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Product news: Yves Behar’s San Francisco studio Fuseproject launches an office furniture system for American design brand Herman Miller at the Neocon trade fair in Chicago this week (+ slideshow).
Called Public Office Landscape, the modular design by Fuseproject for Herman Miller aims to encourage spontaneous conversations and continuous collaboration between employees.
Rather than design desks for individuals interspersed with pockets of collaborative meeting areas, Behar wanted to spread collaboration evenly throughout the office.
The designers came up with three main concepts: social desks for individuals to work in configurations that encourage interaction, group spaces for focussed collaboration and spaces in between that facilitate casual interactions and community.
The resulting modular system features seating elements that flow into desks and soft fabrics that flow into hard surfaces.
Fuseproject used the prototypes at their own office in San Francisco, testing and evolving the various elements in-situ over the course of 18 months.
Neocon continues until 12 June.
Yves Behar previously designed the Sayl office chair based on suspension bridges for Herman Miller. Other recent product launches by Behar include a lock with no keys and a remote control with no butons.
Herman Miller recently acquired New York-based textile manufacturer Maharam in a deal worth about £101 million and will also present work by Industrial Facility this week, who the brand previously worked with on the Enchord two-tier work desk in 2008.
In a recent Opinion column on Dezeen Sam Jacob called for an end to the “tyranny of fun” in office design, while Jean Nouvel told us than “apartments make better places to work than offices” in an interview about his office design installation at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile.
More design by Fuseproject »
More design by Herman Miller »
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The statement below is from Yves Behar:
Public Office Landscape brings fluidity, variety, ergonomics to social seating in order to help people feel engaged, focused, and collaborative
I began thinking about the need for casual, collaborative office seating three years ago, when I was in Cologne for the Orgatec furniture show. I was walking with Don Goeman — Herman Miller’s Executive Vice President of Research, Development, and Design — when he stopped to point out a couch with sectionals made from large blocks of foam. It seemed like the designer of the couch had thought to himself, “big chunks of foam say comfort!”.
A year later, when Herman Miller asked me and my team at fuseproject to develop a more effective office environment for collaboration, I saw an opportunity to go beyond the superficial approach to social seating design I had observed a year earlier. I wanted to create a design that would support a more flexible, fluid way of working while addressing the very human need for interaction.
With research showing that 70 percent of collaboration happens at a workstation, I saw a clear need for desks that support interaction. This led to our concept for Social Desking for individuals, Group spaces to allow collaboration in proximity, and Interstitial spaces which are solutions which convert spaces in between into community space for casual interactions — a set of ideas that would ultimately become Public Office Landscape.
This system of shared surfaces would be inviting to guests, have no implied hierarchy, and offer collaborative zones spread evenly throughout the floor plan. The idea of integrated spaces for casual meetings went against the traditional thinking that individual and social work habits need to be separated. We believe collaboration doesn’t just happen in conference rooms— it happens everywhere. Public proposes collaborative areas in close proximity to individual workstations and addresses this disconnect and encourages the type of productive interaction that drives organizations forward.
As we worked with Herman Miller to bring our vision for Public Office Landscape to life, we were able to test our ideas and prototypes at our new office in San Francisco. We injected ourselves into the design process and inhabited evolving versions of the furniture for 18 months — literally growing every part of the vast system, while researching and evaluating variations, and refining the design.
The result of our work is a system that achieves an ideal state of flow in the office. Public Office Landscape encourages fluid interactions and spontaneous conversations with seating elements that flow into desks, and with soft fabrics that flow into hard surfaces. These designs culminate in a choice of focused and collaborative places to work. All of this variety helps people feel engaged, focused, and free to move between tasks without interruption. With the support of elements like the Social Chair — the first of its kind to introduce ergonomics into collaborative seating — people can feel good while doing some of their best work.
There is no technical reason why offices are needed today. In theory, we could all be working from home, remotely checking in when needed. The reason why people still want to go to an office, is to collaborate with others. Public Office Landscape offers a better way of working together with solutions that we believe will be increasingly relevant. Public addresses collaboration not in moments, but as movement. It is designed with collaboration spread evenly throughout the space, while the system’s modular components can evolve with the needs of groups and individuals. And with a variety of ergonomic and collaborative elements to enhance fluidity in the workplace, the system will continue to support the ways people want to work.
