compliments of dirtt/lane office akua lesesne...

08.11.08 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS

IIDA New York Hospitality Forum

On Thursday, July 24th, the W Tuscany on 39th Street in New York City was the venue for IIDA New York Hospitality Forum, which focused on “The New Age of Hospitality & Retail Design.”

FULL STORY ON PG.14

Peter Bosson Introduces Colebrook, Bosson, Saunders

Colebrook, Bosson, Saunders is a U.K. architecture fi rm that found a need for ergonomics in the workplace and decided to provide products that fi lled the bill, or at least some of it.

FULL STORY ON PG.3

Ms. Hopewell Takes To New Haven

When she was a California girl, she was Debbie, but when she came to the faster paced East Coast, she became Deb. But no matter where she is, she is still Debo-rah Hopewell, a supercharged dealer salesperson and respected manager.

FULL STORY ON PG.9

Chapter Four: Tap Water, Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is

Without water, life as we know it would be impossible – especially in the desert. I have been pondering my own family’s water-rites issues and this bottled spring water habit has got to stop.

FULL STORY ON PG.11

Johnny Helm Dies at 83

John L. (Johnny) Helm died at his home in Dallas, TX, on July 1. He was a retired employee of Knoll. After serving in WWII and graduating from the Uni-versity of Arkansas, Mr. Helm joined Knoll, where he spent the next 28 years.

FULL STORY ON PG.13

CITED:“DRAWING ON MY FINE COMMAND OF THE ENG-LISH LANGUAGE, I SAID NOTHING.” —ROBERT BENCHLEY A Minute with Ira Joe: Solar Savings

Kathleen Vick has me thinking. About solar energy. In her Eco-Issues article in last week’s offi ceinsight, Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is, she of-fers great research. And great spirit.

FULL STORY ON PG.15

Compliments of DIRTT/Lane Office Akua Lesesne

pp , p g

08.11.08 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 2 OF 24

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companies

Colebrook, Bosson, Saunders is a U.K. architecture fi rm that found a need for ergonomics in the workplace and decided to provide products that fi lled the bill, or at least some of it. This niche has worked out well for the fi rm and its partners, Martyn Colebrook, Peter Bosson and Brenda Saunders, and the fi rm by now has a global pres-ence with offi ces in the UK, USA, Aus-tralia and Japan. From these offi ces, the fi rm works through a worldwide network of manufacturers, dealers and distributors, and has installed its prod-ucts in some of the most high profi le international design projects.

CBS, as it is referred to, caught our eye several NeoCons ago. Its displays at their temporary show stand have frequently seem to be in the forefront

Peter Bosson Introduces Colebrook, Bosson, Saundersby Brad Powell

of taking computer equipment off the desktop, and eventually placing it out of the way on, say, a pole only a turn of the chair away. Then, it became apparent that CBS was serving as a source for accessories for manufactur-ers such as Knoll, whose customers had need of ergonomic equipment, but not suffi cient for these manufac-turers to divert resources from their primary business.

Of course, CBS is not alone in this business: Humanscale, for example, does very well in this area, but there are not many beyond these two com-panies that consistently bring the fi ne eye of the experienced architect and industrial designer to this area. Just recently, CBS set up permanent offi ces in the U.S. in the New York Design Center, 200 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY. We were invited by to chat with Peter Bosson to learn more about the fi rm and its products.

PB: We’ve been in our new show-room on the eleventh fl oor of the New York Design Center as of the 15th of May. We set a very high standard for ourselves, and did a lot of thinking about what showrooms are for. We wanted ours to be less about products, and more about education and the nature of ideas. Creating that can be tricky. We were also fortunate that our showroom partners – Kutsch + Co. and NovaWall – felt the same.

OI : Who designed your new show-room?

PB: I’m an architect by training, and our fi rm is an architectural fi rm. The initial concept of the showroom is mine, the layout, the spatial planning, as well as the general idea of mesh-ing the three fi rms into one. Because

we’re not licensed in the US, we joined forces with of Ted Moudis, who came very highly recommended.

We needed help with things like project management and all the build-ing codes here. They understood and interpreted the design concept so incredibly well that it felt like we were a rock and roll band all playing the same song.

OI: Why did you put your products only in this New York showroom?

PB: There’s a New York develop-ment agency in London that’s trying to attract business to the city. In our research with them, we learned that 60% of the wealth generation in the US is within ten hours’ drive of New York City. We felt that if we limited ourselves to a given area, we could provide the high level of service that people in this country really expect, and that would serve us better in the long run than trying to spread our-selves out.

OI: Are you going through dealers, selling directly to designers, or both?

PB: This country works very differ-ently from Europe. The anti-trust laws drive the way that people go to market, and dealer and distributor discounts work differently as well. Generally speaking, we sell directly, and then bring that business back to the deal-ers. We look at our relationships in the long term, not just for any one project.

OI: Who are you working with in the U.S.? PB: Many of the big manufactur-

ers. We have sold products through Knoll for some time and the company is buying our product at an increasing rate. When Carl Magnusson left Knoll and began working with Teknion, he PETER BOSSON


companiesintroduced us to them and Teknion has become a big player for us as well. We work with Herman Miller, and we’re talking to Allsteel, Ahrend, and Vitra and looking into many other avenues.

We help to fulfi ll a manufacturer’s need for accessories. They might as-sume at fi rst that they can make their own monitor arm. Then they discover that it’s like making a watch: it’s tiny, but it takes quite a bit of experience to design and manufacture. The big com-panies come up against that diffi culty, and that’s when they discover us as a resource.

OI: How big is your company now, and where are you geographically located?

PB: We started in London. We used to make everything in the UK, but the market of late has forced us to take our manufacturing abroad; now, London is our company’s drop-off point. The product comes from China, Malaysia, and Turkey, and so on, and it arrives in a warehouse at our headquarters.

We feel that our presence in New York has the potential to be every bit as big as that in London. As for the size of our company, we’re currently at $30 million, and we hope to get to $80 mil-lion at the end of a fi ve-year period. We feel that’s achievable.

OI: Are you going to have a mail order business for dealers outside the New York area?

PB: Yes. We already have a store online, and we’re putting together our strategies for shipping. Some of our products come ready in boxes, though we can’t do some of the more special-ized things such as kit parts. It will all be high design quality at the right price; that’s what we’re about.

OI: What is the nature of your relation-ship with your manufacturer/distribu-tors?

PB: All the manufacturers we work with buy our products as open market products, and make them available to their dealers. That’s how it works.

What we’re selling is ergonomics, setting up a workstation so that it’s a genuinely good place to be. Working ten hours a day at a desk can drive you mad. We get the idea of what people need, and we go to the catalog and fi nd the appropriate products that will achieve that. That doesn’t work a la carte. We have to be involved in the project to explain things so that the product really works with the furniture.

When it works, it works very well; when it doesn’t, it can be something of a mess.

OI: So then dealerships are trained in how it all works?

PB: Yes; when the dealership is knowledgeable, it becomes very easy. They’ll confi gure the project and call us for a quote, as they do with furniture.

OI: So tell me about the ergonomic aspect. I didn’t think a monitor arm was such a big deal: just fasten a few bolts, put your monitor on, adjust it ’til you’re comfortable, and start typing.

ADJUSTABLE HEIGHT COMPUTER WORKSTATION POLE


companiesPB: Fair enough, but a lot of people

don’t know how they work physically. The average user isn’t aware of all the anatomic details. Your spine is actually curved when you’re sitting properly. Different reaches, easy, medium, and diffi cult, all have their effects on the body. As tall animals, we have a natural 15-degree droop to our line of sight. The monitor should be set up to address those details, and that knowledge infl u-ences our product designs. At the end of the day, it’s still a lump of metal with a hinge, but it’s really the knowledge that we’re selling. I started on all this thinking back when I worked at Olivetti, with the Sotsass Group.

OI: Ettore Sottsass and the Olivetti products?

