At Orgatec 2012 Augsburg based Müller Möbelfabrikation introduced their new WORKSPACE product range(s).

Developed in cooperation with Andreas Struppler and Sebastian Frank from Munich based Struppler Industriedesign, WORKSPACE is technically two ranges – WORK and SPACE, or “Labor et Spatium” for any scholars of historic furniture design who may be reading – that combine to create a modular office furniture system.

WORK is represented by two height adjustable desks, one electronic the other manual, which can be combined with end/middle consoles and acoustic panels/sight screens to create individual work-spaces. An important feature of the desks is that the cables flow through the structure; inbuilt plugs, DSL sockets and USB ports allow for easy connection of all normal office hardware.

If we’re honest, with our wanton disregard for the universal rules of spatial order we’d probably be capable of disarticulating WORKs carefully considered, crisp geometry. But for all normal users, WORK should allow for an uncluttered work environment.

SPACE is devoted to storage and includes various sideboards and roll container options.

Particular highlights of the WORKSPACE system for us were/are the electronic height adjustable table, an object that is just as pleasing technically as visually, and the end/middle consoles, units which not only function as dividers but also as storage and memo boards in one practical body.

It will come as no surprise to learn that steel is the principle construction material, or that the individual WORKSPACE elements can be ordered in any combination of RAL colours.

Those after all are two of the features of the Müller Möbelfabrikation philosophy that makes them so engaging and their products so interesting.

That, and as we know since we visited the Müller Möbelfabrikation factory, production based on good old, time-honoured handwork.

In our Augsburg Text we noted that “The initial “Classic Line Collection” of self-designed fairly beefy office furniture has been supplemented and complimented over the years by new, and lighter, collections… ” This trend is very much continued with WORKSPACE and that in a very polished, innovative and charming fashion.

Here a few impressions from the Müller Möbelfabrikation at Orgatec 2012.

 

Wandering round the Vitra spaceship at Orgatec there was one product that you simply couldn’t fail to notice.

On every table, in every Workbay, in every Alcove stood a lamp.

A Vitra lamp?

Not technically. Technically a lamp from Swiss producer Belux.

However since 2001 Belux has been part of the Vitra family and at Orgatec 2012 they made good use of their family connections to unveil the latest addition to their portfolio, U-Turn by ECAL Lausanne graduate Michel Charlot.

Older readers will remember our complete infatuation with Standing Task Light by Erik Wester, a lamp whose stand and shade can be positioned more or less at will through an innovative ball joint mechanism.

U-Turn by Michel Charlot for Belux is very reminiscent of Standing Task Light – just with a few differences. Differences that are not only as technically brilliant as they are poetic; but much more take the inherent beauty of Standing Task Light to a whole new level.

With U-Turn the lamp head is connected to the stand via a magnet and can not only be angled as required but can also be lifted off and flipped over meaning that the light can be directed either up or down.

The result is a lamp that offers true flexibility, can be pointed in literally any direction and consequently can be used to define the atmosphere in a room.

For example, shining directly downwards on your desk while you work and then backwards and upwards to provide a gentle, indirect light for the evening quiescence.

At the moment U-Turn is available as a desk, pendant, wall or standard lamp, 2013 will see the release of a “Clip” lamp and a dimmable version.

To find out a little more we spoke to Michel Charlot and started by asking about the background to the project…….

Michel Charlot: After I established my own studio in Basel I was in contact with Vitra, Belux is part of Vitra, they needed help with a project, and, thankfully, asked me if I could help. They already had the idea of a lamp based around a ball and a magnet, but it wasn’t really working, and they didn’t really know how to develop it further. It’s one thing to have an idea but another to then develop a product family around it and to give it a character and identity of its own.

(smow)blog: Very Nice! And so what was the first thing you did, throw everything out and start from scratch or…

Michel Charlot: Pretty much! The initial object was quite large, had two spots and worked with a different technology. And so yes I changed pretty much everything and what we have now bears no resemblance to what Belux had then. The basic idea of the ball and the magnet is the same but everything else has changed.

(smow)blog: As a young, relatively unknown designer, to turn up at a company like Belux / Vitra and say “It’s all rubbish! We’re starting again”, doesn’t sound like the easiest thing in the world…..

