“Denmark should pursue the new forms of design”

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INTERVIEW Danish designers must get even better, as companies in the Far East are moving away from merely being manufacturers to developing their own designs and creating their own brands, says Professor Tore Kristensen of the Copenhagen Business School. Danish designers should pursue the new forms of design and focus more on design thinking and the design of strategies and processes, he says.

By Trine Vu

Professor Tore Kristensen from the Department of Marketing at the Copenhagen Business School has recently returned from Hong Kong where he served as a critic for a Ph.D. dissertation on the Asian threat to the innovation power of Danish companies.

Designers Must Be Innovative

It is hardly a new trend that Chinese companies are abandoning the role of sub-contractors in favour of developing their own pro-
ducts and creating their own brands. But the issue is now becoming so pressing that the Danish design environment must take action to avoid being left behind, says Tore Kristensen who adds that the conclusion of the Ph.D. dissertation was that these changes in China are happening at an extremely rapid rate.
As Tore Kristensen sees it, part of the solution is for Danish designers to get better at carrying out scientific studies of the effects of design; they also need to become even more innovative than they already are in developing applications for the design approach.

Use Research to Produce Superior Design

“We have to figure out how to use research to produce even better design – for example by carrying out scientific studies of our sensory and emotional relationship with design. We should view design as an interdisciplinary area, and we should use our full range of competencies in new ways. We’re just beginning to do this, but we still have a long way to go,” says Tore Kristensen.
He thinks that Denmark ought to pursue the new forms of design and focus much more, for example, on the design of strategies and processes, design thinking, and experience design in order to counter the Chinese progress in the field of design.

Research and craftsmanship. Tore Kristensen argues that Danish designers should draw on research to produce even better design. He adds that in addition to this, Danish designers should also preserve the Danish design tradition and cultivate good craftsmanship in design. Photo: Henrik Petit

According to Tore Kristensen, good examples of experience design include the Experimentarium, Lego and the Noma restaurant, as they are all based on the philosophy of conveying experiences in a way that involves the body. And that is the only way to create the Aha experience that makes a difference for the individual.
“Noma offers that Aha experience, where you suddenly realise that there is a link between what we eat and our surroundings,” says Tore Kristensen.

Strengthen Quality Craftsmanship in Design

Still, Tore Kristensen emphasises that we also need to preserve the Danish design tradition and cultivate quality craftsmanship in design.
“As more and more business schools and universities all over the world begin to focus on design and want to work with designers, that trend is beginning to affect design thinking itself. Design is already viewed as today’s answer to innovation, because practically all innovation now contains an element of design, and when design is integrated with innnovation the result is a synergy effect that benefits both aspects. It will be the focus of much attention in coming years. But we will also see a renewed focus on quality and craftsmanship. Therefore, Denmark should ensure that quality craftsmanship is also included as a natural aspect of the new areas of design. In designing processes, we need to apply the same level of craftsmanship as we do in designing chairs,” says Tore Kristensen and adds that it is also incredibly important for Danish designers to remember to include the intuitive element in everything they do.

Strong Points in Relation to China

Intuition and creativity are clearly areas where the Chinese still have a lot to learn in relation to the West, says Tore Kristensen.
“The Chinese are amazingly good at rote learning. But the closed character and mindset of Chinese society present an obstacle to development, because the Chinese are not brought up to be independent and creative thinkers; quite on the contrary, they are mainly brought up to follow orders,” says Tore Kristensen.
He has no doubt, however, that at some point the Chinese will overcome this obstacle as well. But exactly when that will come about is not something he is prepared to predict.

Illustration top: The Danish design environment must take action to avoid being left behind, says professor Tore Kristensen, Department of Marketing at Copenhagen Business School.
Photo: Henrik Petit