PB: Right. I was working on those in Milan, and we started to look at how you can design so that technology doesn’t dominate people, but the other way around. We put cameras in the ceiling and took photographs of people on grids to study how their hands moved and all of that. That was a long time ago, and I think we were one of the fi rst to use that

technique. With that information, we made a number of products designed to give the desk back, to make it a place where you can actually work and not be crushed by the technology. I think there’s still a lot to be done in that area.

OI: Is ergonomics a bigger subject in Europe than it is here, where it seemed to have its fi fteen minutes of fame before the sustainability movement.

PB: Yes. That’s another big difference. Here it’s litigation, in Europe it’s legisla-tion. In the long run, the result is about the same, but it seems a few people have to get hauled over the coals here before something is done.

OI: That, or the company is truly concerned about the welfare of its employees and its medical insurance expenses.

PB: Or that, certainly. In our showroom we have a display

bench that we call the Ergonomics Desk; it’s made to remind you of a news desk, a health desk, or a reception desk. You can sit down with a screen in front of you, and set yourself up properly in just ten minutes. It physically engages people rather than just talking about it abstractly.

That’s when customers get it, and then we can talk about how to apply our products to their business. That’s what we’re trying to do in our show-room: encourage people to understand how working properly makes good sense with regards to health and workfl ow.

OI: Do you have an ergonomist on your staff?

PB: For litigation reasons, we bring in qualifi ed consultants. And while I’m not a qualifi ed ergonomist, I do know the subject and stay up to date. We check in with the Gensler’s ergonom-ics workgroup in Washington, and they sign off on our AIA-accredited presen-tation on ergonomics. We do the same

thing in London, to see if any informa-tion has changed that we might need to update.

A good example of that is the change in demographics. In Europe, over 50% of the workforce is over fi fty, including me, and our needs are different. Retiring is much more diffi cult these days, and pensions aren’t as good, so we want to enable people to work in a healthy way until, say, the age of seventy-fi ve. That’s an avenue of research I’m very inter-ested in.

I also think products like the iPhone represent a major shift in the potential of the way we work, in terms of mobility. Our company is not going to be static; we’re always going to examine new ways of working, and challenging ourselves to fi nd new products to suit.

OI: What are the backgrounds of your partners?

PB: Martyn Colebrook and I are both architects, and Brenda Saunders is a furniture designer. All of us were trained at the Royal College of Art in London, and we were in practice for a good long time together.

There was a property crash, and dur-ing that time we were solving problems for a number of banks, building societ-ies, and fi nancial institutions. We kept the rights to the products we developed and started to manufacture them, which gave us an entire parallel business apart from architecture and design. I think it’s the best move we ever made. We became completely in control of our market, and started to work with people who were driving the big projects, com-panies such as Goldman Sachs. We’d receive a brief about their project from a number of their experts; as a result, we were able to develop products that were most useful to them.

OI: Are you going to produce a chair someday, as Humanscale has done?

PB: I think we’d be in confl ict with too many of the people we consider FLAT PANEL MONITOR BRACKETS


companiesour business friends, so probably not, though the temptation is enormous. A chair is really the ultimate challenge for an ergonomic designer. I’m sure we could do it, but we don’t plan to because it would upset a lot of our connections.

OI: Of course, Humanscale intro-duced their chair at a time when there weren’t a lot of good chairs around.

PB: Yes. In a way, they’ve done for chairs what we’ve done for ergo-nomic products. They got there fi rst [Ed. Note: Well, maybe second.], and others followed after. If we went into seating, we’d be chasing the end of the whole pack.

OI: There may be a demand for a work chair, but one that is more on the comfortable, homey side for the new informal workstyles. That gap hasn’t really been fi lled, although there have been stopgap products available for years, lounge chairs with tablets stuck in the arms and wheels on the feet.

PB: Certainly, and you’re touching on what we talked about earlier with workplace trends. Not as many people are going to work in an offi ce, and in fi fteen years’ time, who knows what the workplace will look like. Personally, a lot of my work takes place outside the offi ce, and when I come in, it’s about exchanging ideas.

I’m waiting to see the next shift come around, and it’s really exciting; I think we’re on the verge. I see my colleagues on their Blackberries in meetings, and the technology is getting better every year. There’s even voice-sensitive software that lets you send an email without having to type.

OI: I’ve noticed that some of your products are getting more advanced in that direction.

PB: Yes. In our business, we benefi t a little from inertia in that big

manufacturers can be slow to catch up with trends. CRT monitors are being phased out for fl at panels, but that has taken a while because it’s a matter of investment. For us, that means that we don’t have to panic about the next big thing like a fashion designer, from one season to the next. We have some room to see what’s coming and design for it. In all honesty, we sort of depend on the slowness of the industry to keep ahead.

OI: How long ago did you establish your operation?

PB: About fi fteen years ago. Our fi rst product was called the Bolt-on Arm, one of the fi rst CRT monitor arms. We also made a wire casing slung under the desk to hold your CPU. We designed it for a big bank, showing them that we could give them their desk back, and they were just so relieved. We really took off with that, because enough people saw the sense of it just in terms of saving space.

When we were younger, Martyn and I cycled around with these products showing them to people – archi-tects, friends and people in prac-tices – and we actually got a couple of big corporate projects from that.

That was even before ergonomics had made its way into legislation.OI: Have you closed down your archi-tecture business?

PB: We still do little projects here and there such as our new showroom, and Martyn is designing his own house. But we don’t need to make a living off it. A project would have to be very tempting to pull us in. That gives us the luxury of being able to pick and choose. One of our ambitions is to buy small parcels of land in London and use them for projects that people wouldn’t normally touch because they are too in-novative or diffi cult. The success of our business may allow us that option.

OI: How many employees do you have?

PB: We’re quite small; we’ve got about sixty-fi ve worldwide. We have offi ces in New York, and we’ve just set up on the West Coast with someone in Vancouver who used to work for us in London. Her task is to strategically develop a West Coast market. We’ve been in Australia for some time, and we’re also in Japan, Paris, Germany, and Dubai.

OI: Is the UK still your hottest market?

FLAT PANEL MONITOR BRACKETS


companiesPB: Yes. At the moment, it’s about

sixty/forty, but we aim to turn that into forty/sixty, where the rest of the world becomes bigger than the UK.

OI: What’s on the drawing board: any products coming out that you want to talk about?

PB: We’re coming out with a more affordable type of monitor arm that’s going to be launched this year. It’s made of simple materials, and we’ve been very careful about cost-engi-neering it from an early stage. So we’ve got a well-designed, highly functional product at a good price point.

We have some new products in the works for the A/V market to suit the fifty-inch, flat-panel screens. We have a relationship with an Ameri-can company, Life Size, which enables live, real-time video confer-encing worldwide with their clever codec technology. We’re designers, so of course we’ve got a drawer full of stuff.

To tell you the truth, when we started manufacturing abroad, that put an enormous burden on us in terms of the amount of data we had to provide. We couldn’t just ask for a color of paint; we had to specify

its chemical composition, otherwise you may get something back that isn’t what you wanted. We were forced to go further into the details than we ever had before, so we have a whole new raft of systems in place, as well as new engineers whose job it is to sort that all out. That had the effect of slowing down inventiveness for a while, but it’s picking up again.

OI: Who’s heading up your New York office?

PB: Albert Agotti is head of sales. As president of the company, I’ll be making trips here. Matt will be doing the technical studies, and we have three sales staff. New York is wholly a sales operation. We hope to get up to about ten or twelve people with no European staff in the next couple of years.

We’ve actually got three com-panies in our showroom. There’s Thompson Contracts (Norwall), an American company, and Kusch + Co., a German company. One sells partitioning, one sells chairs, and we do the ergonomic products. The idea was that these different but related businesses could feed each other. Each business is relevant to

the others, and we think that will create something great. Then of course there’s Life Size, who’s doing all the A/V.

OI: What exactly do they sell for video conferencing, is it the screens or the directors?

PB: They make the technology that drives the video conferenc-ing. They buy the screen and the camera; it’s the codec that makes it all happen, so they sell the knowl-edge of that. And we have a support system that supports all their products. We sell to banks here and in London.

OI: And, I would assume, others with substantial budgets for that type of thing.

