
as a consequence put some more
effort into furniture design which
has resulted in an invitation from
the lcelandic Design Museum to
exhibit in their gallery last October
and December. ■