Contract furnishings provider, Hightower received multiple awards at NeoCon 2021, including IIDA's 'Best Small Showroom' (under 4,000 sf) and 'Best of Competition' for its newly designed Chicago showroom.
Humanscale welcomes Elizabeth Margles to its Marketing Division in the role of Chief Marketing Officer. Margles comes to Humanscale with twenty years of experience in design, fashion and retail and a background in public relations and advertising.
The exclusive relationship with Kontrol's BioCloud® Technology will provide real-time detection of airborne pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 to help make workplaces safer as organizations return to the office.
Legendary designer Charles Pollock returned to the spotlight in 2012 after a 47 year break from the design world to unveil a new series of products for Bernhardt Design. After that success, Pollock continued his relationship with the brand by starting to develop new work for them but unexpectedly passed away in 2013 before it could launch. Now, Bernhardt Design is honoring him with the release of his last collection, Finale.
Educational furniture maker Vanerum Stelter LLC of Grand Rapids has closed on its acquisition by MooreCo Inc., a Temple, Texas-based educational and office furniture manufacturer. In acquiring Vanerum Stelter, MooreCo will add a range of furniture for the educational market, which includes classrooms and makerspaces, according to a statement. Project management services, products and customer service will now be supported by MooreCo.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Both companies entered a strategic partnership in April 2016, prior to the acquisition.
Giuliano Mosconi, president of Tecno (€35 million in revenue, including €4 million in the U.S.), which produces made-to-order office furniture and in 2017 will open centers for logistics and processing in New York and Atlanta, was surprised by the outcome of the U.S. vote. But he said the company's “office furniture is sufficiently distinctive, as many items Made in Italy often are, that they'll [be fine]. I don't think they will be penalized in the medium term. We've also grown significantly and created a logistics hub to keep up with the rhythms and timing of U.S. delivery.”
Many people today hate cubicles and see them as an outdated part of the office that confines and traps employees. But the history of the cubicle is quite interesting.
Revenue of $71.5 million in Q3, representing a 15.2% increase over what was previously a record quarter.
"The third quarter represents the first time we have exceeded $70 million in revenue and highlights the growing momentum we are seeing in almost all of our industry segments," said Mogens Smed, DIRTT CEO. "Perhaps more notable is that the energy sector, which significantly reduced our growth in 2015 and 2016 was only 1% of our business in Q3. Our long-term strategies of diversifying into complementary industries such as healthcare and education and accelerating investment in new solutions and leading edge technology such as ICEreality™ are paying strong dividends."
Twenty years ago, a "nice" office chair was a moderately priced, if objectively hideous, task chair that didn't crush your lumbar spine. Today, as companies eschew cubicles for workplaces that feel more like living rooms, you'll find classic Eames lounge chairs, hot pink Fabio Novembre Nemo chairs, and everything in between. Chairs have become showpieces, embodying both new workplace ideals and how a company wants to be perceived. You are what you sit on.
At the 2016 Fast Company Innovation Festival, we got to peek inside the offices of more than two dozen creative companies and organizations in New York City, from Etsy and Squarespace to Microsoft and The Onion. Click through the slideshow to see each company's favorite chair.
In art and in news media, there hasn’t been a president, real or pretend, who hasn’t been seen sitting behind the Resolute Desk—an 1880 gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B. Hayes—looking stern or pensive or accomplished, depending, of course, on the moment. But the idea that the president has a desk and that desk is the president’s desk, though, is a relatively new one: Plenty of nineteenth-century Commanders in Chief brought furniture from elsewhere, while others oversaw White House redecorations that included custom furniture, which itself would be modified by later administrations.
The Resolute, too, was altered by a president, but it has become so ingrained in the national consciousness as the Place Where the President Sits that it is virtually impossible to imagine a future U.S. head of state making changes to its structure or appearance—and equally impossible to imagine one choosing to sit anywhere else.
The biggest factor is the move toward public and collaborative spaces in practically all markets. Booths provide a number of advantages in these environments, including their ability to serve as a natural divider of space. By establishing natural barriers, booths provide an easy way to create zones within large spaces. Booths also can make a work or study environment feel more like a social destination, helping to spur creativity, comfort and collaboration that can lead to better productivity. The emphasis many employers place on collaboration is the biggest reason for the growth in booth seating installations in the corporate market. The importance of socialization has led to the introduction of stand-up height booths, which make it easy for communication within a group whether people want to sit, stand, or to briefly join the conversation.
Tom Deacon has been missing for a decade, as in gone, no more work, no website or instagram, just gone. After a string of iconic and mega successful product launches, he dropped out of the design world to get lost in the backwoods, creating land art, making gardens, and experimenting in his woodshop. Deacon has recently shifted back to the city, sold his gorgeous condo, made another hit chair, and is wondering where design has been while he’s been away. We had the wonderful opportunity to check in this week, to talk about design life, and learn what motivates and moves one of Canada’s top design talents.
Every night, Manhattan's sidewalks are lined with garbage waiting for pick-up. The most common piece of furniture you'll see curbside are adjustable office chairs, the cheapie kind you get at a Staples or an Office Maxx for $100 or less. (This isn't limited to my neighborhood; I overheard Jimmy DiResta, who lives further east, say he sees the same and often harvests the gas shocks from them.)
One thing I've never seen is an Aeron or a Steelcase Gesture sitting by the curb. If you buy one of those, you're keeping it for life, or selling it if you no longer need it. They retain their function and value, and cost closer to $1,000 than $100.