PB: Substantial is relative, consid-ering the cost of air fare. I go from London to New York every two weeks, so I imagine that if we had real-time video conferencing, we might save a lot of money.

All of that is in our showroom. It’s an open place where people can come, sit at the desks and use the wi-fi to work. That’s how we want people to experience it. iI’s a little different. You can’t buy anything there; it’s not a store; it’s an idea.

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08.11.08

people

GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 9 OF 24

When she was a California girl, she was Debbie, but when she came to the faster paced East Coast, she became Deb. But no matter where she is, she is still Deborah Hopewell, a supercharged dealer salesperson and respected manager.

For twenty-four years, Ms. Hopewell has set the pace for Steelcase dealer sales in the Fair-Chester area (Upper Westchester County, New York, and Fairfi eld County, Connecticut). Now, she is the President and majority owner of newly rebranded De Clercq Offi ce Group, New Haven, Connecti-cut’s, Knoll dealership formerly known as McCabe Offi ce Furniture. De Cler-cq Offi ce Group, New Haven, a minor-ity owned business, is Ms. Hopewell’s fi rst opportunity to fully run her own shop, although the word is that this dynamo has been doing very, very well following her own instincts, clients and projects for quite some time.

dog. New Haven, as locals will readily infer, is a stand alone company of De Clercq International (d/b/a De Clercq Offi ce Group in the quaint

Ms. Hopewell Takes To New Havenby Brad Powell

village of Rowayton, CT). Founded in 2002, De Clercq Offi ce Group, a Knoll dealership, is the highly successful venture of Dan De Clercq. Mr. De Clercq was previously one of the area’s most successful independent Geiger representatives. Now as a dealer, Dan has used his refi ned sales and management skills in developing what he calls, the Undealer approach to the client-manufacturer interface. Ask any-body in the business, this dealership’s approach is different.

So, it is not hyperbole to say that Ms. Hopewell and Mr. De Clercq are a formidable presence for Knoll in Con-necticut. Did I say they are married as well? While Mr. De Clercq has been a Knoll dealer for only 6 years, he was a member of the Knoll sales team that many years ago helped make the New York offi ce the dominant force that it is today. Ms. Hopewell’s fi rst job after college (primarily the American Uni-versity in Paris) was Lubin Business Interiors, Stamford, CT, offi ce, where she worked for eight years. Just about the time that Lubin’s was acquired by BKM, a large multi-state Steel-case dealership, Ms. Hopewell joined Waldner’s Business Environments in the Rye, NY, offi ce of this NYC-based Steelcase dealership; she has worked there for the past 16 years. While Steelcase has been known traditionally for its strong account relationships, Ms. Hopewell has always focused on developing relationships with the A&D community. And that is part of what she brings to dog. New Haven.

When she fi rst arrived on the East Coast, Ms. Hopewell intended to be-come a commercial real estate broker, “but sort of fell into contract furniture sales,” which she thought would be a good way to spend a couple of years

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DEBORAH HOPEWELL DE CLERCQ

08.11.08

people


getting to know the people and the ter-ritory. Well, it’s hard to turn away from success, and Ms. Hopewell has been riding an ever-increasing wave that has carried her through the many cycles that have dampened this industry into her own operation. Of course, a down-turn in contract furniture is not usually the best time to leap into commercial real estate sales, either. But, for the Undealer, the timing is perfect.

What is it that makes people such as Ms. Hopewell and Mr. De Clercq so

successful? As anyone good in sales must be, they are people-oriented and very likable, and it doesn’t hurt to be good looking either. But, more than anything, they are smart, well trained and work very hard to help their clients.

Of course, many folks work hard, but training tells you how to work, where to put your effort. Ms. Hopewell and Mr. De Clercq got their experience in an age when line sales people had to be generalists, lack-ing the technology and other sup-port that is now commonplace. Yes, there was a day, and it wasn’t that long ago, that there were no personal computers; and sales people not only brought in the business, spec-ed out projects, and, effectively, managed their own projects, and also managed their multiple clients: architects and designers, manufacturers, end us-ers, etc. Why, there are even stories of senior sales people pulling apart showroom furniture to fashion mock ups saying that the “client is always right.”

This sort of experience, over the years, gives one a comprehen-sive idea of the sales and delivery process, from beginning to end.

And also a fi fth sense of what can go wrong. Ms. Hopewell and Mr. De Clercq have put in their time, made their mistakes, and aggressively bring their experiences to bear for the benefi t of their clients. And that is why they are so good.

dog. New Haven will start small, using the former McCabe’s as the beginning foundation. According to its website, McCabe’s was about a $2 million plus business that, we were told, focused on close, end user relationships. That will continue, as will former McCabe owner Carl Gendron and his small staff. Ms. Hopewell will use her A&D experi-ence to expand the operation, and with the Knoll name and products, should do well in a market that in-cludes important and well-endowed clients in Education, Corporate and Health-related industries. The dog. New Haven territory extends from the New Haven area through New London County to the Rhode Island border.

Interestingly enough, Ms. Hopewell worked with Carl Gendron when they both worked for Lubin’s almost 20 years ago. It’s a small world.

Best wishes to the dog. enterprise.

Younger and older office workers assign different levels of importance to privacy according to research in the Journal of Architectural and Planning Research. To learn more about younger and older workers’ attitudes towards privacy and how to accommodate them, see our Research Summary, “Privacy in the Workplace Differs for Older Workers.”

DAN DE CLERCQ WITH HIS NEW SMART CAR


eco-issues

Without water, life as we know it would be impossible – especially in the desert. Scarcely a day goes by in Arizona with-out some mention of water-rights issues.

I have been pondering my own family’s water-rites issues and this bottled spring water habit has got to stop. I know that the textile industry makes fabric of 100% post consumer polyester (a la water bottles), but when I look at the big picture – the imbedded energy it takes to initially produce those bottles and to ship, collect, sort, re-ship and re-produce them into fabric – I feel that it’s, well, making the best of an unfortunate situation.

Every week we fi ll our enormous recy-cling container, to the brim – we fi ll the same sized trash container only every 3 weeks – and approximately 15% of its contents are water bottles. Just by elimi-nating water bottles we can substantially reduce our recycling bulk.

Besides the desire to take a more responsible approach to the environ-

Chapter Four: Tap Water, Putting My Money Where My Mouth Isby Kathleen Vick, ASID

ment, water quality is a health issue that has just become terrifyingly evident after we disconnected the plumbing fi xtures and witnessed the corrosive effect of Arizona’s water’s copious minerals. It led us to consider how much of those minerals – and goodness knows what else – we were consuming, even though we were drinking bottled water. (For example, the body absorbs a great deal of water through the skin during the course of a shower and there are other activities such as teeth brushing, food preparation, laundry and dishwashing that are related to water intake.)

We decide to take action by com-mitting to a whole-house water treat-ment system. This differs from a water softener (the ones that use salts), which many states are beginning to outlaw because of salt pollution. We begin our research with the basics: quantity and quality: how much water needs to be treated and to what extent does it need to be treated.

(http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/gfi lters.asp is a good place to begin research.)

Quantity is relatively simple; a quick check of our water bills identifi es our gross annual use; some careful “divin-ing” gives us a sense of how much is used for landscape and pool – in our case, we fi gure 70% is in-house water use and 30% is hose-bib-water use. (It is important to know how much water must be treated because it affects the frequency of fi lter changes.)

So, our new design has the water service “T” just prior to entering the house; one leg will go, untreated, to the line feeding the hose bibs and the other leg will go to the water treatment equip-ment, which will then supply everything inside the house.

Now the complicated part: To what extent must the water be treated? There are several types of undesirables that sneak into tap water but is alleged to be safe by municipal standards: sediment, heavy metals, minerals, chlorine, cysts and metabolites (all those pharmaceuticals) just to name a few. Eliminating these will not only improve the healthful aspect of wa-ter, but it will improve its clarity and improve the taste.

