8.18.08 | Succeeding at succession: Earlier this year, Young + Wright Architects, a 125-person Toronto-based firm, joined forces in a merger/acquisition with cross-town giant IBI Group. Their combined firm has a new handle, Young + Wright/IBI Group Architects.

8.18.08 | Karen Brown of Perkins+Will is more than an interior designer. The Social Responsibility Leader for the New York Perkins+Will office has an uplifting outlook on life that in 2004, took her for a year sabbatical to Egypt, where she volunteered her time and worked for an NGO and various non-profit organizations, and will take her to three countries – Republic of Georgia, Ghana, and Guatemala – in three months starting on August 21.

8.11.08 | Colebrook, Bosson, Saunders is a U.K. architecture firms that found a need for ergonomics in the workplace and decided to provide products that filled the bill, or at least some of it. This niche has worked out well for the firm and its partners, Martyn Colebrook, Peter Bosson and Brenda Saunders, and the firm by now has a global presence with offices in the UK, USA, Australia and Japan. From these offices, the firm works through a worldwide network of manufacturers, dealers and distributors, and has installed its products in some of the most high profile international design projects.

8.4.08 | On a visit to Steelcase this year, I was a guest at the new JW Marriott hotel in Grand Rapids, and felt quite the prince, and not the less for having a Steelcase Leap chair in my room. Unexpectedly, my day of meetings began the next morning on the 21^st floor of the JW, where I met with Kathy Farquharson, Director, Corporate Sales, Paul Siebert, Director, Corporate Strategy + Brand Development, Frank Graziano, Manager, Advanced Applications, and George Aquino, Manager of the Grand Rapids JW Marriott.

7.21.08 |  Knoll Miami celebrated the opening of its new showroom located in the Wachovia Financial Center, 200 South Biscayne Boulevard, Suite 1700, Miami, FL, on Thursday, July 10, with a reception and open house for members of the design community and corporate clients. Benjamin Pardo, Knoll Design Director, and David Schutte, Knoll Chief Marketing Officer, were both in attendance.

7.7.08 | Everyone dealing with interiors knows Herman Miller. But, rare among contract furniture vendors, Herman Miller is also known by many in the financial community, and, by virtue of the products of Eames, Nelson, Noguchi, Chadwick and Stumpf and others, the company is even known by many civilians.

7.7.08 | Last Wednesday Perkins+Will/Eva Maddox Branded Environments acquired The Environments Group, Chicago, boosting the Perkins+Will Chicago practice to the largest in the firm, in both architecture and interior design.

7.7.08 | One may be surprised to learn that up until last week, Gunlocke did not have a showroom in Washington DC. The wood furniture manufacturer has a naturally strong presence in government design, and the new DC showroom, located two blocks from the White House, seems a particularly appropriate setting to celebrate the newest step in Gunlocke’'s recent and ongoing re-branding efforts.