Joonas Vartola joins Framery "to really take ownership of all things designed"

Promotion: Finnish designer Joonas Vartola has joined office pod brand Framery to ensure that design culture runs throughout the company, he explains in this interview.

Trained as a car designer at the Royal College of Art in London, Vartola recently joined Framery as chief design officer, as the office pod brand wanted to place more emphasis on design within the company as it continues to expand.

"I started a conversation with Framery as the company was growing – scaling up, and that they didn't have design ownership within the company," Vartola told Dezeen, speaking from the brand's headquarters in Tampere, Finland.

"So, to skilfully move towards the future, they realised that they needed someone in-house to really take ownership of all things design, both physical aspects – industrial design and design development, but also the digital side of things."

As chief design officer, Vartola will be the "go-to person" for all things design at the company.

"We have a growing portfolio of products," he said. "Our products are a cross section of furniture, consumer electronics and spatial design; they are a compilation of multiple products within products – we have seating, tables, handles, touch screens, exterior and interior in these products."

"Not only looking at our portfolio products, but the concept design and future thinking, so the need seemed to be pretty immense, and it needed someone to be the go-to person, the point of contact, related to product development and design," he continued.

"We challenged the way they were made"

Vartola worked in-house for car brands including Tesla in the USA, Mazda in Germany and Pininfarina in Italy, before returning to Finland, where he co-founded consultancy, Ultra Design & Strategy Ltd, with two other partners.

At the consultancy, Vartola worked on an incredibly varied portfolio of projects from drones to furniture, garden tools to weather stations. He was also commissioned by Framery for numerous years to work on the design of its pods.

"Framery didn't have an internal design team really at that time – the founders pretty much designed the first product," explained Vartola.

"They thought, 'it's time to shake up the design of what these phone booths and meeting pods are'. And so I started consulting for Framery, and with my ex-colleagues, we set out to set the tone – the concept design – for the new range of products," he continued.

"We challenged the way they were made, how they are perceived, and how they are used. We supported Framery for multiple projects, from concept to production, over the years."

Although Vartola had collaborated with Framery on numerous projects, he didn't have oversight of the whole design process. He was appointed to be an advocate for design – someone who could have a strong voice for design across the organisation.

"We are really highlighting the importance of making design the focus," said Vartola. "Having me here means I can understand the whole product development and how we approach quality and putting things together – not just the surface, but also what's underneath."

"Sometimes design is not that straightforward"

Vartola believes that Framery creates very efficient products based on sound engineering principles. However, he thinks that in his new role, he can take a more holistic view of both the design of products and the manufacturing process.

"Framery had a way of doing things, driven by smart mechanical engineers – a very streamlined supply chain, and all the stages of product development were fairly agile and made sense, but it was really streamlined for efficiency and speed," said Vartola.

"But sometimes design is not that straightforward; we need to take time to understand the effects. It takes time to go another round and turn the stones and really ask, why are we making these types of products, and who are these really for? Could we make them better, and how?" he continued.

As chief design officer, he aims to imbue design thinking into the design process to ensure that the pods are not only functional but also desirable.

"If I just categorise a little bit, engineers can be driven largely by numbers and pure efficiency – if they execute the final design, sometimes it just lacks that level of care and attention," he explained.

"So I'm trying to bring a little bit of air and like space to the thinking of how we make things. If we fast forward all the processes just to make them as streamlined as possible, there's a huge risk that we miss the nuances and the things that make products desirable."

"We're still leading, but it's nice to have challengers"

Vartola is looking forward to the challenge of pushing Framery's pod design as he believes that there is a growing need for the products as working environments are adapting to more hybrid working. He also relishes the fact that there is growing competition in the pod-making industry.

"There's a growing competition," he said. "So for us, it's great, because the competition means that the need is real."

"The whole industry is growing fast – we're still leading, but it's nice to have challengers from different companies in different markets," he continued.

For Vartola, he wants to create a product that is balanced and can work within numerous existing offices and be a place people want to work from.

"The spatial aspect, for sure, is a great design challenge; it's what intrigued me and what I love about the products," he said.

"We spend a fair amount of time in these pods, so for me, this is an intriguing design challenge to make a calm working environment and harmonise that with ergonomics, materials, usability of the products, while balancing the exterior and the interiors," he continued. "We want design harmony and to make a cohesive product."

"The design culture leads to trust"

Vartola also noted the fact that the brand sees the pods as products.

Framery wants to create a limited number of ranges of adaptable pods that fit the needs of its users, and Vartola believes that having a strong belief in its designs will help build trust with its customers.

"These are deliberately products, rather than temporary meeting rooms that can be assembled anywhere," he explained. "So in terms of like controlling and managing a portfolio, creating these as products is a cohesive approach, in my opinion, too."

"The design culture leads to trust – why do we pick certain brands over and over again, whether it's an iPhone or clothing, furniture, or indeed a pod?" he continued.

"Quite often it comes down to trust that the product doesn't fail and it delivers the key purpose of why it's designed."

Overall, Vartola hopes to build trust by bringing design thinking to all aspects of Framery's business. To do this, he will be building a design team at the brand.

"It's continuous awareness of design all the time, in all aspects – definitely a company of this scale, with over 500 people and so many products, they need that ownership and constant attention."

"We'll be building an in-house team here to bring a culture of design discussion, design reviews and reminding people that sometimes design is not linear and measured by numbers, sometimes it's intuition and takes time to understand."

To find out more about Framery and its products, visit the brand's website.

The photography is courtesy of Framery.

Partnership content

This article was written by Dezeen for Framery as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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