VOLA unveils the third of a series of short films focused on architecture and design, featured online https://en.vola.com/on-design/
Presented by the award-winning British designer, Ilse Crawford, the latest film explores how design can enhance and support our daily interactions, behaviours and attitudes, as well as the important role wellness and wellbeing plays in design. With her StudioIlse team, the former founding editor of Elle UK has designed spaces for the Soho House Group, Aesop, and designed sustainable furniture collections for IKEA.
Design is often associated with just form. A vehicle for something aesthetically
pleasing or purely functional and the interaction with the human aspect is
considered the final step. Ilse Crawford couldn’t disagree anymore and proves
this idea incorrect: ‘Before design, there is empathy. Without it, there is no good
design’.
Ilse Crawford believes that wellness and wellbeing is of the upmost importance in
design. Focusing on understanding the real needs of people and lives that will be
lived within a space before even thinking about aesthetics. This understanding
distils down to what makes us human and makes full use of our innate senses.
“It’s important to design for the senses because we are primal creatures and we
read our environment through the senses. They are still what connects us to the
world no matter whether we feel that intelligence is a more valuable thing. I
believe our senses are another intelligence.”
Ilse is known not just for her outstanding design but also ethos — as the former
head and founder of the “Man and Wellbeing” department at the Design
Academy Eindhoven, she taught about how to integrate humanistic values into
design. “Good design is more than the way it looks. It is about making sure the
human experience is prioritized. It’s about wellbeing and making life better - not
just for us, but for others and the environment. Man is not an island.”
Wellbeing is at the core of her process – interpreted holistically as the importance
of creating an environment that has a positive influence on us, our mood, our
behaviour. “We spend 87% of our lives inside buildings, how they're designed really
affects how we feel and how we live.”
This attention to wellness and wellbeing is exemplified in StudioIlse’s project Ett
Hem, a truly unique hotel that encapsulates its Swedish name, ‘a home’. Built in
1910 by architect Fredrik Dahlberg, it was originally the residence of a government
official and his wife. Studioilse based a lot of the new layout upon old blueprints
and drawings, from which most of the major spaces have been returned to where
they were originally positioned. StudioIlse worked with great sensitivity and care to
preserve Ett Hem’s personal quality and place it at the heart of the hotel. For Ett
Hem, it wasn’t simply about creating a ‘homely’ hotel, it was about continuing the
existing home’s story.
Common areas are a mix of outdoor and indoor spaces, creating a harmonious
sense of togetherness, where a naturally friendly atmosphere emanates and
boundaries dissolve between staff and guests. Guests feel that they are staying
with friends rather than at a hotel. The building’s original owners filled the house
with objects, artwork, textiles and furniture which has been reflected in how it
stands today. Vintage and modern objects are mixed together, forming a
collection of things that seem as though they have been curated over decades.
Deep colours and tactile materials of velvet, wood, leather and brass provide a
textural richness. Ett Hem is true to its Swedish culture, responding to the passing
seasons, filling spaces with light and freshness in the summer, whilst offering roaring
fireplaces, sheepskins, and long baths in the colder months. The feeling of a warm
welcome spreads throughout an entire stay and a sense of luxury deepens into a
sense of home.
Ett Hem began with the question of how people can feel cared for and valued.
“Hotels often offer a lot of services on the surface but the only actual interaction
taking place is putting in an order and receiving it on your bill. We based the
concept on the idea of warm and intelligent human contact throughout and
designed into that. The kitchen is shared by guests and the chefs
who use local produce and ingredients and are able to talk about that. We
carefully selected sustainable brands and producers. We wanted to create a
system where the money you spend goes back into good companies.”
Pieces within the environment are chosen not purely for their aesthetic qualities,
but rigorously analysed for their material qualities, their durability, their comfort
and ease of use and ultimately how it will make someone feel. As a result of this
process, StudioIlse interiors are authentic, soothing and human, and anything but
superficial.
As we continue to live in a time of constant stress and hyperstimulation, more
emphasis is placed on finding moments to just slow down and feel grounded.
Through small, seemingly simple actions like turning on a tap, StudioIlse provide
moments that layer upon others to make a life that bit more special, contributing
to a true sense of wellness.
For StudioIlse wellness and wellbeing goes further than just an ideal added to an
end result. It’s about a much bigger system. It’s thinking about the environment,
the makers as well as the user. It’s focusing on where things come from, who they
sustain, where they go and how its crafted and how it can change the way we
live. The world we make will always be an expression of our values but if you
want to make matter matter, those values have to be embedded from the
beginning to create a true sense of wellbeing.
