Lumon is growing into a true global force in the balcony and terrace market. But with that rise in recognition comes a real challenge: every new market brings its own tough rules and standards, and Lumon’s products must meet all of them, every time.

The real question is not how design is helping the company to succeed, but how the company is helping the society to develop.

Milton Glaser on Design

Jouni Teittinen is a Finnish Industrial Designer with professional experience of more than 40 years in product design, brand development & management.  He has been a design partner for a variety of locally & globally operating Finnish and Scandinavian companies but also a designer for game changing successful start-up companies. 

Teittinen has won numerous awards & honourable mentions for his designs in home appliances, environment & urban space, wellness & life science and energy & sustainability, such as the IF Gute Industrie form competition, the Red Dot Design Award, Neste Forma Finlandia and Pro Finnish Design competitions. He, along with his colleagues, have also been involved in the design and development of Lumon’s product since the early 2000’s. 

Meeting the Demands of International Design

Lumon product development is guided by the goal to make products which provide benefit for our customers throughout the entire product lifecycle. Following the company’s Design heritage, the products have developed over the years to be the best of their kind. The trustworthy metal locks, handles and pulls of the glazing systems fulfill the most demanding international wishes. Modern and timeless design, a perfect finish and reliable metal structures guarantee long-term, safe and pleasant functionality. 

Lumon products are designed to fit the international quite rich and varied construction traditions, blending into their applications, while respecting the architecture of the buildings and supporting them with design. Cost-conscious consumers with an awareness of quality are very aware of the products they support, constantly making product comparisons. The customer’s primary expectations in products and services are quality, reliability, ease of use and a good price/quality ratio.  

In this article, Teittinen will discuss the crucial elements of design, and how design is not only connected to the product, but society at large.

Lumon’s Design: Safe, Easy, and Enjoyable to Use

Lumon Industrial Design is an important part of the systematic, profound R&D development & operational processes. The Design Target is to create safe, easy and enjoyable to use products of extended space/room for living (balcony, terrace) with high visible, tactile, audible quality and user experience. These tactile elements are behind a bigger promise: to create more room for life.

Lumon Design has developed its modern, modest elegance and design principles for global international markets of glazing products. The Lumon Glazing product line is a comprehensive system that will allow architects and developers versatile applicate solutions for their needs. The system consists of an optimum amount products, elements and accessories to be applied successfully for widely differing international architectural styles and cultures. 

• Compact dimensions and optimized use of durable materials parts are main principles of our design to guarantee flawless functionality, durability and cost-effective mass production. 
• Functional tactile locking, opening and adjusting parts are carefully designed safe, intuitive and friendly to use for customers – regardless of age and gender of the user. 

Lumon parts are designed and manufactured to achieve “superior tactile and audible feedback in use”, and they form a coherent Lumon system with visible brand identifiers. The main tactile parts will have engraved compact, stylish, unobtrusive brand identifier—the Lumon logo—to express high quality finishing on all components of the product. The coming together of a complex product is outlined with close attention to detail.

Sustainability Makes For Timeless Design

Solid constructions and optimized materials with accurately designed details ensure long product life cycle and thus represent the Lumon Design principles of sustainable development.  Sustainability in design, is, in large part, timeless design.

Lumon Design’s minimalistic form follows function design heritage, and aims to remove unnecessary parts from structures. Fixing screws, visible seams and sharp shapes that feel uncomfortable have been deliberately avoided. Thoughtful design and high-quality implementation withstand critical scrutiny. Quality can be experienced with your eyes closed: tactile surfaces, comfortable and safe edges, intuitive use, reliable and assuring feedback sounds when used. Users tend to avoid design solutions and features which are annoying and confusing. 

Timeless design is a promise of longevity. The minimalism of Lumon Design—avoiding WOW-design, flashy shapes and styles—is a result of sustainable design development. With restrained sensibility, we aim for a far-reaching timeless design that supports versatile architecture. 

An unobtrusive, almost invisible, design is successful when the user of the product or space happily realizes later, even over the years and over and over again. The courage to minimize unnecessary shapes and details are strong identifiers of pioneers and persistence.  

The Design Is Ruled by the Principle

“People will neglect the design that neglects its people”

Creating new, meaningful products and services with commercial success has a lot in common with listening carefully to the contrarians. Not only in-house experts or business experts, but those interacting daily with the product. When solving the most annoying features of concepts, products, and services, it is the everyday critics—customers and employees—that provide the ingredients for a competitive edge.

By being unique, bold, and confident, while adapting “common sense”, you will be on the road to success. This has been crucial to Lumon’s story. Especially new startup companies utilize the opportunities others have neglected.

Leadership in Technology

Lumon is eagerly researching the possibilities for new technologies, materials, coatings and manufacturing methods to further promote the development and integration of meaningful features into glazing products, and thus, the comprehensive service and operating process of Lumon. 

Lumon’s product development is constantly looking into the future to find out tomorrow’s needs, possible success factors and social changes with their effects. For productive companies, it is a condition of life. In this way, the consumer’s needs and expectations can also be met in a timely manner in the future as well. Constantly and visibly renewing companies—with their products and services—also have the best appeal establishing their roles as leaders. 

A key task for our R&D team is to find better solutions for the environment without compromising the safety of our products.  Whenever it is possible to choose a material or design that lowers the environmental impact of a product, we do. Material minimizing and recycling are important considerations when calculating the lifecycle costs and possibilities for product updates. Optimal design is a collective effort, where Lumon’s long-term relationships promote and deliver an ongoing progress.

Excellence in design remains our target in all of Lumon’s development and future activities. For now, we have incredible possibilities ahead of us for outstanding architecture, and versatile solutions to realize a bright tomorrow. Lumon is committed to raising the quality of outdoor living by designing, manufacturing, marketing and installing sustainable and versatile retractable glazing solutions.

This commitment is based on our company’s vast 40-plus-year experience as a trailblazer in the industry. Internal management of the supply chain guarantees high quality, lean logistics, and professional and safe installation. Recent years have led this globally expanding company to develop into its own phenomenon; a concept to not only influence the building industry, but the way architectural spaces are to shape society.  

Whether you’re working on a new development or transforming an existing building, Lumon is eager to collaborate and find the right glazing solution for your vision. Get in touch today—let’s build the future together.