Interiors company F/List is celebrating the official opening of its newly expanded future laboratory, the F/Lab, which represents the centre 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 that has already successfully developed game-changing products, to its position as an essential pillar in the F/List innovation strategy.

Building on 20 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. This 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 that will see our colleagues not just visualising our customers' world, but working in tandem with them to realise 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 CEO Katharina List-Nagl.

Following significant investment, the F/Lab today consists of a project-specific fluctuating in-house staff of around 35 developers and mavericks, and features the latest 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 include the Shapeshifter F/Lab Morphing Side-ledge table concept, which uses advanced technology and ingenious methodology to deploy a real wood veneer table seamlessly from the side ledge; 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 jewellery techniques with aerospace technology to combine elements as varied as ground mother-of-pearl and apricot pits to create materials that can be customised with colour, texture and thickness for use on any interior surface.

The launch event featured a panel discussion covering 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 centre. "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 revolutionising 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.