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.
Shortly after taking over as CEO in late May, Hackett took the chairman and Ford’s top 12 executives to the Steelcase headquarters in Grand Rapids. The goal: to talk about Ford’s future, to consider different ways to lead the company in a future likely to be marked by speed and innovation.
Brian Walker, president and CEO of Herman Miller, will be honored with the 2018 Peter C. Cook Excellence in Business Award at Davenport University’s 21st annual Excellence in Business Dinner Gala.
At a high level—a level where Hackett frequently dwells—his plan for Ford revolves around focusing the company on revenue sources other than making vehicles with internal-combustion engines.
Anyone who knows Mark Hirons will agree that there is no individual more deserving of the title “Workplace Designer of the Year.”
Since he first joined Humanscale in 1996, Jon Strassnerhas gained a deep understanding and appreciation for the language, creativity and culture of the design community. Jon’s current role as Director of Workplace Strategy mirrors his passion for innovation, sustainability, and the future of this industry as we know it.
Andre Staffelbach, Dallas’ interior design of hall-of-famer, and his CEO wife, Jo Staffelbach Heinz, have decided to run with the big dogs.
On Tuesday evening, the sole owners of Staffelbach Design Group quietly merged their 70-person firm into Minneapolis-based DLR Group, the nation’s 23rd-largest integrated architectural and design firm, which is owned by an employee stock ownership program (ESOP).
Former CEO Max De Pree’s relationships with designers and architects put human-centered, problem-solving design at the heart of the company he served for more than 40 years.
The late “starchitect” Zaha Hadid should be a role model to many beyond the world of architecture—but her genius is often hidden in the dry and impenetrable language of architecture textbooks. The first solo female architect to receive her field’s highest prize, Hadid punched through all sorts of glass ceilings and stereotypes.
Before Detroit put America on wheels, on the other side of the state Grand Rapids had already earned a reputation as a manufacturing powerhouse in its own right. Thanks to its Lake Michigan location, the city became a lumber hub in the 1800s; this soon gave rise to enough quality furniture makers to earn Grand Rapids the moniker "Furniture City." Meanwhile, in Detroit, the Murphy Chair Co. would at one point become the world's largest chair manufacturer.
West Elm has named contract industry veteran Cheryl Carpenter as vice president of West Elm Workspace.
Jim Hackett was raised on Ideo’s brand of design thinking. Can he use it to save the 114-year-old automotive giant?
Calling it a "retirement", Brian Mirsky, CEO, Inscape Corporation Ltd, announced that West Elm Workspace President Jim Stelter has left the company. “Since joining Inscape in January 2014, Jim has helped create and implement our Strategic Growth Plan and he has made significant contributions identifying and developing the West Elm Workspace with Inscape growth opportunity. We wish him all the best,” said Mirsky.
The company, launched in 2015 on the idea of bringing retailer West Elm residential-style furniture to the workplace, is is on track to be a major competitor in the office furniture industry.
American design retailer Luminaire (now part of Haworth) is presenting a retrospective of Italian architect and designer Antonio Citterio in its Chicago showroom. Coinciding with design fair Neocon, the exhibition highlights the connections between processes, products and designs in Citterio’s work, putting his pieces for brands such as B&B Italia, Vitra and Kartell in the spotlight.
Melbourne-based design studio Dowel Jones is a master in crafting functional furniture and objects for daily life. The studio specialises in simple furnishings, lighting and accessories made of everyday hard materials; powder-coated metals and natural wood being staple materials in the studio’s designs. For its materiality alone, Dowel Jones’s latest project is particularly noteworthy. As one of three studios invited to collaborate with Kvadrat and Maharam as part of the brands’ collaboration with the curated online hub Local Design, Dowel Jones has ventured into soft furnishings and upholstery. It’s completely untrodden territory.
The question goes, “Do you think a guy that ran a furniture company is the right pick to steer Ford through the coming upheaval?”
Last Wednesday marked Michigan-born design and furniture icon Florence Knoll's 100th birthday. While no longer designing, she carries an incredibly important place in American design history—thanks to her thoughtful creations that were functional but sleek and stylish. Her many designs—from tables and desks to chairs, sofas, benches and stools—are timeless; reflecting her architectural training and overall sense of style.
The International Interior Design Association (IIDA) is proud to announce Alissa Wehmueller, IIDA, LEED AP, as the 2017 Member of the Year. This award honors an IIDA Member whose commitment to the industry is visibly demonstrated through extensive volunteer efforts and dedication to the IIDA mission of advancing interior design and advocating for its excellence. The IIDA Member of the Year receives $7,500, sponsored by Contract magazine, as well as a complimentary 2018 IIDA membership.
A Ford exec with a design background and who launched its Chariot microtransit system and Motivate bike share program has just been named the automaker’s CEO. Not only does this give Ford a competitive edge over traditional car companies, which have been scrambling to acquire tech startups in the race to autonomy, it shows that Ford is fully committed to its vision of shared, autonomous mobility that may not even include personal cars.