Michel Charlot: It is of course difficult to do such when you’re young and it is also difficult for the people you are working with. Design and design development is a lot about trust and obviously it is easier to trust someone like Antonio Citterio or Jasper Morrison who have more experience. But when you’re young it can be quite difficult to convince people to follow your ideas, especially if they are risky; however, I think in design it is important to take risks, because that’s how you get to interesting new results. And fortunately Belux were very supportive and open to the new ideas I brought into the project.

(smow)blog: And how long did it take to redesign it?

Michel Charlot: Altogether it took about two years. The challenge in the lighting industry is that technology is moving so quickly you can’t afford to spend too long on a project because there is a risk that if you do, for example, the LED technology will be outdated by the time you are finished. And exactly because the technology changes so rapidly we have constructed U-Turn so that in the future we can upgrade the LEDs. The U-Turn that you buy in two or three years will be the same product, but with the most up-to-date LED technology, which is one way of extending the life cycle of the product.

(smow)blog: You took on an existing idea and developed a product. Are you happy with the end result?

Michel Charlot: Yes, I’m very happy with it. The idea is very simple and it is a very coherent object. A goal for me is always to make a product obvious, in the sense of “Of course it’s like that” or “How could it be any other way”. I like it when people look at an object and find it “normal”, but that is something which is quite difficult to achieve and involves a lot of unseen work. For example in order to ensure that the lamp moves smoothly over the ball, but then remains in place and dosen’t slide down, involved an awful lot of development work on the magnet and the coating.

(smow)blog: A project with Belux is a nice start to your own studio, where do you go from here, can we expect to see other projects from yourself in the near future?

Michel Charlot: I’m currently working on a project with the Italian bag manufacturer NAVA which is also an industrial project that involves injection moulding, welding and other industrial processes. My real interest is industrial design. For me the industrial aspect makes it really challenging, but is also what makes it so fascinating and rewarding. Lots of young designers today tend to do more craft based or gallery projects, but that is not really a direction that interests me.

(smow)blog: Our final, inevitable, question. Orgatec is an office furniture trade fair. What does your own office look like?

Michel Charlot: I have an old industrial table that I have refurbished as a desk and some Vitra chairs from Maarten van Severen. And hopefully I will soon have a new desk lamp!

In February 1991 the grand doyen of Italian design Ettore Sottsass approached Vitra CEO Rolf Fehlbaum with a suggestion for a joint project looking at the nature and being of life and work in the office. The project wasn’t aimed at developing office furniture, simply exploring the microcosmos “Office” in its multifarious facets.

Rolf Fehlbaum willingly agreed and together with Michele de Lucchi, Andrea Branzi and James Irvine, Sottsass and Vitra set off an exploratory journey: researching, considering, inventing as they went.

The public result was “Citizen Office” an exhibition that opened in the Vitra Design Museum in April 1993 and an accompanying book explaining the journey taken and conclusions reached. But much more Citizen Office was a vision of how our future office world could, should – would? – look. A vision which in many ways has served as the foundation for Vitra’s office furniture philosophy over the past two decades.

In 1989 Vitra had already taken their first, tentative, steps into office systems development with the launch of “Metropol” from Mario Bellini. Subsequent years saw the start of long-term collaborations with designers as varied as Antonio Citterio or Werner Aisslinger while more recently the ideas and lessons from Citizen Office have been extended and enriched through the recruitment of designers such as Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec or Hella Jongerius, designers who have brought a more homely feel to the technic-dominated world of office furniture.

At Orgatec 2012 we spoke to Vitra’s Chief Design Officer Eckart Maise about the legacy of Citizen Office, developing new office systems, and saying “No” to designers…..

(smow)blog: Taking the Citizen Office project as the, de facto, start of Vitra’s association with office furniture. Is the work that Sottsass, de Lucchi, Brandi et al did back then still relevant or has it been superseded over the last two decades?

Eckart Maise: The Citizen Office project had several levels. One level, for example involved a cooperation with Siemens and envisaged all manner of futuristic objects such as mobile telephones and in such respects Citizen Office has clearly been overtaken by technological advances. However, the core of the project was essentially about the office as a social location, about the office as a room for interaction and engagement, about the office as a place where people work together and these things are still very relevant.

