We recently had a conversation with Ergonofis Co-founder, Sam Finn. Ergonofis is a Canadian startup that crafts beautiful standing desk work spaces designed to keep you healthy and moving throughout your day. As Co-founder Sam Finn elegantly puts it, “Our mission is quite simple: we want to help people enjoy their workdays and, ultimately, inspire them to move a little more every day. Making a difference in people’s lives is what truly matters to us and what drives us to keep innovating. We’re not in the desk business – we’re in the mouvement business”

F24: “Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, Sam. Can you tell us a little bit about what first sparked the idea for Ergonofis?”

Sam: “Yeah definitely! It was quite a long process but It started when I was roughly 21 years old. When I was 21 I launched an online personal fitness training business and had to use car tires to build a desk that I could stand at. When I did that, two things happened: I realized that standing all day isn’t necessarily better, and I realized that my clients were willing to kill themselves in the gym, but were careless about the way they spent their day at the office. I knew the dangers of sitting for prolonged periods of time, and thought “why can’t we apply a more preventative approach, rather than just treating the symptoms in the gym?”And that’s when it hit me, and I decided to build Ergonofis: I prefer, fundamentally, to go a bit deeper than the often superficial motives for exercising I observed as a trainer in the industry. I felt I could have a more direct impact on actual health and wellness if I chose to stop doing the online training service and focus on Ergonofis. I could have a much bigger impact if I focused on where we spend so much of our lives – at work.”

Here’s what happens to your body when you sit for most of the day
(6 or plus hours)

F24: “What does the the unique process of making a desk look like at Ergonofis?”

Sam: “My partner, Kimberley, focuses mostly on the industrial design aspect, and I focus on designing manufacturing processes that align with our vision of building beautiful, ecologically conscious products. In terms of both design and manufacturing, we have unique differentiating traits from competitors; the wood we use, the quality we deliver, and how we structure our business.

It depends on the model, but for, say… the walnut slab, for any of our higher end products, we apply a custom process where we source the wood together with the client to find just the right slab tailored to their aesthetic preferences. We then move it to our nearby production center and begin to work on the wood with unique treatments and varnishes that minimize ecological impact, but without sacrificing quality. Our tops are the least transformed products available because we use solid wood. This also means that our desks are much more durable than traditional veneered wood or laminate tops. Wood is a traditional renewable resource but in order to minimize the ecological impact we have, we only source our wood locally, significantly cutting emissions by eliminating transit of exotic woods. We plant 3 trees for every desk that we sell; again to be aware of the impact we are having on our immediate environment.

Inlaying the digital interface elegantly was something we hadn’t seen in the market, and so we developed a unique process that was surprisingly challenging to perfect and really really get right every time: conditioning the wood to move with the inlaid touchscreen, rather than warp over time – the slot for the display needs to be durable to move with the wood without damaging as it expands with changing temperatures and humidity. ”

F24: “Will you use more woods in the future?”

Sam: “It really comes down to our environment – we really only use local woods and pride ourselves on this detail. We focus on walnut, maple-wood, cherry-wood, and ash because they can be sourced nearby, but also fit our design standards well…the walnut is definitely our best seller though!”

F24: “Whats in store for the future at Ergonofis – what cool new products are coming next!”

Sam — “As we grow we consistently reinvest in our product offering and further refine and deliver top tier quality for our customers. One product we are currently working towards launching is a smaller version of the ‘Sway‘ model – mostly for people in an urban environment working from home with a laptop. Keep an eye our for that!”

F24: “Here are FactoryTwoFour, we explore “the original lifestyle.” What does ‘living the original lifestyle’ mean to you? ”

Sam: “Thats a great question. I’d say that living the original lifestyle, first of all having the courage to be who you truly are and not what society wants you to be or not what you want to look like on Instagram. I think that’s step one. For me personally its about building stuff, together with other people, and to keep fighting when everyone expects you to quit, and learning as much as I can while I’m still breathing. If I can keep doing that, them I’m original by my standards.”

Check out the full Ergonofis lineup here 

The post F24 Talks With The Co-Founder of Ergonofis appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

In 1961, a young Dieter Rams becomes Head of Design. His approach of “less, but better” helps reinvent how we interact with everyday objects ranging for razors, kitchen appliances, coffee makers, radios, audio systems, and most notably, watches. No matter how arbitrary a product may seem, Rams is able to create a visual language that has inspired the likes of Jonny Ive at Apple. The ability to create timeless design is visible with such Apple products as the iPod, calculator, or Mac, all drawing inspiration from the young Rams, and his work at Braun many decades earlier.

In 1989, Dieter Rams brings the AW 10 wrist-watch to market, a product that embodies Rams’ mantra of a product having “as little design as possible” and irreversibly influences modern minimal design. The Braun Classic timepiece utilizes Quartz 3-hand movement contained within a stainless steel case, water resistant to 50 meters, with leather straps in brown and black. It’s subdued, yet striking appearance exquisitely compliment any outfit –

from your girlfriend’s friend’s wedding, to blasting down the canyon much faster than you tell her you’re going on your Harley, a Braun timepiece is the perfect choice. With its elegance being secondary to function, the watch is never too bulky, or difficult to read at a glance. It satisfies its core objective of presenting the time (and date, depending on model), with clear no nonsense “German-ness”. No matter if tuxedo, vintage leather Ducati jacket, or simple black t-shirt, this classic is always called for.