There are 3 major aspects to water treatment: >elimination of sediment and other undesirables>minimization of corrosion>disinfection. Although (truthfully) touted as rendering the purest water possible, distillation and reverse osmosis are fl awed because those treatments re-move benefi cial minerals from water causing the super-purifi ed water to leech minerals from places such as bones . . . so beware. WATER TREATMENT DIAGRAM


eco-issuesThe best systems reduce con-

taminates down to less than 1 micron – clean room quality – but they are staggeringly expensive (They can easily exceed $5000.) and their expensive fi lters have to be changed monthly. The inexpensive ones (less than $500) do not reduce sediment, only marginally improve water softness and fi lter out impurities larger than 20 microns; they are not really worth entertaining.

We settle on a mid-range system that is rated for 300,000 gallons (before fi lter changes) with a “multistage fi ltration process” that fi lters out particles down to 5 microns: it fi rst removes sedi-ment; then an activated carbon fi lter made from coconut shells eliminates a complete range of chemicals, metals, pesticides, voc’s and metabolites. Fi-nally, a citation exchange softener adds a charge to the minerals, eliminating their corrosive effects. Our system will work for between 3 and 4 years before we have to change the major fi lters, but we will have to change the relatively inexpensive sediment fi lter every 6 months.

Is it worth it?Financially? Yes, but in the long run,

marginally at fi rst. Currently we spend approximately

$1,925 every 3.5 years for water ($500 on bottled spring water, at Costco prices, and $50 to maintain the water softener every year).

Our new whole house water fi lter/softener system, including purchase, installation and operation, will cost us approximately $1,800 over the course of 3.5 years ($700 for the fi ltration unit, $700 for the citation softener, an estimated $150 for sediment fi lters and approximately $250 for the installa-tion).

We will start to see some serious pay-back during additional years because there will be no equipment purchases or installation costs. The only expense will be the replacement of the major (300,000 gallon rated) fi lter for $600

and the continued expense of the sedi-ment fi lters – $20 every 6 months.

Environmentally? Absolutely. We will re-duce our recycling bulk by 15% – equiva-lent to 7 huge containers every year. We will also eliminate the salt pollution from our existing water softener. We will vastly improve every drop of water that comes into the house – and into contact with our

bodies. Our bodies will reap the benefi ts of less environmental contamination – trans-lating in a better quality of life and reduced health risks – and we will add years to the life of all our equipment, appliances, pipes, plumbing fi xtures and faucet sets.

So we place our order on line; with free shipping and no state sales tax, how can we go wrong?!

REPLACED SHUTOFF CONNECTION

08.11.08

people


John L. (Johnny) Helm died at his home in Dallas, TX, on July 1. He was a retired employee of Knoll and known to many in the industry. After serving in WWII and graduating from the University of Arkansas, Mr. Helm joined Knoll, where he spent the next 28 years.

While at college, Mr Helm’s room-mate, Sam Peck, invited him to spend the weekend at the family home in Little Rock. The Pecks owned the major hotel in town, and that particular weekend they had scheduled a dinner party to honor a guest, Hans Knoll.

Mr. Helm was serendipitously seated next to Mr. Knoll, and by dessert, Mr. Helm had a job offer. Interested, Mr. Helm nevertheless wanted to complete his degree the following year. “In that case,” said Mr. Knoll, “let me help you with course selection.” Mr. Helm accepted, and when he graduated the following spring, he moved to New York to be tutored by the master.

The next year, Mr. Knoll dispatched Mr. Helm to establish a Knoll presence in the burgeoning Southwest market. Before long, Mr. Helm opened the fi rst Knoll showroom in that area. The showroom in

Johnny Helm Dies at 83

Dallas, which was designed by Florence Knoll, was greeted with great fanfare by the local design community.

Mr. Helm spent the next years calling on architects in Texas and surrounding states –interior design fi rms did not then exist – preaching the Knoll gospel. As business grew, so did his staff. One young fellow, a design student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, hung around the showroom and frequently borrowed or scavenged materials for his school projects. After graduation and fulfi lling his military service, the student, Bob Cadwallader, joined Mr. Helm in the Dallas offi ce. Bobby, as he was known, went on to a distinguished career and be-came president of Knoll after Mrs. Knoll retired in the late 1960s.

On one trip to headquarters in 1957, Mr. Helm met Larry Ryan, who was work-ing in the Knoll offi ce handling customer service during the day and completing graduate work at night. Mr. Helm per-suaded Mr. Ryan to move to Dallas to join him and Mr. Cadwallader. Much later, Mr. Ryan, too, became president of Knoll.

Many others over the years, men and women, grew personally and profes-

sionally under the guiding infl uence of Johnny Helm, a true industry pioneer.

Mr. Helm is survived by his wife Ther-ylene Helm, P.O. Box 566, Weatherford, TX 76086. Memorial contributions may be made in honor of John L. Helm to the Eugene P. Frenkel Research Fund in Oncology, U.T. Southwestern Medi-cal! Center, P.O. Box 910888, Dallas, TX 75391-0888.

The personal anecdotes of John L. Helm in this article were relayed to us by Larry Ryan, president of Knoll (ret.)

S T Y L E X

Avo | Design by Komplotstylexseating.com800.257.5742

JOHNNY HELM


events

On Thursday, July 24th, the W Tuscany on 39th Street in New York City was the venue for IIDA New York Hospitality Forum, which focused on “The New Age of Hospitality & Retail Design.” A Hospitality Forum record of 175 guests was in attendance. The event was co-chaired by Nancy Jackson, President of Architectural Systems, Inc., and Christine McGinnis, IIDA, Di-rector, Visual Communications of aloft and element hotels; the W Tuscany provided attendees with an intimate lounge-like setting.

The panel of speakers was made up of four industry luminaries, chosen for their breadth of work in the hospital-ity and retail industries. Panelists Beth Novitsky, Design Director for Gensler Studio 585, Aaron Richter, EVP of Architecture & Design, Ian Schrager Company, David Ashen, Principal, D-

Ash Design, and Jay Valgora, Principal, Studio V Architecture, illustrated their points by using examples from their portfolios. Project highlights (past, pres-ent and future), showcased the syner-gistic relationship between the branding of both hospitality and retail design.

The forum commenced with the fi rst speaker, Ms. Novitsky, who showcased projects such as MGM City Center (a $7 billion project in Las Vegas) and De-egie’s Carma, from her point of view as a brand strategist and identity designer. Mr. Richter, who has worked extensively in the retail and hospitality industry, dis-cussed how branding across a variety of locations creates a collective experience.

Mr. Ashen presented case studies that were lessons learned from retail brand-ing and their applications to hospitality, and focused on the recently completed restaurant Mercat a la Planxa in Chi-

cago. And the fi nal speaker, Mr. Valgora, has done original and cutting edge work globally. The projects he presented in-cluded a mixed-use project in a Quaker community, which was created to be a contemporary green environment; Lac Mirabel in Canada, the world’s fi rst pro-posed large-scale sustainable retail mall; and Niagara Railway Bridge, where a historic downtown will be transformed with a master plan.

The evening’s presentations were interesting, inspirational, and informative and showed a great range of projects. Ms. Novitsky set the stage with the idea of the mixed-use project trend. The pre-sentation concluded with Mr. Valgora’s perspective that there is no “mixed-use.” His case in point: “…when people travel, they shop... So, now it’s all-use.” The question on everyone’s mind: is mixed-use is a trend, or is it here to stay?

BACK ROW (L-R):JAY VALGORA, BETH NOVITSKY, AARON RICHTER AND DAVID ASHENFRONT ROW (L-R): CHRISTINE MCGINNIS, NANCY JACKSON (PHOTO: RICHARD CADAN)

IIDA New York Hospitality Forum


a minute with ira joe

Kathleen Vick has me thinking. About solar energy. In her Eco-Issues article in last week’s offi ceinsight, Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is, she offers great research. And great spirit. I applaud such thinking …and plan-ning and calculating and determining and measuring and consulting and specifying and marking and installing and inspiring.

The sun has been hanging in the sky for …well, I can’t say for how long; but, I’ll bet it’s been there for years. Why has it taken us so long to consider how to lasso light to enhance our lives? Rather than just allowing it to soften the M & M’s left on the backseat of our 1938 Ferblungeon?

