Dutch designer Joris Laarman is at the forefront of contemporary design with his conceptual, experimental creations that explore scientific boundaries. The Ivy climbing system is simultaneously a functional, adventurous mode of traveling between floors, an alternative to stairs, and an elegant piece of architectural décor. Laarman works to alter traditional perspectives on functionalism: “I wanted to demonstrate that modernist functionality and postmodernist effusiveness do not have to exclude each other … that functionalists are also sinners of styling and that soberness is not always more valid than highly decorative form.”