Goodbye to all that

Article Abstract:

Habitat, the furniture store acquired by Ikea in November 1992, has made changes to improve the image of its products and has severed its design contract with Conran Design Group. Vittorio Radice, the managing director since 1990, changed its purchasing policy, making seven international in-house purchasers responsible rather than middlemen who also bought for other chains. Costs were reduced as a result and this could be passed onto the customer. The instore layout has also been changed so that it is warmer and less formal. The emphasis is now on products which are traditional, craft based and of natural materials.

Services, Furniture industry, Design, Habitat Group PLC

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Natural selection

Article Abstract:

Tom Porter, senior lecturer at Oxford School of Architecture, laments the poor use of colours in the environment. Architects tend to use bland colours and monocrome, whereas studies have shown that the non-professional prefers a wider use of colour. It is the intensity of a colour that governs the response rather than the hue. A number of colour schemes have been devised that residents and architects can use to paint buildings so that they are both colourful and preserve the identity of a region.

Usage, Interview, Lecturers, Color, Porter, Tom

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Chaos theory

Article Abstract:

Tom Burns uses the design company, Imagination, as an example of flexible management structure in his books. He claims that these management structures will become more common in response to the two trends information technology and globalisation. Imagination does not have a management hierarchy and is arranged in the form of working groups.

Peters, Thomas J., Imagination

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