The best designers of the red dot design award 2007 in interview: Inga Sempé

In this year`s red dot award: product design a red dot: best of the best in the category living rooms & bedrooms was given to the “MOËL” upholstery by Roset. red dot online talked to the designer, Inga Sempé about her product and the challenges designers have to face these days.

What inspired you to create this particular product and what was the intention behind it?

I wanted to create a settee which is extremely comfortable and yielding, without looking too squashy or flaccid, and without a ‘heavy’ appearance. This is why the seat and all-enveloping back sit within a shell shaped like the ‘corolla’ of a flower, which is made from a more rigid material.

What does being awarded with the “red dot: best of the best” mean to you?

Am glad about it, because I saw some real nice products which have won the same prize in the past years, like the Facett by the Bouroullec Brothers with Ligne Roset.

What particular challenges do you think designers have to face these days?

The french industries just begin to think about designers to conceive products, using them mostly for their communication, not with the aim to do the best product. They ask to work with designer when he or she has got a little wellknown, because has worked several times for Italian companies. So the challenge would be that french companies would take the „risk“ to work with designers, without waiting  for a good feedback from foreign countries.

As a designer, what would you still like to accomplish in the future?

I would like to design pens, tools, wooden stoves, cars.

What do you think is the economic significance of design?

It is becoming more and more significant, because Designers become like brand.

MOËL – designed for a life full of comfort and zeitgeist

In contrast to many multifunctional sofas with movable parts the MOËL upholstery defines itself as an easy and comfortable repose that offers the user many seating options. Its name is derived from “moelleux”, a French word meaning “cosy and soft.” The aim of the French designer Inga Sempé has been to create a piece of upholstery that provides extra soft comfort that promises both a feeling of security and relaxation. It has been designed as a kind of functional soft seating shell, which (en passant) succeeds in lending sofa design a new language of form. MOËL complements the many years of the manufacturer Ligne Roset’s expertise in the area of full-foam seating designs and features soft and comfortable upholstery as well as a generous, encompassing backrest. It has been formed out of an oversized soft cushion, which is combined with a supporting shell covered with either leather or pure wool. Its characteristically striped padding on the seat and backrest mediates comfort and cosiness, and creates an intriguing contrast with the rigid outline of the supporting structure. The design of this sofa is for everyone who enjoys a cosy and natural as well as relaxing lifestyle and likes to be able to use the seating options of a multifunctional sofa as the mood takes them: upright or lolling, or for welcoming friends. MOËL snuggles up to its occupants like a nest or cocoon. It is inviting and radiates calm – designed for a life full of comfort and zeitgeist.