(smow)blog: And so can one say that the office environment has evolved as Citizen Office, maybe not predicted but certainly described?

Eckart Maise: In terms of individual elements, certainly. When one looks back at any project that deals with future developments one can always do so with rose coloured glasses that filter out those predictions that have been realised; however, many elements from Citizen Office have without question been defining for the office environment in the last 20 years.

(smow)blog: Looking back over these 20 years from Ad Hoc over Level 34 and onto Joyn et al, Vitra has developed ever new office furniture systems. Why is the “system” so important in Vitra’s office furniture philosophy rather than simply developing individual pieces of furniture?

Eckart Maise: When an architect plans an office project they initially look at the ground structure of the space and calculate how many people need to be accommodated, how do these people work, how they interact, what type of situations must the room accommodate, etc… And in that context furniture systems with tables, storage etc are very important elements. The chair, for example, comes later, initially they are just dots on a plan. Systems also offer us a lot of durable flexibility. Vitra as a company is well known through the design classics, and from them one learns that a product can be relevant for a long time; but also that products need to be actively looked after and occasionally adjusted as situations change or requirements change. And with the systems this need for change is an in-built feature of the design. A system is composed of individual elements and when situations change we can simply exchange the elements. Or improve them. But the basic idea and concept remain the same.
For example with Ad Hoc the central element is the bar under the table top and that has remained the same since 1993 and so all generations of Ad Hoc are compatible with one another.

(smow)blog: Which raises the obvious question who or what decides when a new system needs to be developed or an existing system needs to be further developed. Is that yourselves or the designers?

Eckart Maise: It’s a bit of both. Sometimes the initiative comes from us on the basis of an analysis we’ve undertaken, observations we’ve made or feedback from customers and sometimes the designers approach us with ideas and suggestions. Then of course there are regular changes in Norms or similar standards that need to be dealt with. It’s a on-going process but never something that happens without a reason.

(smow)blog: In terms of these changes, Orgatec takes place every two years, is that a sensible frequency for office furniture?

Eckart Maise: I think so yes. Orgatec isn’t the only fair at which we present new office objects but it does define to a certain extent the rhythm for our product development, similar to Milan for home furnishings. And certainly an annual event would be too much for office furniture.

(smow)blog: Vitra are well known for their long term cooperations with designers and the likes of Antonio Citterio or Alberto Meda have, more or less, grown up with Vitra. Can one say “No” to an Antonio Citterio or an Alberto Meda?

Eckart Maise: When one works on a project one must occasionally say no. Otherwise it’s a bit like if you commission an architect to build your house and then leave all decisions with them: the risk is that you’ll end up with a house you don’t want to live in. And so in the course of the dialogue both sides need to represent their positions and we as a company are on the one hand the manufacturer and on the other we represent the customers. And so yes sometimes comes a no. But not just from us, the designers also have their opinions and positions. However a “no” needn’t be definite or counter-productive, it’s all part of an open dialogue where discussions are an important process, but where one always finds a solution.

(smow)blog: And to end, our traditional Orgatec question, what does your own office look like?

Eckart Maise: I work standing up. My desk is 105cms high and my chair is a mock-up that we made a couple of years ago. I’ve, in effect, lived and to a certain extent championed, the “High Work” concept that we are presenting here at Orgatec.

(smow)blog: And why standing up?

Eckart Maise: I find it an excellent way to work: it’s dynamic, it’s active. During the day I’m constantly in meetings or other situations away from my desk and so as a general rule am never at my desk for more than one hour at a time. And during this time colleagues invariably come to me to discuss aspects of projects or ask questions. And through working in a raised position I can remain seated and remain at eye level with them, a situation which improves the efficiency and comfort.

Anyone who had anything to do with the UK childrens toy market of the 1970s – either as a user (child) or consumer (adult) – will be well aware that no matter how hard you try, how hard you push them and how devilish you are, Weebles wobble, but they don’t fall down.

Stand-up by Thorsten Frank applies a similar logic, albeit in the more urbane world of furniture.

The concept isn’t new, indeed it could even be said that stools that rock and flow with your body are a fully established furniture genre and most us will be acquainted with the innumerate numbers of “rocking sitting systems” available on the market – each more abhorrent than the next and all devoid of even the slightest semblance of a formal plan.

