Counting the cost
As furniture is increasingly perceived as a human and business solution, designers are incorporating business needs into their creative process. The soaring cost of real estate was central to the creation of the District series, says Steve Verbeek, Director of Design, Teknion. "Facility managers are asking how they can comfortably fit more people into less space. We tried to analyse how people really use their workstations. "This analysis led to a more streamlined system that allocates space by task and need. The corner space needed to accommodate the old bulky monitor disappears, as nearly all companies now use flat screens.

Ludwig also acknowledges that there are more and more constraints on the design of workstations. "Changes in real estate follow changes in our world. Of course we're working to enhance a company's overall productivity and performance." Juggling all these needs however, does not mean that the individual is subsumed. "At the same time we must never lose sight of the human experience and ultimately trying to improve it," he says.

Common threads
Improvement, and an iterative approach to design, is something that occupies the mind of Paulo Orlandini (of design collective duo Lucci+Orlandini). "Every day we are facing a battle to improve small details, to solve problems," he says. The fact that his latest designs from Italy are manufactured and sold primarily in Greater China and Asia does not phase him in the slightest. "The gaps between the different sides of the world are becoming smaller and smaller."

This is a common point raised by the designers, that the differences between markets are diminishing. "We're designing globally, and we're finding that the issues that people have in different place will be the same, but to different degrees," says Verbeek. Similarly, the topical issues affecting the designs of office furniture are universal.

The speed of technology is one of these, especially for workstations where the CRT monitor switched to the flat screen, to the laptop and with new technologies threatening to breakthrough all the time. Environmental issues also take precedent for many of the designers, as Pennigton underscores when discussin importance of eco-friendly design in today's worldwide marketplace: "When you start designing for global markets the volumes are incredible and therefore any negative effects such as waste are also far greater."

Reaching the summit
Haven risen to the pinnacle of their profession, what inspires or drives these designers to keep going back to the drawing board? Orlandini faces his task almost as a mountain to climb: "The challenge is to improve our design, step by step. To develop products technically, aesthetically, ergonomically, functionally, environmentally, only by this method can we truly get better."

Ludwig cites the shared process of innovation with his team as inspiration. "Our diverse backgrounds and the sharing of physical, visual and cultural experiences make our collaboration rich and allow us to craft a design language that speaks to the evolving cultural landscape."

Perhaps the most inspiring message however, comes from the admirable Niels Diffrient who, at an age when most of us are playing golf or relaxing in our gardens, is anxiously shepherding his latest chair design through a tooling and manufacturing development stage that will take up to one year. "Virtually all of us sit for work, and it's a cause of a lot of health problems. It's a really a profound challenge to build a good chair. I feel challenged, and I feel satisfied to be able to create a product that does a real service to people." RFP

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