Like all the other major contract brands, Steelcase has been watching the workplace landscape shift toward a residential and hospitality aesthetic and, in response, developed its “ancillary product” partnerships with residential brands, including Blu Dot. Steelcase now includes the entire catalog of the Minneapolis furniture company on its ordering platform. “By being integrated, designers can drag and drop our furniture into floor plans and drawings and spec them as easily as they can spec Steelcase products,” says John Christakos, cofounder of Blu Dot. “We are integrated logistically on the back end as well, so our products can show up on a Steelcase truck with the Steelcase products at the same time because there are very specific move-in dates.”
Primo Orpilla, cofounder and principal of Studio O+A, a go-to interiors firm in San Francisco, points to a surprising influence on workplace design: coffee shops. With working outside the office becoming so popular, suddenly traditional workspaces feel third-rate. Meanwhile, coffee shops are taking on a luxurious look, be it at Santa Cruz, California–based Verve Coffee Roasters or other Bay Area venues like Sightglass or Four Barrel Coffee, which were designed with residential furniture. “Since a lot of the workforce is able to work in those spaces, it’s affected the workplace,” he says.
Orpilla sees a trend—“resimercial” being today’s industry buzzword—emerging from the idea that people like to work where they spend a lot of time. “It’s about bringing that feeling and aesthetic into the workspace,” he says. “Before, corporations would buy the same lounge furniture and just move it throughout their facility. Now you’re seeing a more territorial approach to making different settings with vibes that feel more curated.” Orpilla has found that if a space is designed with love and care, people work better. “All of that matters,” he says. “People respond to that.”
The idea of residential crossover into workplaces is not new in itself. In recent years, big contract companies have been acquiring more residential furniture brands and retailers: Knoll absorbed Holly Hunt and Vladimir Kagan; Haworth scooped up Italian high-end furniture brands Cassina, Poltrona Frau, and Cappellini in 2014, the same year that Herman Miller purchased Design Within Reach.