F/LIST sets its sights on revolutionizing markets with the launch of the F/LAB innovation hub

F/LIST, a pioneer in the design, production, and installation of innovative luxury interiors for business and private jets, exclusive residences and yachts (offered by the 100% subsidiary F/YACHTING), is celebrating the official opening of its newly expanded future laboratory, the F/LAB.

The F/LAB represents the center of innovation for the Austria-headquartered business and is a dynamic hub for creative thinking, cross-discipline collaboration, and imaginative experimentation. The commercial launch marks its transition from an in-house concept, which has already successfully developed game-changing products, to its position as an essential pillar in the F/LIST innovation strategy.

Building on twenty years of activity in the aviation sector, F/LAB originally evolved as an in-house incubator that was encouraged to challenge traditional manufacturing and product status-quo. It now sits at the core of a new customer interaction strategy and has become a marque representing innovation, technology, and sustainability. The formal addition to the F/LIST brand portfolio represents a shift in market approach and embodies the latest disruption from the game-changing business.

“With the F/LAB expansion, we are demonstrating that we are much more than just a manufacturer fulfilling design briefs. We are introducing the concept of 361° insight, which will see our colleagues not just visualizing our customers' world but working in tandem with them to realize their design dreams. Many of our customers own multiple high-value assets, and with our latest approach, we’ll seamlessly support the interior design and development of their jets, yachts, interior spaces, and residences across their portfolio, in partnership, from inception to installation,” says Katharina List-Nagl, CEO of F/LIST.

The F/LAB showroom where innovative concepts will be introduced and showcased.

Following significant investment, the F/LAB today consists of a project-specific fluctuating inhouse staff of plus or minus 35 developers and mavericks and features state-of-the-art equipment, workshops, a showroom demonstrating its concepts, and testing areas equipped with advanced tools and technologies to formulate unprecedented possibilities for the interiors landscape. The F/LAB is also a think tank for sustainability, exploring eco-friendly alternatives and strategies that will protect the planet's longevity through intelligent application of nature.

The multidisciplinary F/LAB team of engineers, designers, and technologists will continue collaborating with experts from academia, transportation, design, and industry to identify, define and explore cutting-edge concepts and solutions that reimagine the world of interiors. “Our team’s ideas converge to ensure form, function and ingenious thinking, which result in unprecedented features that enhance comfort, functionality, and aesthetic appeal for every interior,” adds List-Nagl.

The initial F/LAB concepts have received high acclaim and include the Shapeshifter F/LAB Morphing Sideledge table concept, which uses advanced technology and ingenious methodology to deploy a real wood veneer table seamlessly and almost magically from the side ledge. Other innovations include Whisper Leather, produced from plant-based raw materials, and Linfinium, a linseed-based compound with applications ranging from countertops to flooring. The Red Dot winning F/LAB Aenigma product portfolio fuses jewelry techniques with aerospace technology to combine elements as varied as ground mother-of-pearl and apricot pits to create materials that can be customized with color, texture, and thickness for use on any interior surface.

The launch event on the 16th May welcomed movers and shakers in the design, aviation, yachting, and private residence industries, and will showcase F/LIST’s unique approach to the interiors world. The event will feature a panel discussion led by Raphael Gielgen, Vitra´s Trendscout, along with Martin Redmayne, Chairman and editor-in-chief of The Superyacht Group, Dr. Julia Riedmeier, Luxury Brand Strategist and Founder of CODE\LUXE, Andrew Muirhead, VP OEM und Engineering Services bei Lufthansa Technik, Richard Hein, Founder and Chairman of The A Group, Alex Beaugeard, Design & Strategyexpert, and F/LIST CEO Katharina List-Nagl.

The panel debated and discussed the future of interior design and what customers will need and expect as interior spaces increasingly need to accommodate more than one function, often acting as home, workspace, and entertainment center. “At F/LIST, we are more than a supplier. We connect with customers at a deeper level so that dreaming becomes doing. With our new 361° vision, we are revolutionizing markets to connect with customers at a deeper level that goes way beyond their expectations in co-creating their design dreams. F/LAB can support yachts, jets, helicopters, and exclusive residential spaces, and that’s a unique quality,” adds List-Nagl.

BlueSky Business Aviation News | 23rd May 2024 | Issue #749