Heiko Stahl is General Manager of Vitra Switzerland and Austria, a company that designs products and concepts for work and living spaces as well as retail areas and public spaces. What requirements do workers have for today’s workspace? People’s needs have changed a lot in recent years. A workplace has a different meaning today than it did 20 years ago. Vitra is about creating places of collaboration, with sustainable materials and the power of good design.
Heiko Stahl in interview:
1. What are the core subjects of your keynote speeches?
My lectures are about the purpose of new workplaces and human-centred spatial planning. What purpose must a space and workplace fulfil today? People want to feel a sense of belonging, because we are social beings. It is also about how spaces influence our thoughts, feelings and behaviours. I explain in my lectures why the relevance of the office has never been so high.
2. Which audiance or which branch do you reach with your speech?
The impact of the rapidly growing economic, ecological and digital transformation on the physical world of work concerns everyone, but especially decision-makers who are grappling with what a workplace or an employer must offer in order to promote employee engagement, a sense of identity and home, but also collaboration and knowledge transfer. Heiko Stahl and his team deal with these effects on a daily basis.
3. Are you a PREMIUM SPEAKER? Where do you get your insights from?
I see myself as a premium speaker because I love communication, interaction, and personal exchange with people. I never want to convince my counterpart of how to do something, but to stimulate thought and discussion with my arguments. If I succeed in doing that, I have achieved my goal. I take my inspiration from daily (working) life and from dealing with it.
4. What will be in the future? Does «time» play an important role in your work?
You cannot understand the future, only the past. But from the experiences of the past, one can try to shape the future – so time always plays a role. Time also has something to do with flexibility and the ability to adapt (Darwinism). And at all times one should not forget to include rituals, they are the identity-creating social space of commonalities of an organisation, of a team. Too much steadiness, on the other hand, can feign security.
5. Tell us your life motto? What do you want to give your listeners to take with them?
“Together is my favorite place to be.” and “A beautiful thing can never be perfect.”