The world of design is at the stage of breaking approaches and priorities. It is important for people that the selected furniture reflects the character of the owners, organically complements their daily life both by themselves and in tandem with the overall interior composition. Sometimes impeccable quality and twenty colors to choose from are not enough to achieve this result - we expect a premium segment furniture brand to offer us something more, unprecedentedly flexible in its ability to adapt to the expected result.
The space can be as stylish and prestigious as you like, but at the same time - politely unnecessary, if it does not meet the expectations and lifestyle of the owners
The Ukrainian company ELIO developed such a solution at one time and presented the platform to clients from all over the world. This is the brand's unique know-how, which has become, in a certain sense, its calling card and the starting point of all its further innovations. If you try to describe the platform through analogies, this approach to design and production is most similar to working with a cloud service that stores all the visual and design variables of products.
Such a system allows designers not to re-invent a unique piece of furniture — it is enough to choose a model and "adjust" it to the originally conceived object in terms of dimensions, color, type of fittings and other characteristics.
The platform has become a training ground for variable, but orderly customization of ELIO products. With this format of work, the brand had the opportunity to systematize production and, as a result, scale it for the international market. A clearly verified and algorithmically structured implementation guarantees customers such a valuable combination of a quality product and strict adherence to deadlines. The platform is the basis on which furniture is born. It is able not only to support an unusual visual author's idea, but also to fit the subject into a location with non-standard parameters.
Online metamorphoses
It would seem that this is quite enough for happiness: ELIO has given customers a tool to bring the most complex ideas to life while maintaining the company's signature premium quality. However, this is not the only challenge thrown at brands by modernity.
Maksym Zheleznyak, head of the R&D (Research and Development) department at ELIO
Globalization has freed us from the need for face-to-face meetings to make important decisions and make large purchases. The analysis of existing web initiatives in sales, as well as the development of own solutions in this area, in a certain sense, became a guarantee of the future success of companies - only by going online can you discover the true preferences of the modern client and connect with them.
A clear, easy-to-fill interface, which, nevertheless, provides all the information necessary for decision-making - this is what is expected from brand sites. This trend did not escape the furniture niche either. We talked about it with Maksym Zhelezniak - he heads the R&D (Research and Development) department at ELIO.
"What is considered know-how today may become irrelevant tomorrow, too expensive to produce in terms of time and investment"
"Today, the digital world touches every aspect of our lives, from how we spend our time to managing our finances. We have become digital consumers who look for products and services not in paper catalogs, but through search engines and social networks.
It is quite natural that the main efforts of the ELIO company are aimed at digitization — the process of maximum digital transformation of the company's products. Simply put, literally everything — from attracting a client and selling a product to the final stages of production — is being transferred to the online plane.
The space can be as stylish and prestigious as you like, but at the same time politely unnecessary, if it does not meet the expectations and lifestyle of the owners
At the beginning of this year, I and the team of the entire department were given the task of systematizing all platform products and making them available for modeling and sale online. The web platform with our products is a tool created primarily for our sellers, so that they can communicate the price to the client as quickly as possible and immediately show a beautiful picture, regardless of where in the world the order is placed.
Globalization has freed us from the need for face-to-face meetings to make important decisions and make large purchases
Of course, we never forget about innovation. What is considered know-how today may become irrelevant tomorrow, too expensive to produce in terms of time and investment. Therefore, we are looking for new ways and mechanisms of product production every day: new nodes, new profiles, the latest developments of hardware manufacturers," says Maxim.
A path from a sheet of paper to the living room
Given its unique approach and maximum involvement in the digital world, ELIO can today be considered a Ukrainian giant that keeps pace with the Western flagships of the premium furniture segment. The key factor that allows the brand to maintain such positions is constant development. Despite the presence of unique algorithms, the process of development and implementation of any platform innovation in ELIO is characterized by complexity and multi-stages.
Maksym Zheleznyak also took us behind the scenes of these processes and explained in more detail how brand innovations are born and subsequently released into the world: "An idea can spin for a long time, but everything starts with a concept. The main ideological inspirer of our company is its founder, Yuriy Korostylov. After the idea is approved and accepted for work, the R&D team and I pick it up and turn it into a concept.
Work on any idea in ELIO is carried out according to the principle "from general to partial": at first the team discusses only the concept of the product, and in the process of implementation the nuances are already being improved
The first stage realization of the concept — creation of a 3D model. Here, most of the unaccounted-for points are clearly visible. This is followed by brainstorming, during which we discuss solutions to all the problems that have arisen: we consider options for modifications, the modularity of the design. We also prescribe the original production technology.
The second stage — creation of a test product. Sometimes it is necessary to spend all the time in the workshop, controlling the correct interpretation of all solutions provided by the original concept.
3D modeling makes it possible to assess the nuances of the product, which require structural and visual refinement, right from the start
The third stage — platform creation of the product and all its components in the imos automated design system. In fact, it is a tool for creating an intelligent 3D model that represents the physical and functional characteristics of the product. Such a model does not just cover geometry - the program takes into account a whole set of factors and information about the product, its individual elements, production technology, design, etc. So we get the most complex and varied "picture" at the output.
The fourth stage — final calculation of the cost of the product and all its modifications.
Every detail of ELIO products demonstrates the filigree professionalism of a large and well-coordinated team
In parallel with the last stages, the integration of the platform product into the tool for online sales is launched. This is a web platform in which the manager easily constructs the room according to the required dimensions, places our wardrobes, kitchens or doors there, selects the decor, "turns on" the lighting - and yes, instantly sees the cost of the finished product."
"An idea can spin for a long time, but everything starts with a concept," Maksym Zheleznyak
Modern demand is focused on human simplicity. To ensure this simplicity without compromising coverage, global companies build innovative multi-level algorithms for working with the product and embed them in the very heart of production, hiding from the eyes of the final consumer. A truly personal, concise and quality product today is somewhat like a Victorian music box: we see only a beautiful, filigree-made figure, while the source of the melody - a complex mechanism - is hidden from our eyes and does not "ruin" the emotion of pure, simple pleasure.
Text: Daryna Karapetyan
