Design cooperation between smart and BoConcept: Urban mobility meets urban living room
Stuttgart/Herning. smart, the car brand for urban mobility, and BoConcept, the Danish urban interior design specialist, have pooled their expertise in the disciplines of “form” and “functionality”. Together the design teams of both brands have created a collection of furniture and accessories and a smart fortwo cabrio.
The aim of the design process was to combine the best of both product worlds: the inviting comfort and the warm personal touch of your own home with the vitality and speed of city life. The “smart fortwo BoConcept signature style” and the “smartville collection” will be presented in the BoConcept Friedrichstraße Store in Berlin on 28 February 2013.
The collaboration began as creative exchange about urban design and resulted in the two concrete projects because the requirements in terms of design, functionality and quality are very similar in both areas. The increasing limitation of usable space is a big challenge both in the car industry and in the design of living space – especially in the context of an urban environment and city living. This is why smart and BoConcept have both risen to the challenge of developing intelligent, space-saving solutions, but with no compromises in terms of design and quality. For example, the intelligent smart mobility concept provides an answer to limited parking space and multifunctional furniture helps optimise limited living space. At the same time both manufacturers offer their customers the widest possible options for individualising their products.
“smart and BoConcept unites one common aim: to make optimal use of the limited space available in the city with attractively designed products – products that allow our customers to both express their personality and organise their lives, and that also enable relaxed communication. The intensive exchange with BoConcept about how to create inviting living spaces was very exciting. It resulted in special furniture and a special smart that you feel at home in wherever you are in the city”, explains Dr. Annette Winkler, Head of smart. Claus Ditlev Jensen, Visual Director of BoConcept, adds: “It is of course a new experience for us to work with a car designer. The creative expression within the limits but also within the options of car design was extremely inspiring for us.”
The smart fortwo BoConcept signature style
Taking a smart BRABUS cabrio (75 kW) as their starting point, the designers from smart and BoConcept developed a vehicle that unites design trends from both product worlds. The exterior has a fresh and elegant appearance. At the same time the interior, which is dominated by natural materials such as leather and felt, has a warm, cosy character.
The typical smart bodypanels come in matt crystal white. Matt colours have found their way into car design inspired by home interiors where matt surfaces are very exclusive. The open texture of the paint offers both a high-quality look and an attractive feel.
The typical smart contrasting colour on the smart fortwo BoConcept signature style is a matt oriental brown metallic. This is found on the tridion cell and the door mirror caps. The soft top is also brown. The colour is a clear reference to the wood colours of the furniture world and looks very elegant on a car. Stripes in smart light lemon that adorn both the door mirror caps and the matt oriental brown metallic BRABUS Monoblock VII alloy wheels provide an eye-catching contrast.
The interior clearly carries the signature of the Danish designers: it is dominated by the tobacco brown leather that covers the seats, the interior door trim, the indicating instruments and the sporty BRABUS three-spoke steering wheel. A grey felt material has been worked into the seat backrests, interior door trim and the upper part of the knee pad. As on the exterior, the smart light lemon also creates vivid accents in the interior – in the quilting and double stitching on the seats, on the steering wheel and in the surround of the indicating instruments. The BoConcept lettering on the black velour floor mats and the labels sewn into the seats mark the cooperation. The trim of the oak gear button is the first time that real wood has been fitted in a smart.
As of March 2013 BoConcept Stores in various cities around the world will be using the smart fortwo BoConcept signature style as an agile brand ambassador.
The smartville collection
The jointly designed smartville collection reflects the colour scheme and materials of the smart fortwo BoConcept signature style in the furniture and accessories. At the same time the functionality of the smart is the driving force behind the designs. The heart of the collection is a modular sofa, whose standard size of 2.69m corresponds exactly to the compact measurements of a smart fortwo. The furniture collection is supplemented by an iconic lounge armchair with several references to a car seat as well as a coffee table which is modern and light in its look. The accessories collection includes smartville tableware, special cushions and a table clock that smart customers will recognise from the cockpit of their smart fortwo.
The smartville collection is available from 5 March 2013 in all BoConcept stores around the world and online at boconcept.com.
