Journal
The new interior combines a showroom and a workplace under one roof, emphasizing how the collection can blend into practically any context. Desirée de Jong, Art Director at De Vorm, takes us on a tour around a new location, unveiling the concept and ideas behind its various areas. If you are interested to visit our new showroom, you are more than welcome!
What was the brief for the new interior?
Our office has always served as a showroom, and we wanted to keep it this way. So, the original brief covered two functions. On one side, our team needed a comfortable and spacious workplace with all necessary amenities. This ranges from the basics, like fully equipped workstations, to all sorts of social and meeting spots fostering creativity and teamwork.
On another side, the office remains a welcoming destination for our visitors. With the new interior, we wanted to uncover the design potential of our collection to the fullest. To create an inspirational environment that would make people wonder and encourage them to explore the design possibilities themselves, without imposing any limits.
To demonstrate how our collection could be translated into different contexts, we combined various ways of working with a hospitality look and feel. As a result, the new space meets the multi-functional requirements for both a functional workplace and a welcoming showroom.
How did you manage to combine the two originally spaces under one roof?
We had a huge advantage given that our collection offers solutions for both. It ranges from purely office products, such as workplace dividers and desks, to generous lounge chairs and sofa’s ideal for hospitality settings.
Having a showroom and an office under one roof allowed us to place products in an active environment. Not only to provide the necessary facilities for our own team, but also to reveal their potential to our visitors. Seeing a product in active use works much better than made-up expositions. For that reason, we use our products in the workstations, meeting rooms and all sorts of social spaces. So, when designers and architects visit us, they can get behind the scenes of our own working reality and see that there is a De Vorm solution for every need.
Even though the workplace and the showroom are originally two different functions, the line between the two is blurred. We want to enrich the experience of our employees, just as we do for our visitors. Therefore, many areas received a welcoming, hospitality feel and have little in common with the traditional office image. Also, we don’t make any distinction between the “showroom” and “office” zones - employees can use all available spots throughout the day as they see fit. This way, the space comes to life and gets more personal.
Which requirements did you formulate for your office space?
At the starting phase, we did a round of interviews with colleagues to map their needs out. Since the team grew substantially in the past years, our office space had to be redesigned to comfortably accommodate more people. We had enough individual workstations, however, as the team got bigger, we noticed a growing need for meeting spots and focus booths.
For that reason, we used the dead space under the stairs to create an extra focus room. As an experiment, we made this room monochrome - everything inside is striking yellow, from walls to furniture. Surprisingly, this previously unused corner became a favourite spot for many colleagues.
Well-being was another essential requirement to the new office. We wanted to offer people the choice of where and how they prefer to work. On another side, we also wanted to provide a comfortable space to relax and socialise.
The canteen area is surely a social heart of the workplace - here, we enjoy lunch, have informal meetings and hold events. It is a space where work, social interactions and personal life come together. To host all these activities, the canteen has many seating zones ranging from large round tables to more intimate two-person settings.
To tackle other well-being factors, we added more greenery and plants throughout the space. Walls in social areas and meeting rooms were treated with acoustic panels from ReFelt to reduce background noise. Lastly, some areas received extra illumination and access to daylight.
How is De Vorm’s brand identity translated in the new interior?
Ultimate customisability is what we offer to our clients, so we wanted our showroom to reflect the whole spectrum of possibilities. Taking the “Blend in or Stand out” as a starting point, we divided the building into two zones. When you enter the showroom, the areas on the right have a clean and subtle “blend in” appearance, while the left side “stands out” - it is surprising, vibrant and outspoken. Within these two zones, we created a number of settings, with the colour palette and typology fitting the general theme.
The whole building was once a large open space, so we wanted to bring some structure to it without taking the open character away completely. To separate the zones from each other in a subtle manner, we designed many geometric blocks from PET Felt in soft pastel colours. These blocks serve as flexible partitions between the zones, balancing their contrasting appearances. Lastly, the playful shapes and colours of these blocks refer to our “Let’s play” call, inviting the visitors to experiment and let their imagination run free.
Another element that you notice straight away is a grand gear wheel installation on the left wall. It is a custom design from PET Felt, that refers to another core value of De Vorm - namely, “Process first”. Constantly looking for the ways to innovate, we intervene in existing production techniques to bring them to a new level. Just like the wheels of a gear mechanism, our design process is infused with technological development; innovation drives aesthetics and the other way round. The gears can actually turn! It is a moving installation.
Lastly, we wanted to take visitors behind the scenes of our production process with PET Felt technology at the core of it. In order to visualise the journey “From Bottle to Chair”, we created a PET Felt museum explaining every step of the recycling and manufacturing process. This installation demonstrates our commitment to responsible production; making affordable and long-lasting products at minimal expense of future generations.
We are always happy to see you in our showroom. Get in touch with us to plan your visit.
