Pantone's Color of the Year 2023 Is Viva Magenta / Shipping Prices, Volumes Plummeting During Logistics' Traditional Peak Season / Weak Financial Prospects Seem To Be Dragging Down Steelcase  / DIRTT Announces the Closing of Private Placement / Maiden Home Introduces Contract Program / For Second Straight Month, New Demand for Office Space Rises / Manhattan Office Leasing Down 50% In Typically Busy November / Coworking Spaces Embrace Luxury To Woo New, Stable Clients

The Working Space
Monday, December 5, 2022

Industry News

DIRTT Announces the Closing of Private Placement

Beleaguered DIRTT Environmental Solutions Ltd., announced the closing of its previously announced private placement of common shares of the Company to insiders of the Company for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately US$2.8 million.

Pursuant to the Private Placement, the Company issued an aggregate of 8,667,449 Common Shares to 22 NW Fund, LP ("22NW"), 726 BC LLC and 726 BF LLC (together "726"), and all of the directors and executive officers of the Company at a subscription price of US$0.32 per Common Share, including 638,996 Common Shares issued at the deemed per share price equal to the Subscription Price, as reimbursement for the costs incurred by 726 in connection with the Company’s contested director elections in 2022. The Company intends to use the net cash proceeds of the Private Placement to provide additional liquidity as the Company works to complete its strategic initiatives.

DIRTT shares closed Friday at US$0.29 per share.

In case you haven’t heard, Pantone announced their Pantone Color of the Year 2023 and it’s… PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta! Described as an “unconventional shade for an unconventional time: a new vision.” The rich, bold color is an “animated red” designed for empowerment and self-expression with no limits. The crimson shade strikes a balance between warm and cool tones, sometimes appearing more red and other times leaning more towards fuchsia. It’s rich, it’s regal, and already found quite a bit in the decor world. With the announcement, expect to see it even more as it makes the rounds in the home furnishing and fashion worlds throughout 2023.

Maiden Home Introduces Contract Program

Maiden Home, the made-to-order luxury furniture brand, has launched a new Contract Program. Following years of furnishing residential spaces, Maiden Home's Contract Program will "deliver the same heritage craftsmanship and bespoke customizations to large-scale commercial and residential projects," said the company.

Contract partners can access Maiden Home's collection of intentionally designed pieces with options to customize fabric, finish, and size. Based on the size and complexity of the project, Maiden Home's dedicated hospitality team can craft a tailored package that scales with each project and design vision. Pieces can be designed with Maiden Home's premium, hospitality-rated fabric and leather collection, or handcrafted in custom fabrics or leathers. Like the entirety of the Maiden Home catalogue, all pieces are designed in New York and handcrafted in North Carolina by American artisans using heritage techniques passed down through generations, ensuring made-to-order pieces with best in class lead times.

Office Furniture Source in Bossier City, Louisiana has announced a change of their ownership. Well known founder and owner of the company, Martin Grau, has retired...effective immediately.

In a statement from the company, Grau has agreed to sell the business to long-time General Manager and Chief Operating Officer Chad James. According to the statement, James is Grau's former brother-in-law, helping to maintain the family-owned tradition.

Grau has become well known in the Ark-La-Tex for his marketing style. Since the company started, Grau has always marched to the beat of his own drum when it comes to his marketing. Whether it was through parody, or public commentary, Grau made his point in a way that got everyone to notice.

Steelcase has had a rough three months with its share price down 28%. It is quite clear that Steelcase's ROE is rather low. Not just that, even compared to the industry average of 12%, the company's ROE is entirely unremarkable. Given the circumstances, the significant decline in net income by 26% seen by Steelcase over the last five years is not surprising.

Customized workplace English instruction helping to fill manufacturing talent gap

The Literacy Center of West Michigan announced the completion of an onsite Customized Workplace English program at MillerKnoll. The 15-week class reduced English language literacy as a barrier for 11 MillerKnoll associates by providing contextual English language instruction using a tailored curriculum based on their specific workplace.

The curriculum covered a variety of topics ranging from alphabet and grammar concepts to conversational skills, giving and receiving instructions, working with maps as well as safety and workplace vocabulary.

