Knoll NeoCon 2014 Introductions Featured in MMQB and Office Insight

June 6, 2014

The r/evolution workplace showroom and new products from Knoll are highlighted in the June 2, 2014 issue of MMQB and the June 09, 2014 issue of Office Insight, two contract furniture industry publications.

“It is going to be a big year for Knoll, which is coming to Chicago with an impressive collection of new products and an equal number of new ideas about how the workplace is changing,” writes Rob Kirkbride of MMQB.

He continues, “Knoll r/evolution workplace is more than idea. It is a platform that reimagines the office by exploring four distinct interior planning approaches that range from traditional to collaborative.”

Knoll does not want to prescribe one “right way” of planning,” explains Enrico Colzani, Knoll vice president of product strategy. Instead, Knoll “gives customers as many options as possible to find the right work style for them.” The Knoll 2014 showroom presents new products and introductions within the context of these planning models.

Of the new Remix™ family of chairs, Kirkbride writes that “the performance is really under the hood, so to speak.” The collection of upholstered chairs is designed by New Zealand-based Formway Design, the studio known for creating user-centric design like Generation by Knoll®.

The Remix collection includes four seating options. The Remix work chairs and high back chairs combine Flex Net Matrix technology, “a specially engineered, high performance stretchy material molded to provide resiliency and flexibility” while the side chairs and an activity chairs feature “integrated flexors that also provide a flexible support for the user’s back.”

“[With Remix} We took a step back and found an unmet need in the market. When you look at upholstered task seating, there really isn’t a lot of innovation in this product category,” says Alana Stevens, Knoll vice president of marketing.

Kirkbridge also credits Knoll with “pushing the idea [of height adjustable tables] forward by introducing Telescope by Antenna Design.” Antenna® Telescope™ is a height-adjustable table system that combines the ergonomics of adjustable height work spaces with the planning efficiency of benching.

Kirkbride highlights Telescope’s scalability, which allows the system to “grow, shrink and change as customers need,” which will appeal to corporate and higher education customers.

The new k.™ lounge for Activity Spaces as well as enhancements to Dividends Horizon® and Reff Profiles® and the expanded Anchor™ storage collection, which Office Insight praises as offering “modernized configurations to support today’s storage needs while remaining conscious of a compact footprint,” are also highlighted.

The new Acoustic FilzFelt collection by Architecture Research Office includes “wall, ceiling, and space dividing products that allow for acoustic, aesthetic and privacy by combining standard components covered in 63 colors of wool felt,” MMQB continues.

Bounce by Knoll™, new software and app that measures and analyzes space utilization and work platters of the office” and also allows “a company to communicate with its employees,” will be introduced at NeoCon.

Bounce enables real estate, facilities and design professionals to plan based on space utilization metrics,” Office Insight notes.

New designs for KnollTextiles from Kari Pei and Dorothy Cosonas, as well as five new upholstery fabrics for the 2014 Archival Collection, “inspired by the work of legendary Knoll designers Astride Sampe, Florence Knoll and Marianne Strengell,” are also spotlighted.

On Monday and Tuesday, June 9 and 10, Chicago-based illustrator Craighton Berman will be roaming the Knoll Chicago showroom with an iPad in hand, sketching office spaces, products and layouts that let people to do their best work. To follow all the NeoCon 2014 happenings, including Berman's work, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and join the conversation using the hashtag #revolutionworkplace.