In 2007, it seemed that Swedish designer and former-advertising guru Michael Malmborg had it all - high brow design awards, high profile projects, international clout most designers would kill for and a dream project, the Scandinavian luxury furniture brand LYX, realised. Just when everything seemed within his grasp, he became one of the many victims of the global economic downturn.
Before the recession, Malmborg's upward trajectory was steep. Within 10 months of launching himself as a designer and LYX, his brand (he funded this project by selling his award-winning advertising company), he picked up the Elle Décor International Design Award at the Rockefeller Centre in New York City.
"As I got onto the podium for my speech, I thought, ‘My God, when will they realise that I have no idea what I'm doing!'" For Malmborg, it was fun winning the ‘Rising Star' award and reminding his audience he was ‘only' 41 years old, it was also fun to have a drink named after him, and to have Vladimir Kagan (the Hugh Hefner of Interior design) for a fan. However, seeing your ambitious projects from Las Vegas to Dubai vaporise under the harsh glare of the economic meltdown was not pleasant.
LYX suffered too as the luxury market survived but only on paper. The Swede then decided to do what the recession really implored us all to - re-asses our value system. "When you have satisfied your male thirst for immortality by having children, bring profiled on CNN, and winning a few awards, you tend to focus on the more important things," he says. "It was the Christmas of 2008, I looked into my two month old boy Olle's eyes and realised that my life had to change - my focus had to be my family."
LYX was bought back with the plan to run it on the back burner for three years, and Malmborg decided not to launch any new products or exhibit at any shows until 2012.
The scale of his work changed, LYX went under the radar, even on the web, and Malmborg went back to the basics. "I feel like it is my responsibility to make things that I design honest. My approach to any project is that nothing is beneath me," he says. As a designer, all he looks for is the most straightforward way to do something. "Leonardo da Vinci said it beautifully: ‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication'".
With the word design getting harder to define every year as the world throws up new interfaces between mind and matter, a lot of young designers seem interested purely in the superficial - fun, beautiful, cool. "I've moved more towards the original definition of design since my work is much more inspired by problem-solving than looking cool. But it usually turns out to be pretty cool looking anyway!" he laughs.
When he established LYX, Malmborg had his own vision. "It was more about what I could contribute to luxury design, being Scandinavian. For me, that meant being a little bit smarter, a little less snobbish, and a lot more respectful of natural resources," he says. "From the start LYX did something very un-Scandinavian - it created luxurious design. The local industry still finds it difficult to come to terms with that. Ironically, we won every major international design award but not a single Scandinavian one."
Since 2009, when Malmborg's contract with LYX's investors came to an end, he was free to design for other companies as well. The altered scene gave him the luxury to spend more time with his family. Away from the red carpets and flashing lights, he continues to labour on his designs. "I want to regret as little as possible on my death bed. I want to do good things and a lot of them."
When he is not playing the doting father and devoted husband, Malmborg is back to being the bright design star that is he. Shrugging off the debris of the recession and having learnt some hard lessons, the designer is being more selective of what he designs and the market that he caters to.
"I have also realised that it gives me more satisfaction when a product from LYX, not designed by me, wins an award, as compared to when I win awards for my own creations. It's about recognising people who may be more talented than you, who can help you build something really inspiring."
With 2012 fast approaching, Malmborg is oiling the LYX machinery into high gear. "New products are in the pipeline with a planned re-launch of the company in Milan next year," he says. Headlining his second turn in the spotlight is the Steelcloud, a lighting product made of stainless steel balls that reflects its surroundings. It currently hangs above his childrens bed.