According to MillerKnoll leadership, the partnership with the Literacy Center of West Michigan is not only expanding prospective talent but providing existing associates with opportunities for upskilling and professional development. To further reduce barriers, the company also provided transportation and paid for the time associates were in class, which was an hour before their shift.

A ceremony was held in November to recognize the associates who achieved the post-testing requirements. The event was attended by MillerKnoll manufacturing leaders, human resource representatives and Francisco Henriquez Montiel, vice president of manufacturing for the Americas.

A flood of office sublease space is washing over Austin, and combined with a steady development pipeline and a nationwide pullback in the tech industry that has buoyed the city for years, the market in the Texas capital seems headed for choppy waters, a culmination of nearly three years of tough conditions for offices nationwide.
The effect of rising interest rates and where the U.S. economy is headed is weighing heavy on everyone’s minds and will continue to temper office use decisions.

Tenants continue to debate whether to hold off on new commitments or adjust the amount of space they need, according to the latest VTS Office Demand Index (VODI) analysis for October.

Two years after relocating its headquarters from the Bay Area to Austin, Texas, software company Oracle is again looking to shed office space in California. The company listed its 185K SF building in Pleasanton on LoopNet, the San Francisco Business Times reported.
Hit by an economic slowdown and a more cautious approach from biotech VCs, life sciences startups have adjusted their playbooks and pulled back from an era of larger leases and rapid expansion, instead shrinking leases, splitting workspace between incubators and leaning on remote staff and contract research.

But despite this shift, landlords have yet to feel the pain from a more fiscally conservative pivot by startups, according to analysts. The context of the moment is important, they say, because companies are still doing business, they’re just being more cautious.

Office leasing in Manhattan weathered a slower month in November, with leasing activity falling to its lowest level since April 2021. Tenants signed less than 1.5M SF worth of office leases last month, a 7% drop from October and a 50% drop from November 2021, according to Colliers figures released Thursday. Direct availability and sublease space both ticked upward as well.

Features

In recent years, workers have placed wellbeing at the top of their priorities list. A #FrameLive session explored this paradigm shift with Andreu World's Alberto Martínez, Ben Adams Architects' Emma Holt and Alexander Fehre.
As we reconsider the role of the office in our everyday lives, there’s a shift towards viewing it as a multifaceted experience rather than a physical place. Hybrid workers expect time spent in the office to be purposeful – as enriching and exciting as living in a great city, soaking up culture, or visiting a live event. How will design respond?
In a Think Tank discussion, Metropolis editor in chief Avinash Rajagopal moderated a discussion titled “Reinventing Design Practice,” which called on interior designers to think of creative ways to buck the throwaway office culture.
Over the years, the WorkSpaces event has evolved into a community that connects, informs and inspires the industry through in-person gatherings, digital round tables, webcasts and stimulating thought-leadership content.

Workspace News

As many others chafe against employer mandates, creators on TikTok -some new to the work force - are trying to show that the office can be fun. The office day-in-the-life videos overlap with another corner of the TikTok universe: “CareerTok,” where creators give advice about landing a job in a certain industry or tell viewers how to write a cover letter or edit their résumés.
We all get a ton of daily Slack notifications that run the full gamut of work and life: Are you watching the World Cup today? Can you send me the notes from that meeting? Who has a favorite Thanksgiving recipe to share? When will you have that task completed?
After months of saying return-to-office mandates wouldn't work, Salesforce is pulling an about-face. Some sales employees who live close to the software-maker's offices will be asked to return to their desks three days a week, according to an internal memo.
A new poll claims that ‘hybrid employees’ in the UK are worried about how healthy their work environments are as we approach the winter season, with 53 percent saying they’re concerned poor air quality and ventilation will impact their general health, rising to 70 percent amongst London-based hybrid workers. The survey of 2,000 UK people by OnePoll, on behalf of Infogrid, claims that hybrid workers are facing a Catch-22 moment as we enter the colder months; balancing worries over the cost of working from home with concerns about their own wellbeing in the office as a result of poor indoor air quality.
More than 30 companies participated in a 6-month pilot to test how well a 4-day workweek worked. The results saw more productivity, less burnout, and higher job satisfaction.
The gig economy is growing, and coworking spaces will play a significant role in its future by saving many gig workers from the...
Pandemic health concerns aside, the concept of hybrid or remote work was always about leverage and that leverage is shifting toward the employer, according to Michael J. Romer, Managing Partner of Romer Debbas LLP.