Like some really bad late 90s chick-lit novel, features are seemingly added to satisfy some functional or marketing requirement without any consideration given to the complete composition.

Stand-up by Thorsten Franck is in contrast an early Irvine Welsh short story – racy, impudent, undaunted – and is pretty much the first product we’ve seen in this genre  that has genuinely appealed to us.

Looking at Thorsten’s website one can clearly see that Stand-up is the culmination of a long student project, one we never saw but which, judging by the date of the last website update, Wilkhahn saw in Milan in April 2011.

At the moment it is officially only a prototype – hence the inverted commas in the post title – but considering the money Wilkhahn have invested in Cologne: the plan is to produce it. Unless the feedback is truly woeful. Which it wont be.

And swaying back and forth there as they do like some menacing crop of incandescent mushrooms, Stand-up already looks like a Wilkhahn project.

On the one hand there are the all too obvious parallels to the successful ON office chair; indeed the green version looks like some sort of heavily pared down ON. It’s a visual illusion we know, but the association with ON gives Stand-up an authenticity and a seriousness that no other producer could bestow it.

Then the colours, a range that are very much in keeping with those chosen by Stefan Diez for his Chassis Chair and which have the effect of further aligning Stand-up with Wilkhahn and thus drawing it ever more into the fold.

Add to that Thorsten’s intelligent approach to solving the problem and a design that is as simple as it genial and you have a well rounded, considered but for all excellently realised object.

Although on display at Orgatec Stand-up is, for us, a product for home and office, and while, yes, it reeks like the sort of product “Start ups” would buy to compliment the de rigueur table football and table tennis tables  … you can’t help lovn’ it.

Established in 1996 by three friends with a shared passion for classic metal furniture, Müller Möbelfabrikation has grown steadily over the last decade and a half into one of Europe’s most interesting contemporary furniture manufacturers.

They don’t do anything especially revolutionary, and there is certainly no danger of them ever redefining the fabric of furniture design.

However, they are currently producing some of the most interesting, brash and accessible furniture on the market, and proving that quality craftsmanship and good design will always triumph over trends and fashions.

The initial “Classic Line Collection” of self-designed fairly beefy office furniture has been supplemented and complimented over the years by new, and lighter, collections created in co-operation with design studios such as 040studio, Lippert Studios or Delphin Design.

And all produced via old-skool, hands on production in Germany.

Reason enough for us to take a closer look.

And so ahead of Orgatec 2012 we visited Müller Möbelfabrikation at their Augsburg factory to check out the production process. Suffice to say it sparked. A lot.

Browsing through the catalogue for the exhibition “Der Stuhl” in Stuttgart one item in particular caught our attention: “Der Federdreh by Albert Stoll, Waldshut (Baden)” – and not just because it is a delightful piece of woodworking.

Loosely translated as “The Sprung Swivel” Der Federdreh does what it promises – swivels and has spring suspension.

Might not sound that interesting, but back then Der Federdreh was the very first chair of its kind. Anywhere.

Consequently Der Federdreh is, in effect, the great, great grandfather of all modern ergonomic office chairs.

And also a further wonderful indication of the Zeitgeist and general mood of change for the better in 1920s Europe that “Der Stuhl” so perfectly captured.

Owing to one of those company fissions that define the contemporary furniture industry, the exact providence of Der Federdreh is sadly difficult to confirm without resorting to long bibliographic searches.

Two manufacturers claim to be the natural successor of the company who originally produced Der Federdreh: and both probably are. But we don’t want to get involved in decade old family squabbles.

And so all that we can confirm is that in 1928 the German company Albert Stoll presented Der Federdreh in Stuttgart.

And since then office workers around the globe have been thankful.

In addition to offering a height adjustable seat with adjustable sprung suspension, Der Federdreh also offered a sprung, height adjustable backrest.

A backrest which is convivially shaped to allow a jacket to be hung over it, thus completing a truly fascinating piece of work.

And in 1930 “Albert Stoll” further improved Der Federdreh, and created another global first – they put castors on the chair and so created the first mobile, ergonomic, swivel suspension office chair.

Remember that, and be thankful, next time you have chair races round the office while the boss is OOO.