My house is surrounded by trees. Mostly maples; but, there is one sprawling and shaggy pine that starts on a front corner and bends around

A Minute with Ira Joe: Solar Savingsby Ira Joe Fisher

to the side and overhangs the deck. I love this tree. It’s large and scruffy. But, the wind through its needles and boughs is as sweet as a symphony. And the sunlight through those needles and boughs is absolutely spiritual.

When the evening slowly closes the lid on the day, slipping the sun behind the trees-ey hill across the street, that sun alchemizes the soft needles from green to gold. It is a moment when the wind pauses and birds are mute. If I am there to see it, and alone, this leaving light graces my solitude, and lifts away my worries.

The sun now offers the gift of warming and lighting and powering your house and mine. My regard of our nearest simmering star has usu-ally been quite prosaic. But a new relationship has begun. We lasso, we

harness. Draw into partnership. And Kathleen Vick “sheds light” on how to do this.

I like the lingo: “photovoltaic cells.” Sounds like a place one would put a felonious Martian in a 1950s movie. And “grid” and “gratis.” A couple of great words. Alliterative. Few syllabled. “Grid” might have just tumbled out of ESPN. And “gratis”? Who doesn’t like that word? Think of it with theater tickets or French fries.

There are the “Kyocera PV modules” or “inverter.” I don’t have any idea what they are; but, I want some. Then, there is that thing labeled “Fronius IG” in the photo. I envy the person having one of those. You take a visitor down into the basement and they see that hanging on the wall and utter a quiet, sighing, “Wow.”

You respond, “Yep. It’s a Fronius …a Fronius IG.”


MATERIAL OF THE WEEK

0119-03

Aluminum honeycomb panels with a cell angle of 45° or 30°. The cell size is 3.18 mm (0.125 in) and the density is about 130 kg/m3. The material is non-fl ammable, has a good service temperature of up to 177°C (350°F), a high thermal conductivity as well as a good resistance in moist and corrosive environments. The panels can be sawn with care and are available in a size of 1220 x 610 x 20 mm (48 x 24 x 0.79 in). Other cell angles are avail-able on request. Smaller amounts (up to 10 pieces) are ready for shipment within one week, larger amounts are available with a lead time of up to twelve weeks. Current applications are for air grilles for electromagnetically shielded machine and equipment casings..

This column is published in collaboration with Material ConneXion. For more information regarding the mate-rial previewed, please contact Michael LaGreca at [email protected]. T: 212.842.2050.

PRODUCT INTRO> MAiSPACE, Mt. Olive, NJ, released its new line of free-standing offi ce furniture. The collection features contem-porary designs with Coverseal fi nishes in woodgrains and steel and includes desks with unhanded returns, bridges, corners, modesty panels, hutches and credenzas. MAiSPACE comes with a life-time warranty and guarantee against obsolescence. www.maispace.com

> SIS-USA, Inc., Lon-donderry, NH, added a new line of economical worksta-tion tables called “move!” Move tables are designed for areas in which users change frequently. Typical markets include corporate or home offi ces, hotels,

school computer labs, tele-marketing centers, airport lounges, training rooms, healthcare clinics, and internet cafes. The new line, designed at Fjello-Jensen Imagineering in Denmark, comes in three versions; spring, electric and crank, and offers adjustable heights and tops available in domestic laminates. http://www.sis-usa-inc.com/

NOTEWORTHY> Bill Berne was named to Vice President, Sales for the Rye, NY offi ce of Waldner’s Business Envi-ronments. His responsibili-ties include the Westchester, Fairfi eld and Hudson Valley markets. Mr. Berne was promoted from Regional

MAISPACE

SIS-USA: MOVE!


Area Sales Manager. Ac-cording to Waldner’s, he “has displayed the knowl-edge, passion and com-mitment that has enabled him to enjoy tremendous success during his 24 years with Waldner’s. “ Mr. Berne succeeds Deborah Hopewell De Clercq who has joined the dog. organization. (See story this issue. Mr. Berne can be reached at 914-921-8500 or visit our website www.waldners.com

> Bill Carnegie and Paula Hardison won the “Good Eye for the Good Guy” contest sponsored by Good-man Interior Structures. Mr. Carnegie is the President and CEO of the Community Food Bank and Ms. Hardi-son is the executive director of The Wellness Community. Both will receive a renova-tion of his/her offi ce worth $20,000. A team from the Southwest Chapter of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) will design the renovated offi ces and Goodman’s, Adolfson & Peterson Construction and Shaw Contract Group will provide the services and products for the renovation. Goodman Interior Structures developed “Good Eye for the Good Guy” as a way to help nonprofi ts that typically have limited resources with the goals of the organization’s mission coming fi rst. www.goodmansinc.com

> Qdesign, product design fi rm, announced several Intellectual Partners. Led by Mark Stenftenagel, CEO of

Whitney Inc., and Sal Grazia-no and Burke Quinn, Qde-sign focuses not only on the design of offi ce furniture, but on how customer-focused designs are brought to the marketplace. The Qdesign Intellectual Partners are a select group of professionals with specifi c expertise and industry experience. New Intellectual Partners are:– Georgy Olivieri, founder of GO Initiatives, is a sustainabil-ity consultant and strategist. The fi rm values her extensive industry background and knowledge of the evolving sustainability market focused on customer aspirations. The team considers her experi-ence in building successful sustainability strategies for some of the world’s leading contract manufacturers as a strong complement to its service portfolio including the product design process. –Michael Pantuso is the new Intellectual Partner for Marketing and Branding. He is the founder of Michael Pantuso Design, and is val-ued for his extensive back-ground in graphic design, marketing communications and branding. Qdesign said that it considers his experi-ence in designing for some

the world’s leading agencies and corporations as a strong complement to its service portfolio.–Tim Springer, named a new Intellectual Partner for Ergonomics and Productiv-ity, is an expert on issues of work behavior and the work environment. Mr. Springer is President of HERO, Inc. http://www.qdesign.us.com

> Davis Furniture won the Red Dot Award for its BODY Chair Series. The award goes to products that have been tested and assessed for innovation, functionality, ergonom-ics, longevity, ecological compatibility and clarity of function. The BODY Chair offers four arm selections and comes with a black knitted back in two heights. The chair also is available with an Upholstered Pad for added comfort and is avail-able in leather and textile patterns and colors. We found it to be an extremely comfortable chair, as well as very attractive. http://www.davisfurniture.com/

> HOK Chicago announced the promotions of 13 em-ployees

–Tom Polucci–Sheryl Schulze –Douglas Smith were named Group Vice Presidents. Craig Pierson, a manager in the fi rm’s Interi-ors Practice, was promoted to Vice President. Elevated to the Senior Associate level were Janet Calkins, Chansik Park, Yolanda Van Hecke and Jim Wilson. Five others – Nicolas Bracco, Sarah Durio, Cynthia Flamm, Dan Hartmann and Nageshwar Rao – were promoted to Associate. In the past three years, the HOK Chicago staff has increased nearly 75%. www.hok.com/

> The International Facility Management Association announced the formation of the Restaurant and Food Service Facility Managers Community. This com-munity of practice is for those who manage facilities MICHAEL PANTUSO

DAVIS:BODY

SHERYL SCHULZE

DOUGLAS SMITH


in the restaurant and food service industries. The new community will hold a kickoff webinar entitled “An Introduction to Sustainability in Food Service” presented by Christopher P. Hodges, P.E., CFM, IFMA Fellow, of Facility Engineering Associ-ates, at 2:30 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, Aug. 19. Hodges will discuss the basic ele-ments of sustainable food service; the importance of strategy, implementation, measurement and monitor-ing; and several examples of successful sustainable food service programs.

> KI and Pallas Textiles treated the local A&D community to the aromas and tastes of Tuscany at a culinary event in Auburn Hills, MI. Guests were invited to Trevarrow for a Tuscan cooking lesson from Chef Joseph Gilbert. The students received hands-on instruction, and got to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Along with full stomachs, guests left the event with prizes and gifts, including a handbag made from the Pallas Textiles’ design of their choice.