He tells GlobeSt.com that companies are absolutely scaling back on hiring remote employees. And new data from LinkedIn bears that out.

Design

When companies/firms work out of high-class and luxuriously designed spaces, it bolsters their professional image, as well as inspires confidence in their clients and investors.

Luxury coworking provides a level of professionalism that helps to protect an organizations’ brand image, as well as offering all of the up-to-date technology and amenities needed to operate at maximum efficiency.

Hybrid work offers great promise while also bringing with it many challenges and uncertainty. Most organizations who choose hybrid work are trying to offer a balance between the flexibility people want and the need to bring employees together to create greater cohesion and build a sense of community.
Michael recently took over the reins for the Steelcase Global Design Studio and relocated his family to Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has lived in seven countries and traveled the world extensively. 
The way we work has changed—an evolution catapulted forward by the challenges of the pandemic. Work is happening in more than one location—from an integrated ecosystem with three space types: the office, home, and third places.

Trends

Architecture garners a lot of media attention when it comes to social and environmental impact, but what's happening in the interior design sector? Expert Melissa Cooksey discusses the ways in which interior designers can take responsibility for what goes into - and comes out of - their projects.

Working from home improves productivity.

Working from home impairs productivity.

Both statements can’t be right...right? Well, as we learned with our return-to-office data explainer last week, it depends on whom you ask. When you query individual employees to estimate what impact working from home has had, more than eight in ten say it’s either made them more efficient or hasn’t had an effect. That efficiency, moreover, has increased since the start of the pandemic.

Generative AI is the new darling of Silicon Valley. But what the heck is it? And what does it mean for the future of our jobs, yours and mine?

Experts believe generative AI will soon enter workplaces: Sequoia predicts that by 2023, generative AI will be able to put together scientific papers and visual design mock-ups; and by 2030, it will write, design, and code better than human professionals in the field.

Metaverse

“From the way we play games, shop and even exercise, immersive experiences are making their way into our lives,” says Sam Lavers, Director of Global Alliances at JLL Technologies (JLLT). “I think it’s just a matter of time until we’re regularly working in the metaverse.”

Latest Products

KFI Studios launches their newest collection, Tioga. Tioga is a versatile line of seating created by Philadelphia area design firm Union Design. Thoughtful in its design, Tioga works well in a wide range of spaces and styles by embracing an understated aesthetic that is simple and refined.
Here's a strange product that might make sense for a minority of users. LG's 27" Libero display has a built-in base that also serves as a handle and hanging bar. One long edge of the monitor is lined with a soundbar, and the monitor can be used with the handle at the bottom, serving as the base, or inverted, with the handle hanging from the included hooks (as from a cubicle wall).
The popularity of computer gaming has spilled into furniture design, as seen in the CyberOne Gaming Desk and the rather extreme Ultimate Gaming Bed. Both of those things were arguably tweaks of existing furniture forms. But this Couchmaster object is in its own category. It was invented by Germany-based gamer Chris Mut and his friend Roman Jakob, and the inspiration was not sloth, but back pain.
KI has confirmed that Postura+ will begin its transition to a product for the circular economy, with all one-piece chairs manufactured from December 2022 set to contain at least 30 percent recycled polypropylene. Following over 3 years of trials and testing, this achievement sets an important milestone on KI’s journey towards taking a leading position in the circular economy. Over the coming years, KI will work towards increasing this percentage to future milestones 50, 80 and ultimately 100 percent, bringing all standard colours into line with the increasingly popular Jet Black chairs which are already made with 100 percent recycled content.
Protect the sensory wellbeing of those that will use your spaces - from the workspace to the restaurant - with these six versatile acoustic products.

