businessinfomag.uk
magazine
36
Desking
Here’s one I made earlier...
Flexibility is a key attribute of today’s
offices – and not just in terms of office
design and space planning. Office
furniture itself is having to become
more versatile to accommodate
ergonomic sit-stand working, for
example, or mobility for the quick and
easy re-purposing of office space.
Tapping into this trend is a new
generation of adjustable, modular DIY
furniture that enables businesses to
provide temporary workstations on
demand or quickly create a flexible
working environment for individuals and
teams.
Typically, these solutions are portable,
lightweight, flat-packed for easy storage
and environmentally responsible, being
made from recycled or sustainable
materials.
Thinking outside the box
One recent introduction is PIXEL from
Bene, a collection of pine plywood
boxes that can be put together and
embellished with different accessories to
create a variety of furniture pieces. For
example, placing a PIXEL Pad on top of
a box makes a comfortable seat, while
adding Bene’s Frame_S Boards creates a
vertical workspace or room divider.
Michael Fried, Bene managing
director for sales, marketing and
innovation, says the ability to
reconfigure and rearrange space to suit
changing requirements is particularly
useful for fostering creativity.
“In the case of workshops that
deal with everything from the analysis
and development of ideas to the
presentation of solution models,
spatial settings often have to be
changed several times a day in order to
encourage thoughts to flow,” he said.
“With PIXEL, we have developed
a comprehensive workshop system
that can do a lot – in a flexible and
unpretentious manner. In combination
with the product lines we presented
in the spring (FRAME_S, NOOXS,
Think Tanks and SETTLE), this furniture
facilitates teamwork, making an
important contribution to internal
company communication, and thus to
Flexible DIY furniture made from sustainable materials
offers new options in office design
the success of a company.”
Cardboard desk
Other solutions on the market are
made from another lightweight,
portable material – cardboard. This has
a significantly smaller impact on the
environment than conventional office
furniture, as it is 100% recyclable. It also
produces surprisingly sturdy desks.
New market entrant aiBox offers a
range of cardboard furniture including
a standing desk (see box). Nathan
Edwards, the 26-year old founder of
the company, said he developed the
cardboard standing desk as an alternative
Typically,
these solutions
are portable,
lightweight, flat-
packed for easy
storage and
environmentally
responsible
The latest addition to the
Business Info
editorial offices, the aiBox
Standing Desk is available in two sizes.We tested the smaller
of the two, for people shorter than 165cm. The company says
its products can be assembled in less than 5 minutes. It took us
longer, but still only 15 minutes – not bad for a first try and no
doubt we would have been quicker if we had had enough floor
space to lay out all the pieces before assembly.When the desk was
almost complete, one of the first pieces to be attached came off,
which meant we had to take it apart and start again.
Once built, the aiBox Standing Desk looks like what it is – a
cardboard construction – though the company does say it can be
customised with paint, pen, chalks or wraps. It’s very big and takes up a
fair bit of room. Perhaps if it were half the size it would be better suited
to our small office.
A company with spare space could keep a few of these in a
store cupboard to give to people who required a standing desk on a
temporary basis while waiting for a more professional looking solution
to be delivered. It might also work for those who want to make a
green/environmental statement through their furniture choices.
ON TEST
