Steelcase is signaling a new day in workplace design at NeoCon 2018, unveiling innovative new products, partnerships, an acquisition and compelling spaces. These introductions give customers easy access to more choices, helping organizations create great employee experiences in the workplace. The newly expanded and redesigned showrooms were awarded the Best in Competition for the IIDA/Contract Magazine Showroom & Booth Design Competition for 2018 and were also named the Large Showroom (4,000 sq. ft. or larger) category winner. The new showrooms celebrate the extensive range of Steelcase offerings — from the iconic new SILQ™ chair to collaborations with Microsoft and West Elm — bringing to life a new vision for the future of work.

“Leading organizations are focused on growth, which means they need to drive innovation and adapt their culture to be more agile and creative,” says Jim Keane, Steelcase president and CEO. “All of the new products we’ve designed, our new collaborations and upcoming acquisition are part of a strategy to help organizations create a great employee experience where people will thrive. Our aim is to offer our customers easy access to more choices with unmatched service provided by our world-class dealer network.”

Steelcase at NeoCon 2018

New Showrooms

For the first time, Steelcase, Coalesse and Turnstone, along with an extensive new network of partners, come together in expanded and redesigned showrooms on the east wing of the third floor of the historic Chicago Merchandise Mart. Two distinct areas complement one another within the new showrooms: the Steelcase WorkLife demonstrates how a ‘smart + connected’ workplace can improve the employee experience and drive innovation, and the all-new Steelcase WorkCafé features a dynamic ecosystem of spaces designed to support the wellbeing of people and foster connections at work.

"High performing workplaces are feeling more like creative studios versus corporate offices,” said James Ludwig, vice president of Global Design and Engineering. “We are pleased that our new showrooms won the Best in Competition because they are a reflection of the way work is changing today.” The WorkCafé was designed by Shimoda Design Group in collaboration with the Steelcase Design Studio, teaming up again to complete the vision begun with the WorkLife in 2008. Steelcase Health, Steelcase Education and Designtex complete the experience with all-new, expanded third floor showrooms.

New Collaborations

Steelcase will feature solutions from its growing network of global partners that is quickly becoming one of the largest in the industry. Recently announced collaborations in the U.S. and Canada include West Elm, Extremis, UHURU and SnapCab. These brands complement an already extensive Steelcase portfolio and existing partnerships with great brands such as BluDot, FLOS and Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, among others.

Steelcase and West Elm announced last week they are finalizing details of their new relationship with the goal of helping organizations create inspiring and vibrant places where people love to work. Steelcase expects to offer a collection of West Elm furniture with a distinct modern, residential sensibility throughout the U.S. and Canada by the end of the year. Additionally, the two companies plan to co-design, make and distribute new workplace solutions to meet the evolving needs of people at work.

The company is also partnering with Extremis, a renowned Belgian furniture design group with a collection of products that focus on togetherness and celebrating life outdoors. The collection of Extremis products will be offered in North America with expected availability in late summer 2018.

Steelcase will also offer contract furniture from UHURU, a Red Hook, Brooklyn-based multi-disciplinary design firm. Over the past 10 years, UHURU has built a large-scale contract furniture division focused on elevating the workplace experience with furnishings focused on innovative, bespoke design that “add to greater good in the world.”

SnapCab also joins the network of partners, offering stand-alone offices that are quiet, easy to install and relocate, and can be customized to suit any work environment. SnapCab will be available in North America.

Steelcase also announced last week that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Smith System Manufacturing Company, a Texas-based manufacturer of high quality furniture for the pre-K-12 education market designed to inspire better learning and improve outcomes for students.

In addition, Coalesse will feature its alliance with Sagegreenlife, a leader in the design and manufacturing of interior and exterior living green walls. The relationship is focused on enlivening the workplace with living walls.

In addition, Steelcase recently announced an expansion of its relationship with Microsoft, furthering their shared belief that technology can make space more effective and that well-designed places can make technology easier to use. In collaboration with Microsoft, Steelcase is creating a system of easy-to-hang wall mounts and a lightweight rolling stand with the new Surface Hub 2 that give people true mobility to collaborate anywhere and to reorient the device in the best way to visualize their information. This complementary system of integrated components created by Steelcase will give local and remote teams the fluidity to collaborate using the Surface Hub 2 in whatever ways work best for them. More details about availability will be announced this fall.

New Innovations
Steelcase is also introducing a broad range of innovative solutions inspired by its in-depth research of people’s needs in the workplace. The already award-winning SILQ chair is available to order today. A breakthrough in seating design, its patent-pending material composition and new manufacturing process is redefining the office chair. Its innovative materiality is both mechanism and artistry, delivering a personal experience by responding to the unique movements of your body.

Steelcase also unveils Mackinac™ (MAK-uh-naw), a range of furnishings that support the accelerated pace of work and help people move, think and feel better. Its unique, height-adjustable cantilever work surface allows people to quickly shift between individual focused work and collaboration without leaving their workspace. Mackinac furniture elements can create a series of distinct “microzones” to support diverse types of work, including rejuvenation, throughout a stressful day, all in a compact footprint for either an enclosed office or an open floor plan.

Other new solutions unveiled from Steelcase include:

Clipper™: A freestanding screen from Turnstone that provides on-demand privacy in open office environments. Clipper comes in either a 72-inch height version or a 56-inch version, covered in fabric with optional contrasting colors, a magnetic closing system and handles for easy portability and storage.
Coalesse Color, Pattern and Material Capabilities Programs: These programs empower designers and customers to easily customize their workplace, add sensory richness and express their vision.
Convey™: A modular casework solution from Steelcase Health with a clean, tailored design and engineered performance provides healthcare organizations a flexible choice across a variety of spaces including exam, patient care and respite areas.
Embold™: A collection of seating and tables from Steelcase Health that combine beauty with accessibility, while offering a variety of sizes and material options. Inviting and expressive, Embold brings residential styling to healthcare with a collection that is versatile for a wide range of people, needs and spaces.
Motif™: A wall mounted modular panel system from PolyVision, a Steelcase company, designed for simple installation, encourages people to personalize their collaborative space using color and composition.
Nooi™: A versatile, multi-use stacking chair by Wiesner Hager. A great solution for café, front porch, touchdown and guest spaces. Its comprehensive statement of line includes a four leg café, a four leg frame that links, a sled base chair, and café and bar height stools.
Ology® with Active Touch: This desk, designed to promote user movement and wellbeing, includes two control options: Simple Touch, which empowers people to effortlessly move the desk up or down without taking their eyes off their work, and Active Touch, which reminds workers to change posture with gentle desk motions. It also pairs with the new Rise app (available Winter 2018), allowing workers to create a profile that saves preferred height settings, sets reminders to move and tracks activity to achieve wellbeing goals.

Smart + Connected Workplace

Leading organizations are accelerating their digital transformation in pursuit of growth and innovation. The Steelcase Smart + Connected workplace is helping customers analyze and make sense of the relationship between their people, spaces and technology so their workplace can be more desirable and productive. It also helps people be more engaged and satisfied with their work. NeoCon showcases:

Workplace Advisor Subscription: A suite of workplace measurement and analysis tools that provides data and insights on space usage, revealing opportunities to optimize the workplace and improve the employee experience. Workplace Advisor Subscription is built on the Microsoft Azure platform.
Live Map: Also built on the Workplace Advisor Platform, Live Map lets people orient themselves to a space and immediately see what is in use and what is available.
Steelcase Find: The app allows employees to quickly find and easily reserve the best space to meet or work, on demand.
Steelcase Rise: This app pairs with Ology Active Touch height-adjustable desks to inspire movement and offer a new level of personalization.