July 2, 2024

3 Days of Design proves we don’t know what we’re doing

by Luke Munro • Comment, Environment, Workplace design

We don’t know what we’re doing. That was what we all learnt about sustainability at last week’s 3 Days of Design in Copenhagen as Denmark’s capital city played host once more to this increasingly influential European Design event. Timed, as it is, in the same week as Chicago’s Neocon, and following on from Milan’s enormous and well-renowned Salone, not even intermittently inclement weather could disguise the noticeably larger audience drawn to Copenhagen this year. More →

January 18, 2024

Office trends may come and go, but some values (such as good ergonomics) are eternal

by Luke Munro • Company news

In 2024, Wellworking celebrates 25 years of being in business, a milestone I’m proud of in such a competitive market. A lot has changed over that time, and I’m excited by just how much working habits will transform over the next few decades too. When I first established the company in 1999, it was called Home Working Solutions as I felt there were increasing numbers of people working from home that needed appropriate furniture to do that. It was important to me that they had access to quality ergonomic products as I felt that people working from home had very few options on offer at the time. More →

August 24, 2023

Why Wellworking decided to become the latest B Corporation

by Luke Munro • Company news, Environment, Workplace design

Putting people and the planet above profits may not appear at first glance to be a recipe for financial success for a company like Wellworking, but becoming a Certified B Corporation company is proving good for business and something that the furniture industry can play a big role in. You may have seen the B Corp logo on a shop door or the back of a van and wondered what exactly it means. Well if I could sum that up after a certification process that has been rigorous, challenging and above all, rewarding, I would say that it’s about putting people and the planet first. More →

March 9, 2021

The office will bounce back, but not as we remember it

by Luke Munro • Comment, Property, Workplace design

Looking back, who could possibly have predicted 2020? It’s been such a difficult pandemic year for so many individuals and companies. Yet it’s also been a transformative time, which has seen dramatic shifts in the way we work. So, with some trepidation, here’s my forecast for the near future. This year will see the office bounce back, but not as we remember it. The office of the future will have an important new role as the physical embodiment of a changing corporate culture. More →

May 5, 2020

From the archive: We shouldn’t rely on narrow ideas to define flexible working

by Luke Munro • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Wellbeing

This piece was originally published five years ago. While we now read it with different eyes, what is interesting is how the ideas have stood up. Some better than others perhaps but a welcome reminder that the conversations we are now having about life after lockdown began some time ago. One of the particular and often unspoken issues that shadows in any debate about flexible working is what we mean by the term. We’ve been talking about new ways of working for a good quarter of a century now and what is generally understood about the practice has evolved considerably. The very idea was conceived at the birth of the new online era so is inextricably tied up with the Internet and new technology. More →

March 24, 2020

A shift in the workplace axis might be a welcome outcome of this crisis

by Luke Munro • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design

I am not a philosopher. I sell home and workplace furniture. But I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how radically different things will be – both in how we work and how we live – once we get through this dreadful period of our lives. We have the opportunity to embrace a whole new way of working which recognises and gets the best out of all parts of our community. More →