Comfort zone

For years we’ve been hearing about hot desking, home-working and the like – US-inspired philosophies for the future of office life. We’ve also seen case studies of how bigger specialist design consultancies such as DEGW and BDG McColl have helped a handful of global corporate heavyweights make the transition to more flexible – and effective – ways of work, and how the office furniture industry has responded.

But new forces of consumer-led culture are affecting the working environment and this influence led to a welcome shift of emphasis at last week’s Orgatec, Cologne’s biennial office furniture extravaganza. The focus among the top manufacturers is no longer about creating yet another desk or chair, but of boosting the personality of their wares and their convenience to the user. The crossover from “office” to the more general “contract” market has never been so marked, as even the surfaces of desks become softer and storage more transparent.

While there was nothing breathtakingly exciting at Orgatec – not what you’d expect anyway from a fair geared towards corporate buyers with an eye to bulk purchases or to complementing their existing furniture stock – there were some extremely stylish offerings.

Swiss/ German manufacturer Vitra continues to lead the overall field with its launches, including a chaise longue by Belgian designer Maarten van Severen and chairs by Italian father and son act, Mario and Claudio Bellini, Philippe Starck and newcomer Jakob Gebert. But others, such as Danish company Fritz Hansen, with its stunning new Vicolounge sofas by Vico Magistretti and London’s SCP, with its contract version of the Matthew Hilton Converse sofa and prototype 234 table by Terence Woodgate, are pushing forward with quality design.

In terms of designers, Woodgate was one of the stars of the show, with an elegant prototype Fold sofa for Italian manufacturer Moroso and bench seating system for Spanish firm Casas, as well as the SCP table and refinements to his stunningly successful PSS2 public seating system. But Barcelona-based designer Jorge Pensi also continues to develop his repertoire with desks for Spanish manufacturer Coinma and chairs for German firm Kusch & Co.

The old masters are still active – Magistretti at Fritz Hansen and octogenarian Nanna Ditzel with her new Sonar stacking chair for Danish company Fredericia. But a newer generation is showing through, notably Gebert, the 36-year-old German discovery of Vitra boss Rolf Fehlbaum. British duo Pearson Lloyd showed the Morgan sofa on the Walter Knoll stand and Claudio Bellini also reappeared on the Frezza stand with Milan-based Brit John Bennett and their TW collection of worktops. Spanish born, but Italian-trained Patricia Urquiola presented Lowseat for Moroso, a retro-looking low armchair that can be turned into a modular system.

Gebert’s neat Taino “affordable” stacking plywood chair is a prime example of the attention that quality manufacturers are paying to detail. The brushed aluminium frame is sealed into the plywood, leaving no rivets or joins. A similar concern with detail is shown in Woodgate’s designs, especially the elegantly turned legs of his new SCP table system and revisited public seating for the UK manufacturer. And then there is French architect Jean Nouvel’s Normal system for Belgian manufacturer Bulo, comprising desks and free-standing storage.

Bulo is one of several manufacturers picking up on the “soft” theme, with rubberised finishes for desk tops and textured felt coverings on flexible seat backs. Materials used by the Bellinis for Vitra’s Ypsilon office chair are similarly lightweight and flexible, with mesh fabric covering a slim plastic back form – though the chair itself, with its skeleton-like support frame, comes across more as an orthopaedic study than an everyday chair. And Spanish storage specialist Montana has introduced a rubber finish or translucent plastic doors for its ranges.

Colour is also coming in with a vengeance. Bulo’s neat Smarties range of cantilevered desks with storage features bright tops; Ditzel’s Sonar chair for Fredericia comes in an array of colours; Poltrona Frau’s stand was ablaze with coloured leather seating; and the translucent plastic doors of Nouvel’s Normal storage for Bulo and Antonio Citterio’s refined Ad Hoc storage units for Vitra come in colours such as orange and bright blue. Even Thonet’s Programm A 900 system, originally developed by Foster and Associates for the German Reichstag parliament building, made an appearance with purple seating.

The “humanising” effect of such ranges on the fair was impressive. But the real crossover of work and play was to be found on the Vitra stand in the form of Maarten van Severen’s “tipping” MVS chaise longue. Developed from the .03 chair launched two years ago by Vitra (reincarnated this year as a swivel chair, the .04), the sculptural chaise has a polyurethane sheel which responds to movements in the seat and back. It can be safely tipped backwards to allow the user to lie horizontally – ideal for “power naps”, we are told, and a sign of a return to 1980s work ethics, blended with 21st century democratic ideas.

Long may this enlightened response to new working practices continue. The answer to that perennial question, “Do we need another chair?” must be “Yes” if that chair brings personality and fun into the office environment.