In a few weeks we’ll be making our biannual pilgrimage to Orgatec to check out the latest developments and advances in the world of office furniture, including no doubt numerous “new” ergonomic office swivel chairs.

The question is how many will be as genuinely revolutionary as Der Federdreh. And how many will simply be poor imitations of an 85 year old design classic?

We’ll keep you posted…..

Vitrastanden på Orgatec 2010 var domineret af især to tegnestuers arbejde: Antonio Citterio og Ronan og Erwan Bouroullec.

Udover at præsentere nye variationer af deres Alcove Sofa og Playns ‘workstation’, løftede Vitra også sløret for Bouroullecs nye ‘Communal Cells’ – modulære skillevægge/indretningsarkitektur-systemer og deres ‘High Meeting Table’.

Foruden at diskutere de to brødres kommende yacht-projekt, talte vi også om de nye Vitraprodukter, om hvordan brødrernes eget kontor ser ud, og om hvad der virkelig er vigtigt i forhold til kontordesign.

(smow)blog: Kan du kort fortælle os om de nye produkter I udstiller her på Orgatec?

Erwan Bouroullec: Ronan og jeg har arbejdet en hel del sammen med Vitra, og viser her nogle justeringer for produkter vi allerede har skabt, samt resultatet af nogle undersøgelser vi har lavet i forbindelse med arbejdet med at skabe flere ‘rum’ i enkelte kontorer, ved hjælp af et ‘cellesystem’ som vi har kaldt for ‘Communal Cells’.

(smow)blog: Og kan man se på ‘Communal Cells’ som en slags forlængelse af Alcove Systemet?

Erwan Bouroullec: Både ja og nej. Det er designet efter samme princip, men mere tilpasset denne form for ‘små-arkitektur’, som du har brug for i et åbent kontorlandskab – eksempelvis et køkken, en printerstand eller et lille mødelokale – altså rum der er designet til at tjene både arbejds- og ikke-arbejdsrelaterede formål.

(smow)blog: Og hvordan ser Bouroullecs eget kontor så ud?

Erwan Bouroullec: Det rare ved vores eget kontor er, er vi er heldige nok til at have mulighed for at bruge masser af forskellige arbejdsmetoder.  Nogle gange tegner jeg, nogle gange arbejder jeg på computer, og  andre gange bygger jeg modeller så kontoret ser lidt rodet ud, men det er netop fordi vi gør en hel masse ting på samme tid – hvilket er ret forfriskende.

Dét, jeg tror folk har brug for på deres arbejdspladser, er at ændre hvad de gør i løbet af dagen, ændre deres kropsholdning. Det tror jeg er meget vigtigt..

(smow)blog: … så man føler sig godt tilpas på kontoret?

Erwan Bouroullec: Ja, jeg tror den bedste måde at føle sig tilpas på kontoret er, at blive konfronteret med forskellige former for komfort i løbet af dagen: nogle gange sidder man i en sofa som vi gør nu, nogle gange i en kontorstol, andre gange på en almindelig spisebordsstol, men skiftet mellem disse er vigtigt. At sidde hele dagen i en sofa som denne ville ikke føles særlig godt, måske er det bedre at sidde på en kontorstol hele dagen, men alligevel ikke optimalt. Også skiftet mellem at være i et åbent kontorlandskab til at være ‘skjult’ for andre er vigtigt.

(smow)blog: Arbejder I på nogle projekter for tiden?

Erwan Bouroullec: Vi er lige begyndt på et sejlbådsprojekt, som er ret spændende.

(smow)blog: Det lyder sådan, og lidt af en forandring i forhold til jeres normale projekter?

Erwan  Bouroullec: Ja, men på en måde har vi altid haft den slags projekter, der er en lille smule anderledes i forhold til det spor vi normalt følger – og det er en interessant dynamik fordi det giver os nogle friske synspunkter, og samtidig oplever vi ting der kan hjælpe i forhold til vores industrielle arbejde.

(smow)blog: Så I tænker på nye måder, og overfører dét til jeres andre projekter?

Erwan Bouroullec: Ja, jeg synes det er virkelig interessant at blive konfronteret med en anden sammenhæng. Fra mit synspunkt er det virkelige ‘mål’ med design at opnå en interessant balance mellem en masse forskellige faktorer, så jo flere sammenhænge du bliver konfronteret med, desto mere lærer du om den måde du kan balancere tingene på.