> The Mayline Group, Sheboygan, WI, a manufac-turer and dealer in offi ce furniture, created Dealer Dashboard, an intranet website for dealers. At this site, Mayline dealers can obtain up-to-the-hour information on Inventory Availability, Order Tracking, Promotions, Factory Close-outs and more. To access the Dealer Dashboard, go to the Mayline Group website, www.mayline.com and click the Dealer Dashboard link.

> New York Times columnist, Eilene Zimmerman explored a few of the complaints expressed by the “over 50” working community. Com-plaints included increased diffi culty in reading e-mails, recalling names and facts, hearing others in a crowded restaurant or on the phone. While all of the complaints are part of the aging process, sev-eral suggestions were offered for specifi c issues at work.- Vision: Eye specialists can prescribe special lenses for computer work. Increased font size and changing back-ground colors for sharpened contrasts will aid in reading e-mails. - Hearing: Eat in for confer-ences rather than going to a noisy restaurant. Use amplifi ed phones and ear cushions.- Recall: Try different things such as using your non-domi-nant hand and exercise. - Aches and Pains at the computer: Use a wireless headset, an ergonomic key-board and chair.Thankfully, she also re-

ported that there is a need for the older workforce who usually make more reasoned decisions and are less liked to panic.

> Nurture by Steelcase earned the Premier Health-care Alliance 2008 Pinna-cle Award for supplier per-formance that meets and exceeds the expectations of Premier and its members. This is the third consecutive year that Nurture earned the Pinnacle award for consis-tent performance excellence with the Premier Alliance. The 2008 Premier Pinnacle Award was awarded to 15 suppliers (out of 614 eligible contracted suppliers) who consistently achieved 2007 scorecard ratings of 95 percent or higher. Nurture offi cially launched as a company in 2006.http://www.nurture.steelcase.com/

> Vista System Interna-tional is offering clients an interactive 3D demon-stration of its products. The virtual product can be manipulated in many ways and can be rotated in real time and viewed from any desired angle, with a click of a mouse. For a real time 3d example: shttp://www.vistasystem.com/USA-eMCTF.html

> The Sombrero Galaxy – 28 million light years from Earth – was voted best pic-ture taken by the Hubble telescope. The dimensions of the galaxy, offi cially called M104, are as spectacular as

its appearance. It has 800 billion suns and is 50,000 light years across.

> Source Four Inc., Denver, CO, a regional provider of commercial furnishings, announced that one of the manufacturers it repre-sents was honored with the ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair) Editors Award for Multiple Production on the MYTO cantilever chair by Nienkamper. The chair also was accepted into the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Made entirely of plastic and 100% recy-clable, the chair is the joint creation of designer Konstantin Grcic, Italian manufacturer Plank, and chemical company BASF. SourceFour.com

> Steelcase’s August 2008 “360” e-zine ex-plores the rise of collabo-ration and teamwork in the office environment, noting that the phenomenon is “beyond trend” but rather “a fact of life in offices worldwide and it’s not going away.” http://www.steelcase.com/na/Research.aspx?f=36294KI AND PALLAS CULINARY

THE SOMBRERO GALAXY


> Teknion Corporation announced that Teknion LLC, Mount Laurel, NJ, was awarded a contract with Novation, Irving, TX, Novation is the healthcare sectors largest contracting services company, and acts for the healthcare group purchasing organizations VHA, UHC and Provista, to help manage and reduce supply costs to both the hos-pital and healthcare markets. www.novationco.com

RE-SITED> Kate Rogovin was named a Product Support Special-ist for the Dauphin North America offi ce in NYC. Ms. Rogovin worked over ten years as a textile designer for the fashion and contract markets, most recently working in sales for the fashion house of Feraud and Elie Tahari. http://www.dauphin.com.

ENVIRONMENT> The HON Company now offers seating treated with a stain repellant and fl ame retardant that uses fewer chemicals than similar fi nishes. The company uses G3 Technology Innovations’ Greenshield FR, a fi nish designed to offer the same stain and water repellant per-formance as other fi nishes, but with fewer fl uorocarbons.

> Kimball Offi ce received two Green Star awards for environmental excellence from Interior Design maga-zine. Hum and Pura were among 14 products to re-ceive the recognition. Hum, a space effi cient furniture solution, meets LEED indoor air quality standards using recycled and rapidly renew-able materials free of PVC, chrome and CFCs. Pura is a proprietary, multi-step UV process that results in a clear fi nish while meeting indoor air quality standards as set forth by LEED and BIFMA. It has virtually no VOCs, consumes less energy, and is very durable but repairs easily. http://www.kimballof-fi ce.com/

> US Markerboard – Green, Holbrook, MA, announced the launch of Green School Furniture Guide. The guide is a new online publica-tion of the retail website for eco-friendly school and offi ce furniture for students, parents and educators; itt covers the latest eco-oriented green school furniture news and products. Green School

Furniture Guide also offers tips on how to go green at school, at home, and in your community. Recent topics include the growing popular-ity of LEED certifi cation for school and offi ce buildings, tips on which green school and offi ce furniture certifi ca-tion labels you can trust, and unique eco-friendly furniture such as cardboard chairs and couches made from bathtubs. Visit the Green School Furniture Guide at www.greenschoolfurniture-guide.com

PROJECTS> Ecofriend recently showcased the eye-catch-ing Sinosteel International Plaza under construction in Tinajin, China. This project is scheduled for completion in 2011. De-signed by Chinese archi-tectural fi rm MAD Ltd., the 1,175-foot-high skyscraper and accompanying 288-foot-high hotel will fea-ture hexagonal windows in a honeycomb pattern resembling a giant bee-hive. http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/green-method-to-crazy-madness-sinosteel-in-ternational-plaza/

> Pendulum Studio LLC, Kansas City, MO, received the contract to design a $12 million baseball sta-dium for Normal, IL. The 4,000-seat facility will have artifi cial turf and will ac-commodate baseball, soc-cer, football and concerts. www.pendulumstudio.com/

EVENTS> ASID Design Awards Gala will be celebrated on Friday, October 3, at the Chase Auditorium, 10 S. Dearborn St., Chicago, IL. The theme for the fi fth annual celebration is Curtain Call. The events begin with a 6 pm red carpet reception, followed by a 7 pm “Show of all Shows” awards ceremony, and ending with a 9 pm A-List after-hours party. First, second and third places winners, Best of Show, and awards in all 17 categories of entries will be presented.

> Karen A. Brown, vision-ary of [G3] Adventures and the Social Responsibility Leader of Perkins+Will-NY, is a passionate philanthropist and an inspiration to many for the generosity of her time and fi nancial commitment in volunteer work. She is begin-ning a 3-month sabbatical to do volunteer work with [G3], a self-designed and self-fi -nanced volunteer initiative that will include working with non-profi t organizations in The Republic of Georgia, Ghana and Guatemala, concentrat-ing on three areas of human need which encompass human rights, health care and education. “To me [G3] is about giving back to others in a hands-on and tangible way,” said Ms. Brown. “When thinking about where I would go I immediately thought about countries that start with a G…GIVING back to others, and this is how [G3] began.”To begin stimulating others into action, Ms. Brown created a website (www.G3adven-

KATE ROGOVIN


tures.Wordpress.com) which will include a blog, videos and newsletters documenting her experiences throughout the three months of volunteer work.She is also hosting a cocktail & fundraising party Tuesday, August 12 at the Humanscale Furniture Showroom in the Flatiron District of Manhattan. The fundraiser will include a suggested donation at the door and raffl e tickets will be sold for various prizes. All money raised will go to the three non-profi t organizations she will be volunteering for.