Herman Miller’s Living Office
Living Office is a different approach to managing people and their work, the tools and products that enable that work, and the places where people come together to do it. Together with Yves Behar’s fuseproject, Sam Hecht and Kim Colin, and Studio 7.5, Herman Miller is expanding its offering of human-centered elements to create a total work experience that is more natural and desirable, and within it the opportunity for individuals and organisations to achieve a new dynamic of shared prosperity. Built on what is fundamental to all humans, Living Office will help both people and their organizations to update their places, tools, and the management of the workplace, to uniquely express and enable shared character and purpose.
The post Public Office Landscape by Fuseproject
for Herman Miller appeared first on Dezeen.
Product news: this chair by San Francisco design studio Mike & Maaike wraps around the sitter to create a refuge in busy interiors.
Extended armrests create a continuous loop to reduce ambient noise and visual distractions in hotel lobbies, airports or residential environments, while still allowing users to look between them and the backrest.
Dutch designer Maaike Evers and American Mike Simonian say the idea was to create the feeling of a “room-within-a-room” by introducing elements that invoke walls and a ceiling.
The chair was designed for contract furniture brand Haworth and launched today at the NeoCon trade fair in Chicago.
An open top version and ottoman are also part of the collection and are made from steel frames covered in moulded foam and upholstered in a natural wool fabric.
In Milan earlier this year, Italian brand Moroso launched a chair by Patricia Urquiola with a hood that partially wraps around the sitter, while British designer Freya Sewell’s felt pods can be closed to create a completely secluded cocoon-like space.
Mike and Maaike previously designed a bookshelf with slots cuts specifically to house important tomes about power and society and a space divider made from a grid of overlapping batons.
Here’s some more information from the designers:
Suitable for both public and private spaces, the Windowseat is designed as a comfortable refuge from the hustle and bustle of lobbies, airports or busy home environments. By taking architectural elements (walls and ceiling) and applying them to a chair, we are exploring the idea of sub-architectural space, creating a room-within-a-room complete with its own unique perspective.
As office spaces shift toward the open plan, it is important to have a place to escape, to think, to make a call, or relax. While sitting in the Windowseat, the ambient noise is actually muffled and a new visual perspective is created, making the chair a multisensory experience.
The post Windowseat Lounge
by Mike & Maaike appeared first on Dezeen.
An installation view of “Campana Brothers: Concepts,” on view through July 3 at Friedman Benda.
New York’s Friedman Benda has been temporarily transformed from a white cube into a moody, tobacco-hued chamber–a backdrop that evokes art deco treasures rather than the gallery’s typical twenty-first century prototypes. Visitors are greeted by a brass buffet comprised of square panels filled with vortices of bent metal, like the sprightly cousin of a Paul Evans console. But take a closer look: the walls aren’t paneled in silk or leather but nubby coconut fiber, and that buffet’s checkerboard of metallic explosions calls to mind a certain Alessi fruit bowl. This is the latest work of the Campana Brothers, who, after three decades of working together, could coast for three more on their greatest hits and Brazilian charm. Instead, they’ve challenged themselves with a selection of exotic new materials–including constellations of Sao Paulo-sourced amethysts and the skin of an ancient fish unique to South American waters–and craft techniques.
“It’s important for us to keep the traditions that are disappearing but at the same time give them more modernity,” said Humberto Campana (the older of the two by eight years) last week, as he and Fernando led a group of journalists through the Friedman Benda exhibition, the brothers’ first solo gallery show in the United States. He sidled up to their new “Racket” collection (pictured), which includes a chair with a hand-stitched motif made from leftover Thonet chair backings. “The guy we work with who weaves with straw, it was a matter of helping him understand what we’re doing–this idea of weaving with leftovers. It’s to reinvent the traditions that may otherwise die.” Added Fernando, “And instead of making traditional weaving with straw, we decided to make it with nylon string.”
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Product news: a perforated door slides across the front of these simple sideboards by Danish designer Simon Legald for Normann Copenhagen.
The Kabino cabinet by Simon Legald for Normann Copenhagen comes in white or grey with a natural ash wood frame.
The perforations mean it can be used as a TV cabinet because devices hidden inside can still be operated with a remote control when the doors are closed.
“I like to work in the cross field between craftsmanship and industry,” says Legald. “When you buy a modern sideboard, it is often designed with pure craftsmanship or total industry in mind.”
“With Kabino I have explored manufacturing methods and various combinations of material in order for Kabino to have a little of both.”
Earlier this year Norman Copenhagen launched a table-top mirror with a dish in the base to hold small items.
