0.05.2009 | Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? It’s not just an
advertising slogan, it’s a 21st century mantra reaching beyond
the cell phone into the workplace. Can anything be done …beyond giving a
shout and getting a shout in reply? Michael Polan, Director of
Sales for Lencore Acoustics, says, “Of course.” And he says so at
a reasonable volume. The how is “sound masking.”
Product >>, Interviews >>
4.20.09 | It would be both correct and misleading to characterize Global Industries, Inc., Marlton, NJ, as a sales and distribution arm of Global. It is that, but it is also a separate company conceived and organized almost 40 years ago by Joel Appel, who remains the chairman of the company and has been its primary business director during its successful rise.
Interviews >>, Manufacturing >>
6.30.08| Peter Otterstrom's interview with Kass Bradley, recentlyretired president of Knoll North America, ran in our 6.2.08 issue. Thisis the second and final part of that interview.
Interviews >>, Manufacturing >>, People >>
6.2.08 | Kass Bradley recently retired as President of Knoll North America.Recently, she agreed to a parting interview with me forofficeinsight. The night before the interview in their countryfarm, comfortable, welcoming, eclectic, knock out tranquility center home the three of us, cooked, sipped and laughed.
Interviews >>, Manufacturing >>, People >>
8.20.07 | Gensler, HOK, IA Interior Architects, ISI, Nelson, and now Cubellis:
The A&D world is decidedly taking a sharp turn to more structured
business models, creating emerging powerful environments in which
interior design is flourishing.
There are other names that we have yet to add to the firms we have
interviewed, but Cubellis, headquartered in Boston, has been in our news
regularly over the past couple of years, and it is a good place to
continue our exploration.
A&D Firms >>, Interviews >>, People >>
8.20.07 | Ahrend, the worldwide manufacturer of contemporary-design contractfurniture, founded in 1896, first came onto my radar screen some yearsago when the topic of highly adjustable worksurfaces was heating up amongmy industry friends. Through the years I have followed the company from adistance via its product launches and at Orgatec, without ever having metany of its senior managers. So I was excited to be on my way to the ZonaTortona in Milan to meet Jacq de Bruin, President and CEO ofAhrend, Peter-Paul Hendrikx, Vice President, InternationalBusiness, and Christopher Grover, Vice President USA. We met inAhrends new showroom in the heart of the emerging Design District ofMilan, accompanied by a virtual torrent of visitors to the FuoriSalone.
Interviews >>, Manufacturing >>, People >>
3.26.07 | These are heady times
for Keilhauer. The Toronto-based, family-owned company designs,
engineers, and manufactures seating including task and executive chairs,
lounge seating and complementary tables, side chairs, and stacking
chairs, with $70-million-plus (more than $60-million U.S.) in annual
sales. In November, Keilhauer launched Sittris, its new healthcare
company, at the Healthcare Design.06 conference in Chicagos Hyatt
Regency Hotel, and promptly won a Nightingale Product Award for
its debut bariatric armchair.
Interviews >>, Manufacturing >>, People >>
12.18.06| Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum (HOK)
is one of the firms that has established its pre-eminence in a multitude
of the built environment disciplines. With 24 offices on four continents,
HOKs services range through the planning and design process to facility
management. Its specialties include consulting, architecture, interiors,
engineering, construction services, conservation, lighting, visual
communications and sustainable design. Indeed, I first began learning
about the broad range of interior design services when writing an early
article on HOK Consulting, which is now known as HOK Advance
Strategies.
A&D Firms >>, Interviews >>, People >>
12.11.06 | Perkins Eastman has nine offices with
over five hundred people in our New
York City office, making it the largest firm of
registered architects in New
York. Its Stamford, CT, office is
topping sixty-five, and that is the office out of which Mark van
Summern and Elizabeth Post-Marner run the corporate interiors
practice. They do projects primarily in Fairfield county, Connecticut, and in New York City, but the bulk of
the corporate interiors work of Perkins Eastman comes out of Stamford and New York City even if the
project, for example, is in Florida, where the Stamford office
is currently doing a one hundred and fifty thousand sq. ft. for a large
law firm.
A&D Firms >>, Interviews >>, People >>
5.1.06 | The
late 90s were exhilarating times in the office industry, following the economy
generally and, in particular, the first round of the dot.com frenzy.
Possibilities seemed endless, and in some respects they were. The office
industry experienced exuberant growth, with each new financial reporting cycle
exciting observers with reports of 20-30% increases, and sometimes more, which
often seemed much more important than the corresponding profitability ratios.
Business and Finance >>, Interviews >>, People >>, Product >>