The Story
Blå Station is a Swedish family-owned furniture company founded in 1986 in Åhus.
The name itself reflects this identity. “Blå” comes from founder Börge Lindau’s signature, while “Station” represents a place where ideas, people, and inspiration constantly move and evolve.
Today, Blå Station continues this legacy by collaborating with both emerging and established designers to create innovative, locally produced furniture.
The Product
The BOB sofa system is a perfect example of Blå Station’s approach and one of Blå Station’s most successful innovations.
Designed by Stefan Borselius and Thomas Bernstrand, BOB was created around a simple idea: achieve as much flexibility as possible using a relatively small number of components.
“It was intended to be as flexible as possible with the fewest modules as possible.” - Sebastian, Blå Station
The result is a modular seating system that can be configured in countless ways, from conventional sofas to larger, more organic arrangements.
The Challenge
However, that flexibility creates a challenge: how do you make a product with so many possibilities easy for anyone to understand and configure?
With a highly modular product, customers need to understand more than what individual components look like. They need to see how those components work together.
Blå Station needed a way to help customers:
- Visualize different configurations
- Explore the possibilities of the BOB system
- Experiment without having to understand every product rule
- Create configurations that are actually possible to produce
For a product like BOB, simply displaying the available modules isn't enough. The experience needs to combine freedom to explore with the product logic behind the system.
The Solution
To support BOB's launch almost 10 years ago, Blå Station introduced a dedicated 3D product configurator in collaboration with VividWorks.
Unlike previous tools, this was their first true product-specific planner, designed to handle the complexity of a modular system.
The BOB Planner lets users interact directly with the product rather than trying to imagine configurations from individual product images or descriptions.
They can browse, combine, rearrange, and experiment with different modules while the underlying platform logic ensures that the configurations remain valid.
“It doesn’t allow to build something that's not allowed. The logic is still there.” - Sebastian, Blå Station
That balance is central to the experience: customers and sales teams can try out different ideas without having to know all the rules of the BOB system. At the same time, the planner makes sure they only create configurations that are possible to order.
From product visualization to product planning
The BOB planner isn't simply a way to make the product look good online.
Customers use it to actively work with the product.
“Even experienced users like to use it as a drawing area to try out ideas without any hassle.” - Sebastian, Blå Station
For first-time users, that means they can start exploring BOB without needing specialist knowledge.
For experienced users, the same tool becomes a practical space for developing and testing ideas.
“For the BOB planner, I think it's super intuitive, super easy to use, and a good way to just have fun with the system.” - Sebastian, Blå Station
That combination of capability and simplicity has helped make the planner a lasting part of the BOB experience.
The Results
The strongest evidence of the planner's value is not a single launch milestone. It's what happened over time.
Almost 10 years after the original BOB planner was introduced, it continues to be used as part of the customer experience.
During that time, the planner has evolved alongside the product and customer expectations, while its core purpose has remained the same: making a complex modular system easier to understand and work with.
For Blå Station, the value goes beyond helping customers visualize a sofa. The planner gives customers a direct way to interact with the product and explore its possibilities themselves.
“The planner truly brought product planning to our customers. With BOB, it became a central part of the customer experience. Everyone can use it. You don't need to be an expert. You can just have fun with the system. You like the product, you can start interacting with it right away and try out different configurations.” - Sebastian, Blå Station
A solution that grew with the product portfolio
The BOB planner was the beginning of a relationship that has continued for more than a decade.
Since then, Blå Station has added more 3D planners powered by VividWorks for other modular sofa systems and sound-absorbing panels.
The same approach that helped make BOB easier to configure has also been applied to other products where visualization and configuration are central to the customer experience.
“We're super happy with the planners and our work with VividWorks. Especially now, it feels like we've taken a new step forward. Of course, we would recommend VividWorks for any company looking for a 3D configuration provider.” - Sebastian, Blå Station
With more planners in development, the partnership continues to grow.
What Blå Station's experience shows
BOB demonstrates that configuring a complex product doesn't have to mean making the customer experience complex.
The key is combining:
✅ Product logic that keeps configurations valid
✅ 3D visualization that makes possibilities easy to understand
✅ An intuitive experience that doesn't require specialist knowledge
✅ The freedom to experiment without the risk of creating impossible combinations
✅ A flexible foundation that can be applied across a broader product portfolio
And perhaps most importantly, the value of the solution has lasted. After BOB's planner was introduced, customers are still using it to explore, configure, and interact with the product.
Make complex products easier to configure
If your products offer thousands of possible combinations, the challenge isn't simply showing customers what you sell. It's helping them understand what they can create.
VividWorks helps manufacturers turn complex product rules and configurations into intuitive 3D experiences so customers can explore possibilities, create valid designs, and move confidently toward a purchase.
Contact us to see what a 3D product configurator could do for your products!