Which begs the question: Is it possible to create an enduring office chair with sophisticated ergonomic mechanisms at Staples/Office Maxx prices? The cynic in me thinks it is not. But one company is trying—and intriguingly, it's a robotics company.
Sam Hecht and Kim Colin presented Plex Modular Lounge Seating for Herman Miller. Designed to support Home, Office, Education and Healthcare settings, Plex allows the ease of flexible arrangement with a compact seat that’s designed for individual comfort.
Plex consists of a series of units that each provide comfort and usefulness and can be combined with other units to make additional settings – a simple hook allows the flexibility to re-arrange the modules. It is engineered using Herman Miller’s extensive knowledge of ergonomics, anthropometrics and comfort, and uses super-seat technology in its webbing – a stretched rubber membrane that adjusts to whatever posture you may take.
Although it looks like an ordinary office desk, the Flex can be so many more things: A coffee table on which to prop your feet while watching TV on the couch, a spot to enjoy a quick meal, or a cocktail table on which to set down a drink. That’s because it’s equipped with a high-tech, microprocessor-controlled lift system that raises and lowers the desk to over 200 different positions with a touch of a button. And because it’s powered by a compact lithium-ion battery, there’s no pesky cord to deal with. Best of all, you can plop it down in any part of the house.
Designed with busy multi-taskers in mind who want to get the most out of their furniture and living space, the Flex by NextDesk adapts to your needs—whether that is to have a multi-purpose table, or a multi-purpose room. Raise the table to standing height, and any room turns into a workspace. Lower it to chair level, and now it’s a surface on which to draw, dine, play cards, or do any number of activities.
With the average office worker spending more than five and a half hours sitting at their desks each day, it’s no surprise that it’s affecting our health. Research shows that an extremely sedentary lifestyle can lead to serious health problems, such as obesity and heart disease.
To that end, there’s a growing demand for designers to create office spaces and specify office furniture that will help to improve their clients’ health and wellness. Today I’m sharing 4 pieces of office furniture that offer myriad health benefits, to inspire your next project with a health-conscious client.
In early 2010, Dutch designer Christien Meindertsma became interested in flax. So she approached a local farmer, Gert-Jan van Dongen, and asked him to sow flax seeds on a farm in his field. By the summer, van Dongen had grown an entire field of flax, which Meinderstma harvested with the intention of using as a design material.
Six years later, the resulting Flax Chair has won two Dutch Design Awards (DDAs)—not just because it looks good, but because in creating it, Meinderstma was able to invent an entirely new sustainable material.
Swiss furniture brand Vitra is launching a limited-edition version of Charles and Ray Eames' Lounge Chair to commemorate its 60 years in production.
Vitra's update of the chair is upholstered in black twill fabric from the company's materials library instead of the traditional black leather.
The Lounge Chair Twill and matching Ottoman will be available for a limited period of three months between November 2016 and January 2017.
In late September, we asked designers and architects to utilize our new LessThanFive Customizer tool to create a design that would make the LessThanFive Chair uniquely theirs. We had a great response and received more than 340 entries for our Create Your LessThanFive with Coalesse contest. Designer Michael Young, Coalesse director of design John Hamilton and Coalesse brand manager Krista Markell sifted through all the entries before choosing their three favorite designs.
The winning entry chosen by the judges was created by Felix Martinez of Partners by Design in Chicago, Illinois. The judges felt Felix’s design best used the capabilities of the Customizer tool in clever and unique ways while still considering the form of the chair.
Inspired by the structure and materiality of a ski boot, the Striad Lounge Chair is one of the latest entries into the Herman Miller Collection. We sat down with Jehs and Laub to discuss the chair in detail.
“Our hearts belong to furniture,” says Markus Jehs, who along with Jürgen Laub comprises Stuttgart-based design studio Jehs + Laub. Since founding the studio in 1994 following their studies in industrial design at the Schwabisch Gmund University, the duo has pursued furniture projects. “When we were young we went to Italy to work with the famous Italian furniture companies,” says Jehs. “It wasn’t easy in the beginning, but we tried hard and long and one day we had a breakthrough.” Influenced by the now numerous relationships they’ve established with clients around the world, the two describe their approach as a European one.
VITRA work at orgatec 2016: Konstatin Grcic presents the ‘chair table’ and ‘stool tool’ for VITRA as part of the furniture brand’s ‘work’ project. The two furniture pieces join ronan and erwan bouroullec’s ‘cyl’ system as part of an exploratory design study by VITRA, which they might introduce as standard products in the future. in his response, the german designer addresses the theme of super-flexibility and has produced two multi-functional concepts.
At the Orgatec 2016 in cologne, germany, designboom interviewed konstantin grcic where we discussed the influences behind his design study, the applications of his two concepts, and how soon we may see them in our offices.
From Belgian designer Alain Gilles comes his very first chair for BuzziSpace and it’s called BuzziFloat. The office chair is simple in design and is made to feel light and airy, almost giving it the illusion that it’s floating. A strip of bent plywood curves around to form the back support, while a similar strip wraps underneath the seat connecting the pieces together.
French designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec have created a furniture range for Vitra that aims to bring the atmosphere of home into the office.
The Cyl collection of tables and sofas, which were unveiled at this week's Orgatec trade show in Cologne, are made from solid wood and have a natural, minimalist look.
The appearance of Cyl is partly rooted in its history, which saw it initially developed as a product for the home.
