March 6, 2019
Of all the memes and narratives that corrupt public discourse about workplace design, the most pernicious is the one that suggests there is a linear evolution to some grand end point called the Office of the Future. There is a natural human inclination to buy this sort of idea, fed by an assumption that what […]
February 21, 2019
In shows and the media, we are often invited to pass judgement on products and ideas that have been created by other people. The reviews that follow often cement some form of accepted view, even if we often outsource the decision making to people who are better placed to decide, or at least better enabled […]
January 20, 2019
The Nowy Styl Group, a European manufacturer of office furniture has acquired the German family company Kusch+Co, a manufacturer and distributor of commercial furniture. It is the latest sign of change and possible consolidation in the global office furniture sector which has seen Steelcase acquire Orangebox as firms seek to expand their offering and market penetration. […]
December 20, 2018
UK furniture dealer By Bailey has joined forces with US-based dealer Insidesource to create a first of its kind, global furniture dealership. The merger grew out of the need to offer high level service to international clients, especially those with a significant presence in North America and the UK. The boutique By Bailey studio was […]
December 11, 2018
Humanscale has opened the doors to its latest showroom in the City of Manchester, reinforcing its presence in the North of England. Located in the Old Town, formerly home to the famous Factory Records label, this is Humanscale’s second showroom in the UK this year, after moving to a new space in the heart of […]
December 7, 2018
At this time of year, it seems like we don’t have to wait more than a few hours before some or other organisation is sharing its prognosis about how we will be working in the future. The thing these reports usually share in common, other than a standardised variant of a title and a common […]
October 31, 2018
One in three UK workers don’t have any form of breakout space to get away from their desk and over half (56 percent) of them don’t even have anywhere to eat lunch in their office, new research claims. The survey of UK office workers carried out by Furniture123.co.uk suggests that as a result of this […]
October 17, 2018
Each day for 25 years, between 1968 and 1993, a man called Stanley Green would rise early, enjoy a spartan breakfast of porridge and an egg, pack up a lunch of apples and vegetables, strap them along with a placard and some pamphlets to a bike and cycle the 12 miles to Oxford Street from his […]
September 20, 2018
Steelcase Inc. has announced the acquisition of Orangebox Group Limited, a UK-based designer and manufacturer of furniture for the changing workplace, the latest in a rapid expansion of products designed for the new ways people work. Established in 2002, in the village of Hengoed, South Wales, Orangebox created a concept they call “Smartworking” – solutions designed […]
September 14, 2018
Conference and show season looms and with it arrives the annual swarm of workplace trend forecasts. These are often presented as groundbreaking but many of them are indistinguishable from each other and based on some very familiar tropes and assumptions. These days such things tend to be shaped into lists, because that’s how the Internet likes […]
September 7, 2018
In 1775, Thomas Jefferson was a busy man. As part of the Committee of Five men and at the tender age of 33, he had been charged with drafting the Declaration of Independence that was to be presented to Congress the following Summer. By all accounts, Jefferson was a self-contained and self-sufficient man and, like […]
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April 2, 2019
A quarter of a century ago, the newborn Internet set office design on a different path
by Colin Watson • Comment, Furniture, Workplace design
Because we are now so immersed in technology, we can sometimes forget just how young the Internet is. It was only in 1995 that the final barriers to its full commercial development were removed. In 1994, the number of people using it worldwide was estimated at around 20 million, there were under 15,000 company websites […]