Tag: transplant

Lift11: Alexandre Bau and Birgitta Ralston, The story of a unique workplace: transplant [en]

[fr] Notes de la conférence Lift11 à Genève.

Live and India-lagged notes from the Lift11 Conference in Geneva. Might contain errors and personal opinions. Use the comments if you spot nasty errors.

Met on 02.02.2000 — immediately decided not to work together. But they’re both designers, so it was kind of difficult!

Left Paris to settle in Norway. They dreamed a huge house where they could live and work. Failed. Went back to Paris in an old van. But didn’t give up.

*steph-note: I think I’m tiring and find it difficult to take notes in the two-speaker format, though it’s nice to listen to. Check their pre-lift interview.*

Found some land, spent a lot of energy convincing a lot of officials, found an architect to draw the house. Different modules with different views on the water. Different functions for these different spaces.

How does transplant work? One company, for example, came to them for new business ideas. Engaged all the resident designers to discuss the ideas. Another one, the whole management came and worked strategically but also on their product. Information design and food. A Japanese chef came over to do the final design of her restaurant.

*steph-note: basically, having clients come in-house and working very closely with them, involving them throughout the process. Seems like a live-in office for clients too, if I understood correctly.*

Transplant allows going back and forth between ideas and concepts and prototypes etc — that requires a lot of meetings. So at transplant they have the beginning of a coach network, professionals they know and can draw in. *steph-note: the “need lots of meetings” reminds me of why I do half-day sessions with my clients to make websites with them instead of doing them for them.*

Ideal lab: engaging in social issues that have not been brought to them by a client (because they’re too high-level or ideal).

Intensive, because receiving people in their own space. Truly international organization. 80 people, 6 nationalities.

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