Engineering

Keilhauer Orign chair

Furniture should be more than something to sit on, a tool to use at work. It should be an example of product design that you want to own for a long time. It should tell others what the space should be used for - intuitively, without instructions or area titles. And it should be an expression of how you feel about your company, the people who work for you, and the people who come into that space on a regular basis. It is your vision and values in physical form. Here’s a great example: I visit a luxury brand car dealership and the furniture for the customers is furniture designed in the 1950s knocked off and made cheaply - and $100 bucks says without any thought for the environment. How can they ask me to make an investment in their engineering, design and quality when they do not believe those things are important in their own workspace?

So how do you look for better engineering in furniture without being a production expert? It is in the details, in the materials and in the values of the company.

Take for example the Orign chair: Turn the chair over. The only visible hardware are screws that attach thin arm pads. why? So it is easy to replace the arm pads because it is such a common issue. But everything else is clean, smooth, no gaps, precision from top to bottom. All the parts were designed for this chair - nothing is off the shelf. Even the mechanism was designed just for this chair. It is special and it embodies the phrase “simplicity if the key note of all true elegance.” Take a test drive soon!