Documentation

N.I.C.E. AWARD 2015 / SHORTLIST
Project: ROOM IN A BOX
Presented by: Palm and Dissen GbR
Berlin, Germany
Interviewees: Lionel Palm; Gerald Dissen
www.roominabox.de
Photo: Palm & Dissen GbR
The N.I.C.E. Award 2015 is looking for new and stimulating
innovations that are solutions to global problems.
What problem do you address with your project?
The goal of ROOM IN A BOX is to offer a new way of living
by designing a set of beautiful and ultra-portable furniture
made of renewable raw materials which can be one
hundred per cent recycled at the end of their life cycle.
Contemporary furniture is mostly made of a mixture of materials
such as wood, plastic and metal. Besides high input
costs, another down side is the weight: Common furniture
is heavy and even though big distributors try to optimise
the size of the packaging, the transportation – even of the
unassembled parts – is not easy to handle. This results in a
situation where even big players on the market have trouble
delivering interior products to the customer in a short delivery
time. Since ROOM IN A BOX specialises in eco-friendly
furniture made of cardboard, a lot of the problems do not
apply to us. Our furniture reaches our customers with the
support of standard parcel services and can easily be moved
to a new place in the same way.
What are the creative and business characteristics of
your project? Can both, business and creativity, be
distinguished clearly?
If you decide to start a business in the creative industry, you
almost have to be insane to really think that it will work. We
at ROOM IN A BOX need people that can freely think out
of the box to come up with creative product concepts. But
on the other hand we also need to be very well organised to
ramp up the production, the logistics, the customer service,
the marketing, the accounting, and to make sure that we
comply with all norms and laws at the same time. If you
are a three person start-up, this all needs to be done by
the same people. You need the power of creative chaos to
enable unique ideas and the calm attitude and strictness of
an accountant at the same time. So yes, it can be distinguished,
and no, it cannot.
The N.I.C.E. Award 2015 focusses on digital innovation
through culture. How do you see the cultural sector
influenced by digitalisation?
To us the main power digitalisation unleashes and its
impact on human culture lies in the new ability to publish.
Once, the ability to publish was only available among the
rich and the powerful. Digitalisation democratised the power
to easily publish thoughts, political opinions, literature
or any content (also products like these of ROOM IN A BOX)
among everyone with access to an internet-enabled device.
Thus, digitalisation is a powerful amplifier which enables an
easy distribution of new ideas and discourse contributions
to the masses. It allows for change and broadens cultural
diversity. If there was no internet connection, search engines,
crowdfunding sites or webshops, it would have been
much harder for ROOM IN A BOX to see the light of day.
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