The Vitra stand at Orgatec 2010 was dominated by the work of two design studios: Antonio Citterio and Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.
In addition to presenting new variations of their Alcove Sofa and Playns workstation, Vitra also unveiled the Bouroullec’s new Communal Cells modular partition/interior architecture system and their High Meeting Table
Apart from discussing the brothers forthcoming yacht project, we also talked about, the new Vitra products, what the Bouroullec’s own office looks like and what is truly important in office design.

(smow)blog: Can you briefly tell us about the new products you are exhibiting here at Orgatec?

Erwan Bouroullec: Ronan and me have been working quite a lot with Vitra and are showing here some adjustments to products we have already designed and also the result of some research we have been doing for quite some time on creating rooms within rooms in offices,  from which we have created a cell system called Communal Cells.

(smow)blog: And can one see Communal Cells as an extension of the Alcove System?

Erwan Bouroullec: Yes and no. It’s the same sort of principle but more adapted to the question of this kind of small architecture that you need in an open plan office. For example, a kitchen, a printer stand or a small meeting room – so spaces that are designed to serve everyone for both work and non-work.

(smow)blog: And, what does the Bouroullec’s own office look like?

Erwan Bouroullec: What is nice in our office is that we are really lucky to be able to use lots of different working methods, and so sometimes I am drawing, sometimes working on a computer, sometimes making mock-ups so the office looks a little bit messy, but that’s because we are doing quite a lot of different things at the same time. Which is quite refreshing.
What I think people need at work is to change what they do during the day and to change the position of the body. I think that is very important…

(smow)blog: … so that one feels comfortable in the office…

Erwan Bouroullec: … Yes, I think the best way to feel comfortable in an office to be confronted during the day by dfferent kinds of comfort: sometimes sitting in a sofa as we are now, sometime sitting in an office chair, sometimes in a dining chair, but changing is important. Because sitting the whole day in a sofa like this is not so good, to spend one day in an office chair is maybe better, but also not perfect. But also sometimes being in open, public space and sometimes being hidden from the others.

(smow)blog: And any projects that you are working on at the moment?

Erwan Bouroullec: We are just starting a sail boat project which is quite exciting.

(smow)blog: Certainly, and a bit of a change from your normal work?

Erwan Bouroullec: Yes, but in a way we always have had such kinds of projects that are a little bit outside the tracks that we usually follow. And it is an interesting dynamic because it brings us some fresh points of view and also we experience things that can help our industrial work.

(smow)blog: So thinking in different ways and then transferring that to your other work…

Erwan Bouroullec: Yeah, I think being confronted to a different context is really interesting. The real question of design from my point of view is to achieve an interesting balance between a lot of different factors and so the more contexts you are confronted by the more you learn about the way you can balance things.

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Although he was not showing any new products at Orgatec 2010 Alberto Meda used the show to catch up a little on what other designers were up to.

And when we caught up with Alberto Meda on the Vitra stand we learned something wonderful: Alberto Meda uses the same office chair as the (smow)blog crew…

(smow)blog: Unless we’ve missed something you aren’t showing anything at Orgatec 2010?

Alberto Meda: No, but I am working on a new product with Vitra, but that is not yet ready and so I am just here to see what is happening. Every designer doesn’t know what the other designers are doing and so for me its’s nice to see some new projects.

(smow)blog: One of your better known products is the MedaPal chair, what was the background to the chair, where did the idea come from?

Alberto Meda: The idea was an evolution of the previous chair designs with a different kinematic system within the structure. To keep the price down we decided to go back to more traditional ways of constructing office chairs. Which means we have a mechanical platform onto which you can add the seat and other components. And so we made first the MedaPro and then the MedaPal. The MedaPal is more economic because the seat does not move, but you still have a lot of comfort and the lumber support is very good and I have been using this chair every day for two years…

(smow)blog: .. the MedaPal ?…

Alberto Meda: … yes…

(smow)blog: …we also have a MedaPal. And, are you happy with it?

Alberto Meda: [laughs]… very happy. And when people come to me I let them sit in it and let them play with the mechanics and set the forces and the response is always positive.

