On the laptop balanced on her knees, Ritva Hagman, the director of international projects at the Finnish firm Isku Interiors, pulls up a photo from an ad campaign.
“I want to show you this because everyone I show has been astonished,” says Ms Hagman, whose company manufactures furniture for public places.
The picture is of four Isku office chairs – with a 4 tonne tractor balanced on top of them.
And it serves the purpose of explaining ISO 9001. All clear?
“Many times it’s quite difficult to explain to customers what ISO 9001 means,” she says. It is an industry quality standard, but the details can get quite technical. The picture does a good job of getting the message over. “It means this – our quality,” she says.
Isku is an 85-year-old family business that is seeking to expand beyond its traditional market in Scandinavia, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States by focusing on the Middle East. The first stop is Dubai.
The firm set up an office in the city in 2012, with its sales team targeting schools, hospitals and offices. The UAE this year will spend an estimated Dh9.7 billion on education, or 21 per cent of its total federal budget. As a percentage, this is larger than other countries, including the United States at 17 per cent, the United Kingdom at 11.5 per cent, and Finland and Sweden at about 12.5 per cent, according to UN figures. The UAE’s spending on education is expected to remain at this level in the coming years.
Isku will also be hoping to leverage Finland’s reputation for fine design along with its frequent ranking as the world’s leader in education.
Topping the country ratings for education is not by chance, explains Ms Hagman.
“It is really hard work making the pedagogic and physical environment work together,” she says.
The company has for decades supplied furniture to researchers and most recently worked with academics examining how a good learning environment affects students’ motivation to learn and their results.
The findings showed the furniture needs to be flexible, adaptable and sustainable – something the company’s designers now keep in mind.
The change in the way pupils are taught – less emphasis on sitting listening to a teacher at the front of the class, more emphasis on studying in small groups – means furniture that can be switched around as needed is in demand.
Isku has desks on wheels that can be rolled apart when examinations are taking place, placed together in rows when the teacher is explaining something at a board, or moved together into small clusters for group work. The chairs and desks can also be adjusted for height, making classrooms as suitable for both primary and secondary schoolchildren.
And, of course, this is also convenient should the school be used in the evening for adult education classes.
With iPads now incorporated into learning, a desk can sometimes be surplus to requirements. Isku has, therefore, designed a range of upholstered cushions in different shapes and colours. They are fitted with magnets so they can be stored on the wall. And they can be used by children at storytime rather than sitting on the floor.
“It’s much more convenient and it’s like a piece of art,” says Ms Hagman, adding that the concept won a design award in Finland.
In the sphere of health care, Isku’s uses an antibacterial material to upholster its hospital seating. And it is investigating how to incorporate copper into more of its products.
“Bacteria dies on copper within hours and by using it on surfaces one does not have to constantly disinfect surfaces,” says Nicolas von Walzel, Isku’s regional manager for the Middle East.
So having moved into the UAE 18 months ago, how has the company’s designs been received?
Isku has won a contract to kit out a training institute and a university. (Confidentiality agreements prohibit the company from saying where) It is also working closely with ministries and architects to win new projects and searching for local partners to work with.
“We have a good track record,” says Mr von Walzel. “We have done several big projects in Russia.”
While Isku’s furniture is at the more expensive end of the market – it lasts about 20 years before it needs to be replaced according to the company.
“This is a very impressive figure if you compare it to other [brands] which last between three and five years,” says Mr von Walzel. “When you calculate the cost over time we are cheaper instead of buying furniture every three to five years. That’s really something we want to come and change in the market.”
lgutcher@thenational.ae
