Lervik is a designer with a wide range of work, drawing everything from chairs, carpets, glass art, lamps, barbecue grills, door handles, sculptures… And elevators.
— I am passionate about innovations, he says, so the products I’ve designed often have smart solutions and new areas of use.
He’s been working with Aritco — a Swedish company that produces the elevators in Stockholm, which is unique — since 2013. Throughout the years, he’s been deeply involved in the process of taking them from an industrial company to a modern design company. The first Lervik-designed elevator for Aritco, HomeLift, was presented in 2016 is now being followed up by the new HomeLift Access. As the name suggests, accessibility has been considered in every aspect of the functionality. It has an adjustable size for different types of wheelchairs, a safety system with an emergency lowering mechanism and battery in case of breakdown, and automatic door openers to avoid accidents. Lervik tells that the goal was to make it so aesthetically beautiful so the architect really wants to draw them into their environment, and not just because certain regulations force them to draw them in.
— When I designed HomeLift in 2016, we started with a blank sheet of paper and developed a completely new elevator. This time we have updated an existing elevator, so the frames have been much tighter, which has made the work more difficult to achieve a good end result. I have worked with the aesthetics of Scandinavian simplicity in combination with technology, and brought in light as much as I could.
Has the pandemic changed the home lift market, with people staying more at home?
— I don’t think we have seen the real effect yet, but I’m convinced that people around the world will put more focus on their homes. With the digital technique where we suddenly have started to have meetings from home, I believe that more people will leave the cities for a better life in the countryside. So, that will affect the lift market when people make such priorities.