> COVERINGS 2009 is scheduled for April 21-24, 2009 at the McCormick Place Convention Center, Chicago, IL. The Tile and Stone Expo will feature 1,200 exhibitors and free seminar sessions. For information about attending or exhibit-ing, visit: http://www.coverings.com or contact NTP, Cover-ings Show Management, at 703.683.8500

> HD Boutique, Hospitality Design Boutique Exposition & Conference, will be held in Miami Beach, FL, September 17-18 at the Miami Beach Convention Center, 1901 Convention Dr. With more than 700 manufacturers, sup-pliers and artisans scheduled to showcase at the exposition. The conference session will kick off with a Keynote Con-versation with Roger Thomas, executive vice president of Wynn Design and Develop-ment, who will be interviewed

by Hospitality Design maga-zine editor-in-chief, Michael Adams. Other conference highlights include: - Wave of the Future: Eight designers will share their proj-ects and insight y through an interactive panel moderated by Hospitality Design maga-zine senior managing editor Stacy Shoemaker Rauen on September 18.- Radical Innovation, co-sponsored by the John Hardy Group and Hospitality Design magazine, will unveil the winners of the global contest that challenges designers to create a vision of the future of hospitality design.- Green Day conference on September 16, 2008 will include the latest consumer research, future design trends, a luncheon, and an interactive afternoon session to provide industry professionals with an open forum for exchanging challenges, solutions, and best green practices. www.hdexpo.com/

> High Performance Hos-pitals & Medical Research Facilities 2008: How Good Design, Effective Operations & Life Cycle Cost Analysis Overcomes Value Engineer-ing and First Cost Issues, will be held October 30 in Chicago and October 31 in Boston. The event begins with registration and a continental breakfast from 7:45-8:30am. The seminar, led by Alan Whitson, RPA, then runs from 8:30-noon. Tickets are $99 at the door and $89 in advance. www.turninggreenintogold.com

> IIDA Leaders Breakfast Kan-sas City, KS, will be held on August 22, 2008, 7:30-10:00 am. The event, sponsored by Herman Miller and Interior Design magazine, will be held at the Overland Park Conven-tion Center, 6000 College Blvd., Overland Park, KS. Featured speakers will be Thomas Stewart, Editor and Manag-ing Director of the Harvard Business Review, and Norman Polsky, Hon, IIDA, Chairman of Fixtures Furniture and President of the Norman and Elaine Pol-sky Family Support Foundation. Other scheduled IIDA Leader Breakfasts include:- San Francisco, CA, September 23, 2008, Four Seasons Hotel, Keynote speaker: Chris Jordan- Dallas, TX, September 24, Dallas Museum of Art, Keynote Speaker: Lucy Billingsley- Seattle, WA, October 7- Chicago, IL, October 10- Toronto, December 5

> It’s The Money ‘08: Overcoming First Cost Issues When Designing and Con-structing for Green will be held in Chicago on October 29, 2008. Registration and a continental breakfast will take place 7:45-8:30am with the program following from 8:30-noon. Tickets are $99 at the door and $89 in advance. Register online at www.squarefootage.net.http://www.squarefootage.net

> The Offi ce Furniture Deal-ers Alliance (OFDA) Dealer Strategy Conference will be held in New Orleans, LA, November 12-15, 2008.

Registration for the confer-ence themed “Think Globally, Act Locally” is now open. The conference, to be held at the New Orleans Sheraton Hotel, 500 Canal Street, will feature a Virtual Tradeshow for dealers; exhibitors who will be display-ing their products at the show will, as well, link to the manu-factures’ websites. Another addition to the conference is the Technology Neighbor-hood allowing dealers to get hands-on demonstrations of software, participate in user group discussions, and learn tips and tricks from industry veterans to increase produc-tivity. To register, visit: www.ofdanet.org/education

> Worktech 08, an inaugural event, will take place Sep-tember 18-19 at the Beurs van Berland in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The event for professionals active in real estate, offi ce furnish-ings, facility management, government organizations, architecture and design will have the theme: Hybrid Work-places and the Connected Building, elaborating on the consequences of the conver-gence of technology, offi ce building, work and workplace.

WE STAND COR-RECTED> In the last issue of of-fi ceinsight, the fi rst name of Tyson Haller for TYS Agen-cies Inc., in Toronto, ON, was misspelled. We apologize for the error.

08.11.08 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 21 OF 2400.00.00 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS

JOB SITETo place ads:ad@offi ceinsight.com Billing information:brad@offi ceinsight.comOr, call or fax:T 203 966 5008

International Regional Sales Manager Chicago, IL

Zoeftig is a world leader in the design, manufacture and sales of premium seating solutions to the Passenger Terminal, Hospitality/Leisure and Offi ce markets. Based in Bude, South West England we have for many years enjoyed good sales in North America to the Airport sector and are now opening a permanent offi ce to market

our products to the specifi ca-tion markets i.e. architects and interior designers through a network of agents that need to be established. Whilst sales to airports in the USA will remain under the present structure it is envisaged that assistance will be given to this division by the successful candidate.The role is seen as a position that will eventually evolve to Vice President Sales & Market-ing of our US incorporated company with a stock/share holding within the company as the successful candidate will play a major role in shaping our American business.

We are a small close knit team enjoying impressive growth, we are hard working and many projects can take several years to come to fruition so a tenacious character would be advantageous. Extensive travel will be required. The ideal can-didate profi le will be:

- Dynamic, Driven & Entrepreneurial - Sales executive with experience in sales projects/specifi cation sales- Strong negotiating and closing business skills- Experienced in negotiations with large organizations at the highest levels- Excellent communication and public relations skills- Proven experience and excellent references - Languages of benefi t would be: Spanish & PortuguesePlease reply in the fi rst instance in total confi dence to Paul Williams, CEO, Zoeftig & Co Ltd, Kings Hill Industrial Estate, Bude, Cornwall, United Kingdom Email: [email protected], sending details of career and experience, salary/package expec-tations, why you think you would be the idea candidate, how you would establish Zoeftig in the A&D community and how fl exible you are regarding location. Please review our web site before applying www.zoeftig.com

Textile and Wallcovering Sales IA, Kansas City, MN, NB

Carnegie a leading innovator in the textile and wallcovering fi eld is seeking Sales Representation for the territory of Iowa, Kansas City, Minn & Neb.

This highly motivated candidate should have experience calling on the A&D community, preferable in textile and/or wallcovering sales. The Carnegie line is extensive including wallcoverings, upholster-ies, window fabrics, healthcare and panel fabrics.

If you have a strong apprecia-tion for the design industry this is a prime opportunity to join this esteemed company and cultivate relationships with top notch A&D fi rms in this territory.

Please forward your resume to Michael Cook VP of Sale: [email protected]

© 2007 offi cesite, inc.24 East Avenue (#1299)New Canaan, CT 06840

Bradford J. Powellbrad@offi ceinsight.comT 203 966 5008F 203 972 6512

Jean Linjean@offi ceinsight.comT 203 912 7423

www.offi ceinsight.com


businessBUSINESS AFFAIRS> Forbes.com posted, “Fifteen Tips To Keep Your Com-pany Growing,” The item, added on August 8, opens with the story of how Virginia-based Guernsey Offi ce Products grew into a $50-million business. The article includes two slideshows with helpful advice and links. http://www.forbes.com/home/2007/05/02/caliper-intuit-microsoft-ent-manage-cx_mc_0503growthtips.html

> Herman Miller, Inc. declared a quarterly cash dividend of 8.8 cents ($0.088) per share, payable on October 15, 2008, to shareholders of record on August 30, 2008.

> HNI Corp. declared a quarterly dividend of 21.5 cents per share on its common stock. This is the 214th consecutive dividend the Corporation has paid since its fi rst dividend in 1955. It will be payable on August 29, 2008, to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 15, 2008.

