WEST ELM WORKSPACE WITH INSCAPE “UNOFFICES THE OFFICE” AT NEOCON 2017
Introduction of More than 20 New Products Aims to Enhance Employee Well-Being in the Workplace
BROOKLYN, N.Y.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–West Elm Workspace with Inscape, the brand celebrated for bringing its residential sensibility to the modern office space, will debut its third assortment of designs at NeoCon 2017 in Chicago June 12 – 14. Since its launch in 2015, West Elm Workspace has worked closely with social research and design consultants to sharpen its understanding of emerging workplace concepts, identifying three key values that continue to inform its designs: well-being, residential inspiration and choice. Furthering its dedication to holistic design innovation, the assortment of more than 20 new workplace products and solutions also includes new collaborations with world-renowned design firm Gensler and product design innovators Qdesign.
“We are connected to our consumer every day and understand their preferences from lifestyle to workstyle,” said Catherine Schwartz, senior vice president of West Elm Workspace. “Our goal with the 2017 West Elm Workspace collection is to create solutions that enhance the total well-being of employees and support the varied movement of today’s worker. Our research and residential expertise allow us to design a comprehensive approach to ‘unofficing the office’ and address the needs neglected by traditional office plans by infusing workplaces with warmth and residential familiarity.”
“In today’s changing business landscape, offices require customizable spaces that support the work styles of cross-functional teams,” said Jim Stelter, president of Inscape’s West Elm Workspace division. “The West Elm Workspace product line provides organizations and users with choice and control over how they shape and engage with their work environments and takes it a step further by introducing residential form and function through elements like material, lighting and texture.”
True to its values – well-being, residential inspiration and choice – the 2017 West Elm Workspace assortment focuses on a number of key touch points that aim to enhance employee well-being. Products feature visual and physical tactility, connections to nature and solutions that permit the creation of easily transformable spaces:
- The 48” round Parasol Meeting Table offers a flexible, yet focused environment with an integrated dimmable light. The stand-alone fixture serves as an adjunct conference room, acting as a community hub – a perfect space for collaboration within open floor plans and offices with limited meeting areas.
- A wide array of seating and lounge options tap into the warmth of residential forms and support the growing need to create multi-purpose work environments:
- The Billow Seating Collection showcases refined proportions often seen in the classic club or tuxedo chair typology. Made with soft lines and available in a high-back option, the collection is designed to create an intimate meeting place or quiet area for retreat.
- Guest and conference chair choices – such as the upholstered Theo Conference Armchair and the stackable Pebble Chair – achieve aesthetics through soft silhouettes and mid-century design details without sacrificing desired functionality. The Pebble Chair is offered in two versions; stackable with metal legs and an upholstered version with solid wood legs, ideal for use as a guest chair.
- With four base options, the Clove Chair provides unmatched versatility and is available as a task chair, guest chair, conference room chair or seating for larger public spaces. It is offered with or without an upholstered seat pad in a choice of fabric and leather options.
- The Brio Task Chair is an ergonomic task chair solution that embodies the functionality of synchro tilt chairs but with a residential overtone. With its simple, refined form and subtle reference to mid-century design, the Brio Task Chair works in a variety of applications such as executive, conference, home office and general task chair usage. It offers users a degree of choice and control through a unique, simple and user-specific interface, allowing functionality and adjustments to be made with the weight and posture of the user and a single handle reserved for height adjustability.
- The customizable Elevate Height Adjustable Meeting Tables collection is available in more than 60 configurations with several sizing and finish options, including Hot Rolled Steel and Dover White. Height-adjustability creates a more flexible meeting environment by offering the user the choice to sit or stand with just the press of a button.
- New Linear Wood LED Lighting provides energy-efficient lighting using warm materials and modern forms with aesthetic details such as a walnut body and brass-plated accents.
- Seven new fabric design introductions from textile company, Designtex, add to an array of more than 20 high-performance, contract grade textiles made to complement any office style.
- Five new high-performance flooring styles from Interface, the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial carpet tile, come in a range of colorways and patterns, and are made with 100% recycled nylon.
To meet the evolving demands of the modern office, West Elm Workspace tapped leading industry experts to develop unique atmospheres within an open floor plan:
- Conduit System Designed in Collaboration with Gensler: West Elm Workspace has collaborated with world-renowned design firm Gensler to introduce the Conduit System, an innovative office system designed to offer flexibility and choice in its reconfigurable solutions, allowing businesses to alternate between a branching system to a traditional benching system with ease. Privacy carrels create touchdown spaces that quiet the visual and auditory distractions prevalent in the open office, all the while adding color and texture to the topography of the office landscape. Details like the wholly integrated Power Wall and enhancements such as height adjustable work surfaces, shelves, coat racks and screens, cater to the user’s desire to personalize his or her workstation.
- Haus by Qdesign: In its first collaboration with Illinois-based design group, Qdesign, West Elm Workspace set out to create an office structure that was both functional and restorative. Using the “model” of a home – four walls, a roof, accessories and access to media – the Haus system of private workspaces addresses the need for people to work solo with easy access to others. It provides the user with a retreat from an open plan environment and allows the organization to create a diverse community of both individual and collaborative workspaces. Designed as freestanding units, Haus is available in three distinct modular “homes”– the single, the large “lounge” and the large “clubhouse” – that can be clustered and configured to create private atmospheres for individual concentration or group collaboration.
West Elm Workspace with Inscape will debut these new products and solutions at NeoCon 2017, June 12-14 in the Chicago Merchandise Mart, showroom #11-91. The full product suite will be available to view in a temporary offsite showroom located at 444 Lake Street during NeoCon. For more information please visit www.westelmworkspace.com and follow @westelmworkspace on Instagram.