Interview with Janez Smerdelj

Prof. Janez Smerdelj has graduated in 1971 at the Cleveland Institute of Arts, at Department of Industrial Design, Ohio, USA. After graduation he worked in a Design Department at Diebold Company in Cleveland. In the year 1973 he returned to Slovenia and worked at Iskra Company. Four years later, in 1977, he took an offer to join the design team in Design Center Gorenje as a manager of Department for Industrial and Architectural Design. In the year 1991 he became a top Manager of a Design Center Gorenje. Besides working in Gorenje he lectures at the Academy of Art in Ljubljana, at Department of Design, as a senior university professor, which he became in 1997. He received many design awards.

Of course it is a challenge! Simply because we keep listening to – and talking, how mature the white goods manufacturing industry is, with no major technological and innovative breakthroughs. We challenge this fact in all stages when developing a new product. We also keep seeking all the time and realizing improvements in technological sense, in terms of functionality and in terms of recognized design as visible distinctive advantages over the competition. Today, however, you can not simply create a design as you think how something should look like. In Gorenje we always use a well thought out project approach. But let me answer your first question – designing household appliances is very important. You must, step into the shoes of a user who will use your appliance on a daily basis and find out how to make routine operations simpler, faster and more comfortable. The fact is, as you mentioned, that the products in the white goods market are becoming increasingly similar, both technically and in price terms and therefore the design is crucial as a visible distinctive feature of our products, making them different from the competitors.

Look, the Design Centre Gorenje is a place with a tradition of excellence. This means that designing is part of a project approach from the very first day. We achieve this with a vision, team effort and above all, excellent people. We often say that our appliances are million ambassadors of excellence – all over the world! And behind which stand excellent people, experts in a number of fields. The tradition of excellence also means that we have been, for more than forty years, employing excellent designers. We are a design-minded company, with a strategically framed development and operating policy in the field of design. About a decade ago, we set a goal, and integrated it into our business strategy, that we will no longer be a follower, but independent and innovative design-driven company. Because we wished to became more visible and recognized, we made a decision for more courageous design, distinguishing from competition in overflowed markets. As far as concerning the design work process, we are integrating it into the development project of every new product, from the creative idea to the final launching to the markets. Designing a new product is a project work, in a development team, that combines experts from various fields to develop solutions and solving problems as they arise.

The importance of design was recognised very early, and also integrated into the business process. In the year 1963 we mark the arrival of the first designer in Gorenje, which was Marjan Dvorak. The need for a good design arose because of a decision that Gorenje does not want to manufacture licence cookers any more and decided to develop and design their own appliances and also because they started to export their appliances to a demanding European markets. In the year 1971 we mark the arrival of the next important designer in Gorenje that was prof. Ciril Cesar, who founded the Design Center Gorenje. He came to Gorenje from well known Hochschule Fürgestaltung in Ulm, which is regarded as a follower of a famous German Bauhaus, and established a new design working vision in Design Center that was ma-de-co system, which is marketing-design-construction system. From that time the Design Centre developed into a professional centre, employing an excellent team of designers. As peculiarity, after Cesar established the Design Centre, he said that Center is not enough for Gorenje and he set a very ambitious goal to upgrade the Centre into an Institute by the year 1980. But we did not manage to achieve that goal because of the sanitation and reorganization in Gorenje and because of an economic crisis in the eighties.

It is also important because we clearly demonstrated to our selves and to our competition, that we can develop an innovative appliance with advanced technical characteristics, with ergonomic handling and recognized appearance. We did not built the design vision only on the traditional experience, that form follows function, but also on the contemporary need, that design follows emotions. Today, living styles are changing faster as they used to. Habits of people are changing, Europe is getting older, young generations are starting their families in their thirties, more and more priority is put on a professional career. All this is reflected in a changing layout of our living space and in the art of living. Kitchens are becoming open and connecting into living rooms, where family and friends spend their time together. People are also changing their eating habits. And all these changes impact on our development and designing of the appliances, because we wish, that they ease our daily routine and beautify our lives. The appliances are becoming more visible and their designs embellish our life. It is crucial that Gorenje, as a manufacturer, is aware of such changes and promptly reacts to them.