> Kimball International, Inc., on August 7 reported results for its fourth quarter and fi scal year 2008, which ended June 30.Consolidated Financial Highlights(Dollars in millions, except per share data)

3 Mos. Ended 6/30/08 6/30/07 %Ch.Net Sales $338.2 $338.3 0%Gross Profit $57.9 $69.0 (16%)Gross Profit (%) 17.1% 20.4% (16%)SG&A $56.6 $65.0 (13%)Inc(Loss)ContOper ($9.8) $4.4 (322%)EPS Cont. Oper. ($0.27) $0.11 (345%)

FY Ended 6/30/08 6/30/07 %Ch.Net Sales $1,352.0 $1,286.9 5%Gross Profit $248.5 $261.4 (5%)Gross Profit (%) 18.4% 20.3% (9%)SG&A $232.1 $233.4 (1%)Inc.Cont. Oper. $0.1 $23.3 (99%)

Kimball President and CEO James C. Thyen noted that net sales for the quarter were fl at on a consolidated basis com-pared to the prior year, with the company’s Electronic Manu-facturing Services (EMS) segment seeing a 3% increase in net sales while its Furniture segment saw a 4% decrease. “Al-though consolidated net sales were fl at, our earnings declined due to a reduction in gross profi t margins in both segments,” Mr. Thyen explained. “This has been the most signifi cant driver of our earnings trend the last several quarters.”The decrease in consolidated gross profi t as a percent of net sales was also attributed to a higher mix of sales in the current

year fourth quarter coming from the EMS segment, which carries a lower margin than the Furniture segment. “Sales were down in our Furniture segment in the fourth quarter compared to last year primarily related to lower sales in our contract-based offi ce furniture market,” Mr. Thyen added. “This segment of the market tends to be more volatile when the economy weakens. While we were pleased to see an increase in our order activity for the Furniture segment in the latter half of the fourth quarter, we are mindful of the growth challenges ahead. Infl ationary pressures also continue to impact both of our segments.”

Reductions in incentive compensation costs, advertising and product promotion costs, and workers compensation costs con-tributed to the decline in fourth-quarter SG&A costs.Excluding $11.6 million of after-tax restructuring costs, the Company recorded non-GAAP income from continuing opera-tions of $1.8 million, or $0.05 per Class B diluted share for the fi scal year 2008 fourth quarter. “We are executing our recently announced restructuring activi-ties according to plan and realized some benefi t in the fourth quarter related to the workforce reduction efforts announced in March,” said Mr. Thyen. “While we won’t see the full benefi t in the fi rst quarter of fi scal year 2009 of the estimated $3 million quarterly cost savings from this restructuring plan, we will see approximately 90% of it.”

Operating cash fl ow for the fourth quarter of fi scal year 2008 was a positive $10.4 million compared to $19.8 million in the fourth quarter of last year.

Operating cash fl ow for fi scal year 2008 was $43.4 mil-lion compared to $44.4 million in the prior fi scal year. The Company’s net cash position from an aggregate of cash and short-term investments less short-term borrowings decreased to $29.8 million at June 30, 2008 compared to $80.4 million at June 30, 2007, as cash fl ow generated from operations was more than offset by cash payments during the year for capital expenditures, share repurchases and dividends.

Furniture Segment (Dollars in millions)

3 Mos. Ended 6/30/08 6/30/07 %Ch.Net Sales $147.5 $153.2 (4%)Inc. Cont. Oper. $1.3 $3.6 (64%)Inc. Cont. Oper.Exc. Restruct. $1.5 $3.7 (61%)

Fiscal year 2008 fourth quarter net sales of branded furniture products, which include offi ce and hospitality furniture, were $147.5 million, a decline of 4% compared to the prior year


businessnet sales of $153.2 million as sales declined in both the offi ce furniture and hospitality furniture industries.

Income from continuing operations in the current year fourth quarter was lower than the prior year primarily due to the lower sales volumes and higher commodity and fuel costs. Partially offsetting the higher costs were price increases on select prod-uct, lower product marketing and promotion costs, and lower employee profi t incentive compensation costs.

“Our results for the fi scal year, and particularly the second half of the fi scal year are not acceptable,” concluded Mr. Thyen. “Our position relative to competitive benchmarks is not where

we want it to be or where we believe it should be. While our strategies are well received in our core markets, we do face signifi cant challenges. Rapid shifts in the economy, reduced consumer confi dence, as well as signifi cant and rapid com-modity cost increases affecting both our segments. These factors drove competitive and market pressures to which we should have reacted with greater speed. Corrective action has been taken and will continue to be applied.”

A replay of Kimball’s webcast will be archived at www.ir.kimball.com for approximately 90 days. A telephone replay of the conference call will also be available through August 21, 2008, at 888-286-8010 or internationally at 617-801-6888. (Passcode 38608910).

Industry Stock Prices8.8.08 12.28.07 9.28.07 6.29.07 3.30.07 12.29.06 9.29.06 %frYrHi

%fr50-DayMA

ChromC 3.4 4.9 4.7 7.5 9.6 8.59 9.9 -49.6% -1.5%

CompX 7.4 14.8 19.6 18.5 16.1 20.16 15.6 -65.5% 25.9%

HMiller 27.8 28.8 27.1 31.6 33.5 36.36 34.2 -17.9% 9.8%

HNI 22.3 35.7 36 41 45.9 44.41 41.6 -49.7% 11.0%

Inscape 3.3 3.5 3.7 3.5 4.2 2.95 3.4 -27.6% -5.9%

Interface 12.3 17.5 18.1 18.9 16 14.22 12.9 -38.6% -0.5%

Kimball 11.3 14 11.4 14 19.3 24.3 19.3 -26.1% 18.4%

Knoll 15.2 16.6 17.7 22.4 23.8 22 20.2 -26.2% 8.4%

Leggett 21.4 18.7 19.2 22.1 22.7 23.9 25 -0.2% 20.9%

Mohawk 66.5 75.5 81.3 100.8 82.1 74.86 74.5 -26.3% 5.2%

OffDepot 7.1 14.4 20.6 30.3 35.1 38.17 39.7 -72.3% -14.3%

Staples 24.5 22.6 21.5 23.7 25.8 26.7 24.3 -5.3% 6.2%

Steelcase 11.1 15.3 18 18.5 19.9 18.16 15.7 -42.7% 7.3%20-20 Tech 5.0 6.4 6.6 7.1 6.8 5.91 5.8 N/A% N/A%

UntdStat 49.0 47.4 55.5 66.6 59.9 46.69 46.5 -20.5% 26.6%

USG 27.2 36.6 37.6 49 46.7 54.8 47 -34.3% -2.2%

Virco 4.4 5.9 7.8 - 6.8 7.8 4.9 -68.1% -4.1%

SUM 319.0 378.6 406.4 475.5 474.2 469.98 440.5 - -

DJIndust 11,734 13,339 13,895 13,408 12,354 12,463 11,679 - -


technologyTECHNOLOGY> Architectural Record CEU Center offers a new online course, “Lighting Control in the Offi ce Space.” This is spon-sored by Lutron Electronics Co. Inc., which provides a com-prehensive overview of the latest advances in lighting control systems for offi ce spaces. http://continuingeducation.construc-tion.com/crs.php?L=48&C=410

> The U.S. Department of Energy announced the launch of its Zero-Net Energy Commercial Building Initiative with establishment of the National Laboratory Collaborative on Building Technologies. Drawing on the vast resources of fed-eral labs throughout the country, the initiative aims to develop marketable commercial buildings that offset their energy usage with cutting-edge effi ciencies and renewable energy generation systems. Coinciding with this announcement, DOE’s National

Renewable Energy Laboratory agreed to provide $100,000 to the California Clean Tech Open, a business plan competition supporting development of clean technology companies, to facilitate initiation and development of a green buildings award category. http://www.doe.gov/news/6454.htm

> Xerox Offi ce Services, which provides document outsourcing as well as workfl ow optimization consulting and other profes-sional services, offers a white paper on effective management of output devices such as printers and faxes in offi ce spaces. The paper includes “before and after” fl oor layouts aimed at improving effi ciency and vastly reducing document-related costs with new networked devices shared by multiple users. Also avail-able from Xerox is an online “Offi ce Effi ciency Calculator” that can generate a detailed report on ways to cut costs based on a company’s specifi c profi le and offi ce environment. http://www.consulting.xerox.com/offi ce-services/enus.html

Soduko: Fill in the empty cells so that every row, column and cube contains a digit from 1-9, without duplication. (Level: Medium)

5 9 1

2

3 8

2 4

3 1

3

1 4

9

7

9

3

8

6 5

7

3 7

1 5

4 6

8

7 3 9

compliments of dirtt/lane office akua lesesne...

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