(smow)blog: And any current projects you can tell us about?

Alberto Meda: I recently made an airport chair with Vitra which I am very happy with called MedaGate…

(smow)blog: … you like the prefix “Meda” …

Alberto Meda: [laughs] … no, no Vitra decide that, it is not my idea. MedaGate was launched at the Passenger Terminal Expo in March, and my next project is with Vitra, but I cannot say anything about that. But it will be a chair.

(smow)blog: Which we’re looking forward to already. Many thanks!

Although the public face of Vitra is unquestionably their “Home Collection”, for decades the backbone of the company has been their office furniture division.

Consequently a central feature of Vitra’s daily work involves developing new approaches to office design and attempting to predict what will be important for office workers in the coming years.

In 1991 Vitra commissioned the designers Michele de Lucchi, Ettore Sottsass and Andrea Branzi to develop some plans for future office design. A central component was the creation of an office environment that was both social and productive.

Since then Vitra have developed numerous variations on the theme. At Orgatec 2008, for example, Vitra presented their Net’n'Nest office design concept – a concept that essentially split an open plan office into spaces for communicative, group work (Net’) and spaces for concentrated, individual work (‘Nest) and provided furniture for both situations.

At Orgatec 2010 Vitra’s catchword was “Citizen Office 2011″ .

Taking stock as it were 20 years after Branzi, de Lucchi and Sottsass presented the results of their research, Vitra’s “Citizen Office 2011″ aims to present an up-to-date version of that work in the context of modern work practices, and in many ways can also be seen as further development of Net’n'Nest.

Sadly, Vitra felt obliged to riddle the whole exercise with the sort of unnecessary marketing vocabulary that makes our blood boil.

That marketing professionals have their own linguistic register is not only known but has been the subject of office satire for decades – we played our first game of “Marketing Jargon Bingo” in 1993 – and we’re certain that the average Vitra commercial customer is not only aware of this but is intelligent enough to get the idea on their own.

No one has ever sold anything by giving a collection of desks a marketing name and then comparing them to a suburban district.

And they never will.

Ever.

And to attempt such is a waste of time and money.

Always.

Fortuitously one or the other product presented by Vitra at Orgatec 2010 was of such a quality that it could calm our pulsating veins.

It sounds obvious but we were genuinely impressed with the Alcove Work by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. The Alcove is one of our favourite sofa designs, but was for us never an option for the office; however, by simply adding some storage space and a small surface on which one can write, the Bouroullecs have transformed it into something that can genuinely be recommended for workspaces.

The Bouroullec’s Communal Cells, in contrast,  initially made us recoil in horror – because we couldn’t understand why either Vitra or the Bouroullecs would want to produce a modern version 1970s airport telephone cells.

Then we realised that Communal Cells is in effect a modular concept with which users can create their own interior architecture.

And as with all sensible systems – rebuild and reconstruct as and when required.

And so with Communal Cells you have the possibility to create space for printers/copiers, for holding impromptu meetings, for installing a “snooze corner”… or whatever your office needs.

And once we understood that, we were genuinely impressed with the concept.

The other dominant designer within Vitra’s Orgatec 2010 show was Antonio Citterio. In addition to the Suita Club Sofa / Armchair and  Unix Chair Citterio’s most important contribution was without question the new ID Chair Concept.

Centred around a new patented motion system the ID Chair Concept looks like it will be a central feature of Vitra’s office design concepts for the next few years.

But more on the ID Chair Concept in a separate post.

In addition Vitra presented new products from Naoto Fukasawa, Arik Levy and the aforementioned HAL by Jasper Morrison.

Despite the marketing folks best attempts to muddy the waters, Vitra still base a lot of their office design concepts on a  loose interpretaton of Charles Eames “Collage” approach to domestic furnishing – which is no bad thing and certainly nothing to be ashamed of.

Variety is not only the spice of life but a necessity in an effective work place.

And so whereas “Citizens Office 2011″ wont change the way companies and individuals think about their office environments – we’re certain that many of the individual products launched at Orgatec 2010 will.

And that many of the resulting office designs will ultimately resemble what Vitra discuss in their “Citizen Office 2011″ manifesto.

Just without superfluous Office Forums and Workstation Areas.