Laufen launches a digital experience (with vintage effects) to present the collections - and more - in a truly immersive way. Highly creative

Virtual reality and immersive experiences. The development of digital technologies has been accelerated by the pandemic, now everyone promises them, but what is it like to navigate it, but above all to use it, effectively and concretely?

The virtual space project just launched from Laufen stands out from the others: for the vivid effects, the graphics (with intermittence ) vintage, the layered soundscape, the emotions wired. Q four spaces - narratives - to explore: Urban, Desert, Forest and Artist. But not only that, the Swiss company, certainly not new to creative contaminations, involved the artist Monique Baumann who created three limited edition works with her analogue collages. Because art also enters the bathroom, if the material is malleable.

Live experience online, far beyond the product

While virtual reality applications are anything but exciting and struggle to create a true online live experience, Laufen launches a project, with a high level of creativity, technological but also artistic, where the digital and physical dimensions meet. And they excite.

Laufen virtual space (see here) is in fact the exploration of a dream world through four settings with vintage effects that refer to the Eighties video games in which the products of the Kartell by Laufen, while layered stories come to life like collages that invite the viewer to travel with the mind. Far beyond the size of the bathroom.

A world to explore between digital and analog

Just one click and semi-interactive animated collages appear on stage. Surreal spaces are born that give back the illusion of being touched while remaining completely immersed in the digital world. A journey of process and progress that tells a story in which Laufen products take shape and move delicately.

A different way of navigating through immersive scenarios created ad hoc to present products, but not only. The first virtual space focuses on the Kartell by Laufen collection but there will be new 'adventures' that will feature other Laufen products, and other worlds.

 

Different levels of interaction

The pandemic has limited personal contacts for a long time, reducing communication to virtual meetings. If things, hopefully, are slowly returning to 'normal' , there is no going back: change c ' has been and will be irreversible, not for nothing we have been talking about 'new normality'. Through its virtual spaces, Laufen proposes a platform that facilitates the interactions of the company with the real world and with those who cannot be physically present in a certain place, at a certain time. The goal is to connect people on different levels of interaction.

New business methods that reduce the boundaries between digital and physical

If the design and art sectors, with the formats of trade fairs and large exhibition stands, have remained unchanged for over half a century, the digital revolution has introduced new business methods. There is no doubt that the internet has fundamentally changed the way companies produce, display and present products, information and experiences. But also the way they communicate their identity.

Due to the new behaviors imposed by the pandemic, the virtual world has increasingly taken over the physical world: it has offered a context in which to present products, while also showing its limits. It is now clear to everyone that senses such as touch and smell cannot be neglected. This has led companies to reinvent the entire communication system - but above all of personal relationships - through formats that reduce the boundaries between digital and physical. This is why Laufen with its virtual spaces offers a new way of considering space and the product itself.

An immersive (and architectural) choral project

The one proposed by Laufen is a very studied and well-kept concept, the result of a choral project. It was born from a dialogue with Gabrielle Hächler and Andreas Fuhrimann, designers of various trade fair stands of the company Switzerland, who have always considered architectural spaces as fundamental elements for building a narrative. For the Laufen Virtual Space they availed themselves of the collaboration of the experiential interior designer Annabelle Schneider who created the graphics and the stories. Not only that, since the experience is (really) immersive, the sound design is signed by Carlo Peters and the website project was developed by Henkelhiedl.

Works of art in ceramics and collages

A virtual project, but also (very) physical. In fact, Laufen's collaboration with Monique Baumann resulted in three works (look here) in which the collages of the Swiss artist overlap and mix everyday elements and suggestions from fashion to three products from the Kartell by Laufen collection. As true works of art, they will be available in a limited edition only for a certain period of time. An artistic but also productive project that (showcases) how Laufen is able to personalize the ceramic and offer a bespoke service.

Laufen and (cultured) contaminated communication

From photographic author projects portraying the collection Kartell by Laufen in a dynamic and super glamor mode signed by Hugo Comte and Oliver Helbig, at the new Laufen space in Milan where the products are scattered throughout the space as if they were sculptures in a modern art gallery, the Swiss company demonstrates to know how to keep up with the times, communicating in a different way.

Laufen has always collaborated with artists, for 10 years it has been the main sponsor of Pro Helvetia, a foundation that supports Swiss art and culture also on the occasion of the Venice Biennale, and, among other initiatives, recently presented at Art Basel 2021 a film by the German artist Pola Sieverding made by director Marc Comes.

In short, the winning communication, digital or physical, is that of open companies and 'contaminated'.