July 24, 2020
The IRYS pod, a unique modular concept, remains at the forefront of innovation and design since its launch in 2016. As we face new challenges in the workplace, IRYS has been reconfigured to incorporate the latest generation of UV-C lighting to ensure the space is rigorously sanitised between meetings to maintain the highest levels of hygiene, crucially preventing the spread of viruses. More →
March 5, 2020
Here’s an interesting exercise you may want to try. Off the top of your head and without thinking about it too much, write down the names of five iconic office furniture designs. The kind that your Aunt Sheila might recognise if she saw them but wouldn’t necessarily be able to name. When I did this recently while writing a piece about design trends, the products I came up with automatically were things like Frank Lloyd Wright’s desks for the Larkin building, Action Office, the 3107 chair (pictured), and Marcel Breuer’s Wassily Chair. More →
November 27, 2019
After Sedus confirmed its status as one of the most important office design innovators in Europe at last year’s ORGATEC trade show in Cologne, several of the firm’s latest generation of ground-breaking products have won prestigious design prizes in the firm’s native Germany.
The se:flex and se:motion swivel chairs as well as se:fit standing seat and se:cube Office Cubes have each been awarded the German Design Award 2020 – Winner by The German Design Council while the se:spot all-purpose chair went one step further receiving the Gold German Design Award for 2020.
The German Design Award is one of the most coveted design prizes in Europe and is awarded every year by a prestigious international jury. The Award honours innovative products and projects, their manufacturers and designers who have proven themselves pioneers in the German and International design sector.
The five award-winning office furniture pieces were developed by the Sedus Design Team, and launched for the first time to the public at the ORGATEC 2018 trade fair. They went fully into production in 2019 and have also been used in the fit-out of the new office building at the firm’s headquarters in Dogern.
In the Sedus Smart Office around 100 employees from twelve disciplines work together in a uniquely collaborative and flexible working environment. The spaces serves as a test laboratory, prototyping and model workplace for designers and customers travelling to the Upper Rhine location from all over the world.
July 11, 2019
Cosm, designed by Studio 7.5 for Herman Miller, has won the Red Dot Best of the Best Product Design Award in the office chairs category. The award rounds out Cosm’s first year on the market, taking home a suite of awards for the new design. Herman Miller introduced Cosm, designed by Studio 7.5, in Milan coinciding with Salone Del Mobile, April 2018. The chair was launched fully to the market in Autumn 2018. Today, Cosm chairs have been sold to more than 1,700 companies in 90 countries around the world. More →
June 25, 2019
The development of products for the workplace follow many trends, generally aiming to provide that ideal setting for maximum effectiveness and fully tuned to the philosophies of the day. The processes involved can occupy a good proportion of time and energy for the workplace specialist and office furniture maker and feature heavily in the media. But, behind all the product cacophony, there are activities, often unseen, that make more difference to what will become available in furnishing the workplace. More →
June 25, 2019
The International Living Future Institute (ILFI) and Living Future Europe Initiative (LFEI) has announced the full details release of a new edition of the Declare product transparency label for the European building and manufacturer market. The Declare Europe launch is taking place in Bolzano during the 2019 Klimahouse conference, which is focused on the exchange of ideas, innovations and insights on the latest trends in the energy-efficiency and sustainable construction sector. More →
June 20, 2019
Any survey that sets out to establish what people believe cuts their productivity and annoys them most about their workplace almost invariably throws up the same result; the noise and distractions generated by other people. So it will come as no surprise to learn that the same surveys usually find that employees believe that peace and quiet and freedom from distractions is the most important factor when it comes to getting some decent work done. More →
June 3, 2019
UK based storage firm Bisley has been awarded its second Design Guild mark for BOB, a hand-crafted modular storage and display system developed in collaboration with award winning British designer Paul Kelley. BOB’s configurations can be adapted for any use and environment, whether at home or in the workplace. The collaboration unifies Kelley’s design innovations with the craftsmanship and manufacturing expertise of Bisley. More →
April 2, 2019
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 and the UK had one ‘cybercafe’. Even so, there was something in the air. A sense that everything was about to change – and change spectacularly.
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 we find most interesting, aspirational and hence what we read and talk about forms a goal. Read any style magazine and you’ll see the same process at work in every facet of our lives. This is why so many people are quick to consume and then regurgitate the idea that what we see happening in the world’s great tech palaces and creative offices represents the apogees of design to which the rest of us must one day succumb. More →
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 to express an opinion. Such judgements would not function at all in this regard unless there was some underlying consensus about what constitutes good and bad design at the same time that we all believed we know what good taste is and we all know a good piece of design when we see it. In so far as the consensus is universally accepted, we are all right. But how much do we really understand about the things that surround us and their design? And how meaningful is the consensus? In JG Ballard’s novel High Rise, recently made into a film, he writes of the disdain Anthony Royal, the architect of the eponymous tower has for the tastes of its residents.
September 22, 2020
No need to sideline form in our quest for function
by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Comment, Facilities management, Furniture, Workplace design