Search

License to Build

At the Milan Furniture Fair this April, the Belgian brand Extremis showed up with a very unexpected product. It was not a new design. It was a kit. Or more precisely a box in which one found the right to re-create a single version of one’s favorite Extremis product. Each official license in the box contains the necessary drawings and specifications to have the design made.

Dirk Wynants, the creative head of Extremis and innovative mind behind this very controversial idea, points out that the value of an Extremis product is not only the result of a production process, but that also the intellectual property.

As a reflection of the importance this “intangible” part of the product has, the pack costs 20% of the actual product.

Though the product was not presented as an eco-friendly idea, I believe it is. It avoids transporting designs, allows use of local products and employs local craftsmen.

We should lobby for more designers to do this! Happy building!