The situation in Latvian furniture industry. January 7, 2009
Posted by balticdesign in Uncategorized.Tags: chair baltic, Latvian furniture, Latvian furnture industry, nakts mebeles
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Here is some more information from the research of Elina Busmane about the situation in Latvian furniture industry. She investigated two Latvian furniture companies- Chair Baltic and Nakts Mebeles. Here are the (sad) conclusions about the situation.
ANALYSIS OF EXISTING PROBLEMS
• Needs of the real consumer are not taken in serious consideration developing new products and services. In main cases the manager of the factory is defining a product aiming direct market. Products are similar to middle class products in Baltic region or are imitating recent tendencies from largest European furniture fairs.
• There is a lack of any innovations and uniqness in new products, lack of research.
• The work organization inside of companies is unefectively organized. Lack of collaboration with designers. No real communication between the designer and structures of the company (marketing, export, technology).
• Lack of on-line services. Products mainly are distributed in salons, where furniture is on display, The staff is not always enough professional to give needed advices.
• Lack of feedback services. There is no information that companies provide repair or recycling furniture they produce.
• Even if the government has established several structures and organizations for increasing effectiveness in this industry entrepreneurs are not motivated to use their possibilities for development because of the tremendous bureaucracy.
• During last year’s companies’ success was based on lower material and labor costs, but in recent economic situation these causes are not working.
• There is lack of understanding about industry’s impact to the environment; therefore producers are not motivated to join Certificating Environmental Management Systems
The existent furniture industry in Latvia produces middle class products, which where competitive because of lower costs of labor and materials. According to recent economical situation these causes are not working.
Frame chair by Komplot Design (Denmark) for Chair Baltic.
Bed Mara by Mara Skujeniece (LV/NL) for Nakts Mebeles (a positive example!)
SATISFACTION UNIT
Furniture has close relations with consumer. It is the main tool for creating environment where people spend their lives. Furniture often is based on trends & technical possibilities, but individual needs are often secondary. There is a need for changes what leads business towards real needs of customer.
SUSTAINABILITY POTENTIAL
Latvia is a country that always has been in political, economical and cultural crossroads. The ethnicity of the population (Latvians 60%; Russian 30%) makes the situation more diverse. Therefore this is can be a place where business based on individual needs has a potential.
Thank you, Elina!
Some characteristics of Latvian society. January 6, 2009
Posted by balticdesign in Uncategorized.Tags: dziesmu svetki, draugiem.lv, Latvians, contemporary Latvian society
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As living abroad for last years I regulary face the situation when I’m asked to tell about the country I’m coming from. And even if I’ve passed there 21 year of my life, it’s sometimes more difficult than it seems to be.
My friend Elina Busmane shared with me the essay “Sustainable furniture for Latvia” she wrote for her studies in the School of Design in Helsinki. A part of it is describing some phenomenons that characterize Latvian contemporary society. Here are some passages.
LATVIAN SONG AND DANCE FESTIVAL
Latvian Song and Dance Festival take place in Riga once every five years, and takes over the hearts and minds of the entire nation. The simple fact is that the festival is inextricably bound with Latvia’s very identity.
Year 2008 was significant for Latvia as around 35 000 participants will gathered in our capital Riga for the XXIV Song and XIV Dance Celebration. It was recorded in the UNESCO list of Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage.
SOCIAL NETWORK WEBSITE DRAUGIEM.LV
Social network Draugiem.lv is the most popular web site in Latvia. Originally it was built on the Friendster model, but now it includes several other services. Latvia has a population of 2.3 million, but now there are 2.4 registred users in this website.
CRAFT FAIR IN OPEN – AIR MUSEUM
Tradition of craft Fair in Open Air Museum is around 40 years old. Every June for few days it takes place in the Latvian Ethnographic Museum which is one of the oldest open-air museums in Europe. There are participating approximetly 2000 craftsman. Craft Fairs is supplemented with workshops, folk musicians, dancers and cookers etc.