Other News

If your dream is to live in the former office of a crypto-mining company, look no further! What was once the open-concept, exposed-brick office of TeraWulf is now listed as a three-bedroom, four-bath residence — which the right buyer, with $19.5 million to spare, could turn into “the most creative of private mansions, or hybrid office with residential penthouse.” Why commute when you can just live in Hudson Yards?
Online shopping is convenient, and a true utility for people who don’t have easy access to brick-and-mortar shops. But when it comes to buying furniture, it’s also exhausting and, frankly, impractical. And for the thousands of direct-to-consumer brands relying on e-commerce for their business, it’s the perfect crime. They get to sell you *insert pejorative of your choice* furniture that looks stellar in 2D, but doesn’t always live up to your expectations in 3D. Leaving it up to you, the consumer, to decide if you want to compromise on your standards and just live with it, or embark on a “easy return” frenzy that is anything but easy.
The office is dead. Long live the office.

Last week, New York City real estate blog Curbed ran the headline, “The Office is Half-Dead,” summing up all the confusing, conflicting news about whether the RTO push is ramping up or stalling out.

How can we get a sharper sense of macro-trends in worker behavior?

Trends in Commercial Projects from Around the Globe

Located in the heart of Berlin, the former home of the French Embassy now boasts nearly 5,000 square metres of office space. Originally completed in 1908, this landmark is one of the few structures in Mitte that survived during World War II.
Interdisciplinary Architecture’s (IA) new studio for LinkedIn’s Media Productions team—part of LinkedIn’s Sunnyvale, California campus—is designed to foster creativity and support highly technical video production processes, all while keeping employees safe in the post-pandemic age. The design seamlessly blends workspaces for visioning, storyboarding, and workshopping with state-of-the-art studio environments, bringing creative and technical teams under one roof to streamline video-on-demand and live broadcast content production.
Despite the tech industry's broad shift to remote work, Facebook is doubling down on physical office space in New York. It signed a major deal during the pandemic making it one of the city's largest corporate tenants. WSJ takes an exclusive look inside Facebook's future NYC offices.

Upcoming Industry Events

NeoCon 2023
June  12-14, 2023 | Chicago, IL
 
NeoCon has served as the world’s leading platform and most important event of the year for the commercial design industry since 1969. A launch pad for innovation—NeoCon offers ideas and introductions that shape the built environment today and into the future.  

National Ergonomics Conference & ErgoExpo 2022
November 8-10, 2022 | Paris Las Vegas Hotel, Las Vegas

National Ergo 2022 returns November 8-10 bringing the Ergonomics community together for the industry's longest running conference and trade show. Learn from the Nation's top Ergonomic and Safety executives with over 40 educational sessions, keynotes and workshops.  

Milan Design Week 2023
April 18-23, 2023 | Milan, Italy

Milan design week is the biggest annual design event in the world and takes place from 17 to 23 April 2023. The week includes the furniture fair Salone del Mobile, which takes place at the Fiera Milano exhibition centre and is the largest event to take place during the week. The selection of fringe events collectively named Fuorisalone also takes place across the city.

hd expo+conference
May 2-4, 2023 | Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

HD Expo + Conference is the largest hospitality event of its kind in the country, showcasing the latest products, services, and innovative developments from the industry’s leading manufacturers.  

Clerkenwell Design Week 2023
May 23-25, 2023 | London

Clerkenwell is home to more creative businesses and architects per square mile than anywhere else on the planet, making it truly one of the most important design hubs in the world. To celebrate this rich and diverse community, Clerkenwell Design Week has created a showcase of leading UK and international brands and companies presented in a series of showroom events, exhibitions and special installations that take place across the area.

Orgatec 2024
October 22-26, 2024 | Cologne, Germany

Orgatec is the International trade fair for office and property equipment. Held in Cologne, Germany.
Find the best Contract Furniture Industry jobs and hire the best talent.
Dear Stephen, I'm the owner of a large dealership, and we're ramping up our hiring for 2023. I know, I know - people are concerned about the layoffs in Silicon Valley and the economy in general right now.
Kentwood Office Furniture is a growing employee-owned manufacturer and distributor of office furniture and interior solutions with a primary focus on small and medium sized customers. Headquartered in Grand Rapids, the company has approximately 100 employees and additional locations in Lansing,...
We are looking for a dynamic and experienced A&D Sales Leader who is looking to take their career and earnings to the next level. In this position, you will be paid a salary plus a commission. You will travel the United States to establish clients, develop relationships, and generate sales.
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