Below are additional examples of Dieter Rams’ work for Braun, and how his influence on product and industrial design is still very much alive half a century later.

The post The Apple before Apple: Braun. appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

We recently sat down with Henrik Fisker. This modern day renaissance man designed many of the cars that adorn posters and dreams worldwide. Not content with having an amazing design career, he went on to found several companies, design a yatch, and a motorcycle, and furniture, and…well you get the idea. He is currently launching two (!) companies – VLF and Fisker Automotive – along with two new cars (one car for each company, ‘natch…), so we just had to meet Henrik Fisker to figure out what makes him tick.

Interview has been edited for clarity and brevity:

[question] First of all, thank you for sitting down with FactoryTwoFour. I loved the Fisker Karma and it was the second car I reviewed as a new automotive journalist. You’ve done so much over your career and have been involved in so many interesting projects. When you were 25 years old, what did you imagine you would be doing with your life right now? [/question]

[answer]Honestly *haha* I expected I’d be owning my own car company quite frankly, living in LA! What hasn’t happened is owning my private island and racetrack! [/answer]

[question] There’s still time… Viewed from outside, you’ve had the Midas touch with your designs. Many if not all of your designs, the BMW Z8, Aston Martin Vantage, the Karma, have stood the test of time and gathered universal praise. What unifies all your designs? What are you trying to say with each one, and why? [/question]

[answer] I have always gone out on a limb and forced through things I believe in – like generous sculpture instead of slab-sided cars. If it’s too cluttered the cars tend to age quickly.

I just love cars. If I can connect anyone emotionally with my designs that’s something I love. Ultimately you want the person who buys a car to really fall in love with the shape. That is always my goal. [/answer]

[question] For you, what’s the most beautiful car every? Why? [/question]

[answer] *Haha* can I mention my own? The Jaguar E-Type convertible is so dramatic and the sculpture is so beautiful, it has to be the E-Type. For myself, it’s the last car I designed because I put so much into it. So that’s the Force One and Fisker EMotion. They have my sweat and blood.[/answer]

[question] Yes, so the Force One is basically a Viper turned up to 11 and re-bodied in more modernism than an art gallery. Why did you choose the Viper to base the car on? And if the Viper is so good, why mess with it?

[answer] Basically I had an idea for an American sports car. It’s the biggest market for sports cars, but there’s nothing at the highest level of the market. American cars mean you get the most band for your buck. I met a guy in Texas who was racing Vipers and all the mechanics of the car seemed perfect.

At the end of the day the Viper was the ultimate because of the long hood, the biggest naturally aspirated motor, and the fraction of the cost of a European sports car. American design is “show me what you got.” You shouldn’t be timid about it. The Force One, more than half the car is the hood, it’s got 21″ wheels, so it was really about designing the car to show the power.[/answer]

[question] So production started in August, have you delivered any cars yet?[/question]

[answer] Yeah, we just delivered the first car to a gentleman in Texas. Our next batch goes out after Christmas.[/answer]

[question]You only plan on making 50 Force Ones. How many have you sold so far, and who is buying them?[/question]

[answer]We’re just having fun. This is a fun club where we’re selling to collectors. We don’t do any advertising. We’re selling mainly to car collectors and enthusiasts. People with a high true affection for cars. This car is for someone who likes having their neighbor come over to their driveway and ask “what is that?”[/answer]

[question]This is such a classic old-school kind of car. Is VLF a rebuttal to electrification?[/question]

[answer]It would be very nice for the future if we have choice, electric cars or sports cars. I like choice. This is the extreme fun side.[/answer]

[question] I really loved the Karma, but given how everything went with that company why are you still playing in the electric car market? Nobody would blame if you if picked up your ball and went home…[/question]

[answer]  With the Karma, it was an amazing experience, it was like the wild west. There were only 3 battery companies for auto and ours went through recalls and went bankrupt.[/answer]

[question]With the EMotion you’ve cracked the 400-mile range barrier. Given that something like 90% of American’s drive less than 40 miles a day, does range really matter?[/question]

[answer]Here’s the simple reason why – it matters until we have an infastructure similar to gas stations. Unless you have a house, if you live in a city like New York or Paris you can’t charge every night. If you have 400 miles of range you only have to charge once a month.[/answer]

[question] So what does the future hold for you? What’s next?[/question]

[answer] A lot of hard work I think! I feel the future is extremely exciting. I just can’t sit still.[/answer]

[question] And finally, here at FactoryTwoFour our goal is to live “the original lifestyle,” what does living the original lifestyle mean to you?[/question]

[answer] Living the original lifestyle means you have to try to make your dreams a reality and never give up. It doesn’t have anything to do with money. I love traveling the world and meeting my customers, and it’s easy because the world is getting smaller. I love doing this, and living your dreams for me is it.[/answer]

The post An Interview with Henrik Fisker, the Designer’s Designer appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.