Industrial design expert highlights beauty in function

If you'd stolen a glimpse into Löfberg's office a couple of years ago, you might have seen preliminary designs for a number of projects that would go on to win coveted Red Dot Design Awards – KONE was handed an impressive five awards by the jury this year.

Some of them were Löfberg's projects – and he praises the group efforts involving multiple people. "Collaboration is the key to developing successful industrial design products," says Löfberg. We asked him to talk us through one of his favorite projects.

"It's called KONE Lane, a new type of turnstile with a disruptive design compared to existing access gates," he says. "Everything is different. It takes up to 90% less of the highly valuable and expensive space in lobbies that these systems typically need, and it uses the latest time of flight camera technology."

From an architect's perspective, he says, it's a game-changer. "Turnstiles often don't look all that nice in high-end lobbies, where architects pay attention to every detail," says Löfberg. "Now, though, I think we have a gate that both architects and users can fall in love with."

Löfberg has been involved in moving people from A to B for much of his career – prior to KONE, he designed buses. He finds the people flow aspect of his work especially rewarding.

"My work support KONE's vision to create the best people flow experience. We take each step of the customer's journey into account and are always looking to iron out any pain points," he says.

Typically engaged in several projects at once, Löfberg explains that his designs usually begin on computers and are then iterated through multiple physical prototypes to see and test how things look, feel, and function. "Things like usability and accessibility are very important to us," he says.

In addition to marrying form with function, Löfberg is committed to creating products that have a lifespan that goes above and beyond expectations.

"KONE Office Flow, for example, is designed in such a way that the products and user interfaces can be easily updated and upgraded," he says. It's something that is especially important post-COVID, and Löfberg says it will be interesting to see how office spaces transform in the coming years.

What every client is ultimately looking for, he says, is beautifully designed, versatile systems that can be adapted to accommodate future needs. "We're always looking ahead – and we're really able to innovate here," Löfberg says.