IKEA's Head of Design Touts Creativity

[18 May 2006 - Fast Company - From the DMI Branding Conference - Day Two] The Design Management Institute kicked off day two of this year's conference, Design + Brand + Experience, with two presentations from global brand leaders. ... Lars Engman, Design Director at IKEA, spoke next, offering a broad look at the evolution of the IKEA brand and discussed where the company finds new ideas. ... Engman, from IKEA, was less concerned with branding strategy, instead emphasizing the importance of building creativity into the company. "Beautiful products are not all that difficult to develop," he says. "Producing them at an affordable price is what takes work." To inspire new associations in IKEAs design work, he reaches out to fellow designers at other global companies - places like cell phone maker Sony Erikson, clothier H&M and French auto-maker Renault. More