Colourful wall-mounted shelves and a collection of cabinets carved with geometric patterns are the most recent stories we’ve featured about storage.
See more storage design »
See more products by Normann Copenhagen »
Here’s some more information from the brand:
Kabino is a simple and versatile sideboard with an exclusive look designed by Simon Legald. One of the sideboard’s two sliding doors has perforated holes, giving it a visual elegance. The ash frame softens the feel and adds warmth. Kabino is a useful piece of furniture for almost anywhere in the home.
Designer Simon Legald often adds his personal touch to his designs through well thought out details. He has worked with the details of the doors on Kabino breaking up the otherwise uniform surface and creating a more dynamic design. This can for example be seen in the handles, which have been deliberately staggered and made into an integral part of the doors.
Kabino is available with white or grey doors and is ideal as a sideboard in the living room, dining room, hallway or bedroom. Kabino is also suitable to be used as a TV cabinet due to the built-in cable outlet and the perforated holes, which make it possible to use a remote control even when the doors are closed.
The post Kabino by Simon Legald
for Normann Copenhagen appeared first on Dezeen.
As one of the most important gathering place in the home, the kitchen table has historically served just two functions: a place for eating and working. The Table for Two aims to make transitioning between the two tasks easy by utilizing a series of folds. In seconds it changes from a basic dining table that accommodates six to a complete workstation for two fit with drawers and all! Check out the vid to see the transformation!
Designer: Daniel Liss
table final film from Daniel on Vimeo.
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Yanko Design
Timeless Designs – Explore wonderful concepts from around the world!
Shop CKIE – We are more than just concepts. See what’s hot at the CKIE store by Yanko Design!
(Table for Two (or six!) was originally posted on Yanko Design)
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In our apartments we are always in the confrontation with furniture for the living space. It is so important, that the Interior items possess little s..
Piero Lissoni’s DRITTO collection of side, coffee and dining tables blur the line between the material limitations of minimalism. The tables achieve a bold, substantial aesthetic by using ultra-thin slabs of carrara marble as well as post-recycled pietra d’avola and lithoverde stone, but each maintains a sense of lightness from the sheer thinness of the tops complimented by simple, geometric frames. Now you can get that raw, stone finished look without the aesthetic and physical heaviness of large slabs.
Designer: Piero Lissoni
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Yanko Design
Timeless Designs – Explore wonderful concepts from around the world!
Shop CKIE – We are more than just concepts. See what’s hot at the CKIE store by Yanko Design!
(The Skinny on Stone was originally posted on Yanko Design)
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Product news: these tables based on a circus ringmaster’s podium were designed by German office Formfjord for Swedish brand Offecct.
Referencing the zig-zagging patterns found on the traditional stands used by circus leaders, the circular platforms are supported by Y-shaped metal elements that angle inwards at each joint. These elements all connect to a metal ring that forms the base.
The tables are finished in black or white laquer and the range includes various heights and diameters, plus a plant pot stand. The collection was presented at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan earlier this year.
Other new products designed for Offecct include seats with curvy backrests by UNStudio and chunky grey seating by Jean-Marie Massaud, both also presented in Milan.
Formfjord have also made concrete pebbles for stone-skipping across water.
See more table design »
See all of our Milan 2013 coverage »
See more products from Offecct »
Read on for more information from Offecct:
Formfjord is cooperating with Offecct for the first time, and the first resulting product is the table Circus. The main idea when Formfjord developed Circus was to think not only of the product they were developing, but also the whole living space where life happens. Formfjord wanted to see the whole living space as an arena, a circus.
“The table defines the room and sets the atmosphere – it even changes the behavior of the room. Creating a playful design for the table makes the living room a wonderful place,” says Formjord, the duo behind the table.
Fabian Baumann and Sönke Hoof of Formfjord come from different backgrounds; Baumann is a mechanical engineer and Hoof a product designer. When creating their designs, the duo uses their different perspectives to enhance the creative process and develop products that functions well – technologically and ecologically, ergonomically and emotionally, strategically and economically.
“To us it is important that our partners stand for good values. Today everyone considers themselves green in their way of working, but Offecct truly is in all aspects,” Formfjord continues.
“We always search for companies that can bring out good cooperation, and that is not always easy, but has turned out to be true with Offecct,” Formfjord concludes.
The post Circus tables by Formfjord
for Offecct appeared first on Dezeen.
Joe is a coat rack designed to integrate in any environment thanks to its formal simplicity combined with the natural finish of the ash tree. The cent..
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