According to these examples it’s possible to come to a conclusion that contemporary society in Latvia needs on communication based services. It is ready to accept Internet based services. National performance can be a good addition.
The terror of choice. January 4, 2009
Posted by balticdesign in Uncategorized.Tags: anxiety, Barry Schwartz, the paradox of choice
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Most of the researches show that people are less happy than they used to be and there are several main reasons for that. But the most important one (at least, in the developed nations) appears to be the overabundance of choice. “In the last few decades, rates of depression have dramatically increased worldwide.(..) Having too many options fosters stress, anxiety, and uncertainity. The more choices we have, the more informations we’re bombarded with- the more effort we invest in evaluating our options, and more likely we are to be dissatisfied with the outcome. We often adapt to our overabundance of choices by picking things haphazardly and acwuiring more than we need.” (WorldChanging”)
Barry Schwartz perfectly describes this phenomena in his book “The paradox of choice. Why more is less.”.
“One mother described the dilemma facing her five-years-old this way:
I have noticed that my son sometimes has difficulty making the sorts of choices that exclude one thing or another. I have the sense that it has to do with a sense of loss. That choosing one thing over another will mean that one thing is lost. Finally making the choice somehow minmizes the pleasure in the thing that is gained, though there also seems to be an accompanying relief in finally making the choice. I have noticed him as deliberating, as if frozen with indecision. He literally cannot make the decision unless he is gently prodded. Most recently I noticed him doing this when given a choice between different colored popsicles.”
The book is very interesting, I can recognize a lot of things in my own everyday life. If you can’t get it, you can watch this video on Ted.com.
Good resolutions. January 2, 2009
Posted by balticdesign in Uncategorized.Tags: good resolutions, Joseph Beuys, new year
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I find it’s somehow easier to start a new life at the beginning of a new year than the 3d of March or 27th of August. Of course, it’s just psychological, but anyway…
I find this small story about Joseph Beuys very inspiring.
Once Beuys was asked how he taught his students. “I try to teach (painting) in such a way that if one of my students later decides to be a plumber, he will be a good plumber” he replied.
I think it’s a very beautiful quote. Doing everything as good as you can can really transform the life in to an enriching experience. And- it’s very important to follow your heart and do in life what you are the best at and what fulfills you. It can be teaching and it can be fixing bikes.
Creativity exercises January 1, 2009
Posted by balticdesign in Uncategorized.Tags: creativity, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
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The beginning of a new year is traditionally time for good resolutions.
Most of the times it’s all up to ourselves- to make our lives better, to start enjoying every single day, to become the person we really want to be… And as I just mentioned, creativity can really be something that changes the life!
I’d like to share some more thoughts from the book “Creativity. Flow and psychology of creativity and invention” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
- Try to be surprised by something every day. It could be something you see, hear or read about. Stop to look at the unusual car parked at the curb, taste the new item on the cafeteria menu, actually listen to your collegue at the office. How is this different from other similar car, dishes, conversations? What is the essence? (..) Life is noting more than a stream of experiences- the more widely and deeply you swim in it, the richer your life will be.
- Try to surprise at least one person every day. Comfortable routines are great when they save energy for doing what you really care about; but if you are still searching, they restrict and limit the future.
- Write down every day what surprised you and how you surprised others.After a few days you can reread what you wrote down and reflect on the past experiences. One of the surest ways to enrich life is to make experiences less fleeting, so that the most memorable, interesting, and important events are not lost forever a few hours after they occured.
- Wake up in the morning with a specific goal to look forward to. Everyone can discover at least one thing every day that is worth waking up for. Eventually most of the day should consist of tasks you look forward to, until you feel that getting up in the morning is a privilege, not a chore.
- If you do anything well, it becomes enjoyable. The more activities that we do with excellence and style, the more of life becomes intrinsically rewarding.
