James Ludwig

Vice President of Global Design, Steelcase Inc.

Design is Spoken

Space, the kind you live and work in, matters to James Ludwig. He sees profound and intriguing possibilities everywhere he looks and his sophisticated design sensibility is evident in his body of work. His portfolio includes everything from homes to industrial complexes, technology and corporate branding programs. He says each of his projects reflects his social contract to "affect peoples" lives for the better — in some small ways and some big ones — to see the world differently and to make every move meaningful."

Ludwig is Vice President of Global Design for Steelcase, Inc., where he focuses on designs that he defines as "smart, desirable and viable"— visually compelling while incorporating deep research insights, sustainability and a social imperative perspective. A Fulbright scholar with degrees in industrial design from the University of Illinois and architecture from The Cooper Union, he spent seven years in Berlin, Germany, where he co-founded an inter-disciplinary design consultancy. During that period, he taught at Berlin University of the Arts and met the woman he would marry.

Ludwig moved to Berlin in 1992. The Wall had recently come down and it was an exciting, heady time for art, design, music and culture. "Berlin was exploding culturally," he says, "It was a mecca for young architects and artists." Yet without understanding the language, the city initially presented Ludwig with a most isolating and difficult period. "The whole experience taught me an invaluable lesson: that language is one of the most powerful tools of design," he explains.

"To describe your design intent — what someone is buying into — to articulate the quality of the space or object before they actually see and experience it, you have to use words as well as images," he says. "You're dealing with layers of meaning and nuance and you need to be able to capture the quality of an envisioned experience. Without the subtlety that comes with a refined command of the language, the designer is stripped of an essential tool of creativity and communication through human connection." His time in Europe and later, in Chicago and New York, enabled Ludwig to develop a design philosophy that incorporates both experience and object.

So how did such a hip, world-savvy designer end up in Grand Rapids, Michigan designing office furniture? "I'd been on my own for several years and had done everything from a partnership with 20 people to being on my own," he explains. "I had just finished a big project — a mixed-use building in the center of Berlin. It was a great experience but I realized I wanted to contribute on a larger scale than what an individual consultant can do." Jim Hackett, Steelcase's CEO, had clarified integrated architecture, furniture and technology as the core vision for the company and Ludwig thought, "I've done technology projects, I've done furniture and I'm an architect. What could be better?"

Like any good design-driven company, Steelcase's focus is on the user — in this case, the individual at work. Yet Ludwig takes the end-user approach to design one step further: "When we say ‘the user,' we see everyone who touches the product — the person sitting in the chair, the person specifying it, the person who assembles it or takes it off the truck and uncrates it," he says. "Design thinking has value from end-to-end — it's multi-layered and continually refreshes itself."

The contract furniture industry was built on a model of discreet systems for discreet needs — companies created a systems line, then another system and then another. Ludwig sees things as more inter-connected. "We're living in a very pluralistic world. There's not one vision that's going to lastingly dominate. We are as much about what goes on around our products as the products themselves – broader social issues, cultural issues, anthropological issues, all those intertwined things. That's where the experience becomes core to the design problem and the language of design."

Design is a strategic partnership, not just a service, and Ludwig says it's a good investment too because problem-solving is the root of the design character. "That's why I love spending time talking about things that on the surface would have very little to do with my job description — the design of businesses, operational strategies, social concerns. Of course, in the end, I also want everybody to look at our products and say ‘Damn, that's beautiful.'"