First, a distinction must be done between national and international awards. Most of the developed countries have their own national awards of various natures. Slovenia is proud for its international Biennale of Industrial Design, with a forty year tradition, that is becoming one of the oldest design manifestations in Europe. In many places in the world media houses are also organisers. In Slovenia, the Dida Award is an example of this, granted by Delo, a Slovene publishing house. There are also other known national awards, such as Compasso d'oro in Italy. These are followed by a category of international awards, for which designers from different countries may compete. Germany has two international awards – one is IF, International Forum Design, organised at the Hanover Fair and the other is the Red Dot, organised by the Design Centrum Nordrhein Westfalen from Essen. The Red Dot Award is on the one side known for a fifty year old tradition and on the other because of very high expert criteria. All of the products that compete are classified in categories, where each category has its own jury, composed of top designers from all over the world. By attracting the most prominent names, that is world famous design professionals, the suspicion of partiality is dispelled. And the credibility of the jury of top experts makes the award, granted to a product or a company, even more important. There is also another international selection, organised by American design magazine ID, that is International Industrial Design magazine from New York, and they are known for judging on the basic of photography’s or computer visualizations.

We have some recognised names, such as architect Kralj, who is author of a folding chair Rex, than from Davorin Savnik, who did a great work at Iskra Company, to prof. Saša Mächtig, who marked the sixties with road equipment. And Mächtig was the one who already take a part as a jury member of a red dot competition. In nowadays we also have many young designers taking their part of the recognition.

For me personally the successful design is verified at two levels. The first is a purely professional level – represented by design awards. This means recognition for professional work. The second verification is a direct acceptance or response by the end user, who is the same important. Never the less we do not design appliances for museums, but for everyday use.

To Gorenje this means several levels of recognition. Firstly, this means that Gorenje is classified among the leading household appliance producers that are awarded with this design award. Secondly, this is an internal stimulation for us to improve our work even further by setting higher goals in terms of professionalism and excellence in design. And finally, this award is a confirmation of the chosen strategy of Gorenje, not being only a design-minded company but also a design-driven company. The difference lies in that design is a business excellence segment being addressed seriously and not solely as an unavoidable segment of the development process.

I think we are at the beginning of a path, which is already marked with a tradition of excellence. In a global field of designing we are in the phase of exceptional progress, however, the way ahead is very complex, because today everybody is aware of the meaning of the design. I claim that design as such does not ensure success in the market. There are many who think that hiring a designer is enough for a smashing success. Not at all! Design is a ticket to enter the start line of marketing competition, to ensure a good chance to compete. To win this competition you must consider quality, technical excellence, innovations, appropriate price and marketing communication, upgraded with design excellence. I can easily say that a good engineer is capable of developing a washing machine without a designer to take part in the development process. Design itself is added value that satisfies the consumer’s needs and wishes. Since speaking about designing, is speaking about emotions.

In a shop our products are actually the first one to have an eye contact with a consumer. If it is purchased, the consumer is then in a constant contact with the appliance throughout its life cycle. In reality a consumer throws away leaflets and forgets all other marketing communication elements. But household appliances are used almost every day and consumers are in the contact with them as brands. If a product makes positive vibrations and provides positive experience, we can expect that on the next occasion of a purchase, such consumer would at least think about whether or not to stay loyal to our brand.

Yes, we are wilfully managing this path that has visible good results. But the Red Dot Award is not the first recognition of this kind. We have received a number of different design awards, in the recent past some quite important. The international Biennale of Industrial Design in Ljubljana, with international juries, granted us with ICOGRADA Excellence Award and ICSID Design Excellence Award. We have also received national Dida award. I would specially like to stress out, that these awards are not only recognition to designers in Design Center Gorenje but also recognition to all other experts in Gorenje. And this excellence of our products must be all the time on the trial, at professional and the consumers’ level.