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The project report outlines a collaboration between the Estonian upholstery company Borg and designers from the Estonian Academy of Arts and Tallinn University of Technology, aimed at innovating office furniture solutions. Through extensive research on furniture trends and lifestyle changes, the team identified opportunities for creating new acoustic office accessories under the concept 'mine metsa,' designed to enhance productivity and comfort in workspaces. The report details the development process, market needs, and proposed products that address contemporary challenges in office environments.
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- 3. 4 5 INTRODUCTION The projectwas created as cooperation with the Estonian upholstery company Borg. Borg started furniture production in year 2004. Their mission is to offer high-quality and competitive- ly priced special furniture and their own pro- duction to companies and private people. The aim of the project was to propose an innovative idea that would compliment the company’s product portfolio, to define a new direction for the company and the reasoning behind that.
- 4. Sven Sõrmus Designer Supervisor, EstonianAcademy of Arts Janno Nõu Designer Supervisor, Tallinn University of Technology Martin Pärn Designer Head of D&E, Estonian Academy of Arts TEAMTUTORS 6 7
- 5. 8 9 CONTENTS Introduction 5 1.Research 2. Borg OÜ 3. Concept Development 4. “Mine metsa” Puu Mägi Mets A Brief History of the Office The Future of the Office Market Research Product Portfolio Team 5. Future Developments 7 10 14 16 18 20 26 34 67 22 39 48 59
- 6. The methodology usedfor the research was desk research, questionnaires, interviews and observations. We started the project with desk research to find out the answers to the following questions: • What are the major trends in furniture nowa- days? • What are the major tendances in the mar- kets? • What are the major changes in people’s lifestyles nowadays? We also planned to map out the different areas of furniture design that has opportunities for our project and research new materials and pro- duction methods for ideas and inspiration. We created a mindmap (Figure, page 9) to get an overview of the existing trends. We discussed the changes in people’s life- styles, to name a few: • people are watching less TV and spending more time in computers • reading a book is often replaced with a Kin- dle or an iPad • there is increasing demand for charging the various devices • there are more people working at home • people are more densely populated • people are consuming more things which means the need for compact storage • people don’t want to wait in queues in banks, government buildings, etc. 1. RESEARCH 10 11 Image. Coworking in TUT lounge areaImage. Coworking in D&E StudioImage. Coworking space in Rävala street, Tallinn TRENDS IN FURNITURE DESIGN Compact furniture Eco-friendly solutions Technology Interactive furniture Coziness as a reaction to the fuss of the outside world Aesthetics Acoustic solutions Playful furniture Customizable solutions Round Swing Table ROOM collections by Erik Olovsson & Kyuhyung Cho Individuality Shapeshifting Movement Cozy aesthetics Pillows Self-cleaning fabrics Integration of device chargers, etc. LED Wood DIY trend Cork Non-petrol based fibres Anti-allergenic materials Firewood chair Modular solutions Multi-functionality Bookcase hides furniture Uncluttered space Warm colours Cuddly fabrics Wood Wool Ethnic Light-toned wood Elegant simplicity Scandinavian Minimalism
- 7. 12 13 the timea person spends on a task at home and what are the influencers. Here we can see that a major area of issues is the amount of distractions that arise almost every step of the way. These can be caused by outside factors but also the person working himself. Basic needs like having to use the toilet or grab a meal are distracting factors that tangle with the focus on the working process. Next, we decided to make observational re- search, observing people working in co-work- ing offices. We made a trip to the rooms of Mektory. Unfortunately there were very few people there at the time. We are also observing the people working in our studio and interview- We found that because the furniture/uphol- stery business is such a major area, we should narrow it down and focus on something more specific. We chose the area of office furniture because there is where we thought the biggest opportunities for Borg might be. Therefore our research continued in the direction of analysing the changes in the working culture and office life. We created questionnaires for people working at home or in a coworking office and created a map that we later named ‘topic map’ which maps out the emotional qualities that influence the person working at home. The aim was to find out how we could improve the quality of ing everyone we know who have experience with teleworking. We discovered that TUT’s Marketing Management lecturer Rene Arvola is also very familiar with the teleworking subject. It’s one of his main areas of research. Therefore we wrote him and he gave us some information and links to his research. We also visited Coworking Space Tallinn in Rävala street. There were only 3 rooms ar- ranged in a co-working office style. We made our own observation and also talked with one of the office workers. Unfortunately there were few people, some of workers were working together, some of them separately and in the third room they had a meeting, like a teamwork process. We found out that there might be a need for something that would help a person be excluded and keep focused, while allowing an easy change for group work. We created a layout plan, where we clearly demonstrated the problems surrounding co-working offices. We tried to visualize the whole office space: rooms, kitchen, restroom, wardrobe - and analyzed what we could improve with the help of Borg. EMOTIONAL QUALITY Physical Communication Privacy Furniture Teleworking Ergonomics Multifunctional room Physical distance between work and home Separate room Health condition Sitting too much Room divider Storage Seating Table Intellectual Distractions Privacy You Others Entertainment Bodily needs Toilet Music Internet Books People Other noise Pets Cats Dogs Other Walk Play Eat Aesthetic Visual Form Color Aesthetics Color psychology Light Artificial Lamp Candle Natural Daylight Smelling Air Quality Window Winter/cold City smog/dust From inside From outside ToiletFood Perfume Materials Nature Neighbours Ventilation Form Touching Temperature Air Surface Texture Surface Hardness/softness Sound Acoustics Hearing Noise Outside People Inside Weather Street noise People Music Animals Machines Family members Neighbours Partners Food TV
- 8. Taylorism - Americanengineer Frederick Tay- lor was obsessed with efficiency and oversight and is credited as one of the first people to ac- tually design an office space. Taylor crowded workers together in a completely open envi- ronment while bosses looked on from private offices, much like on a factory floor. Bürolandschaft - The German “office land- scape” brought the socialist values of 1950s Europe to the workplace: Management was no longer cosseted in executive suites. Local arrangements might vary by function—side- by-side workstations for clerks or pinwheel arrangements for designers, to make chatting easier—but the layout stayed undivided. Action office - Bürolandschaft inspired Her- man Miller to create a product based on the new European workplace philosophy. Action- was the first modular business furniture system, with low dividers and flexible work surfaces. It’s still in production today and widely used. In fact, you probably know Action by its generic, more sinister name: cubicle. Cube farm - It’s the cubicle concept taken to the extreme. As the ranks of middle managers swelled, a new class of employee was created: too important for a mere desk but too junior for a window seat. Facilities managers accommo- dated them in the cheapest way possible, with modular walls. The sea of cubicles was born. Virtual office - Ad agency TBWAChiatDay’s LA headquarters was a Frank Gehry master- piece. But the interior, dreamed up by the company’s CEO, was a fiasco. The virtual office had no personal desks; you grabbed a laptop in the morning and scrambled to claim a seat. Productivity nose-dived, and the firm quickly became a laughingstock. Neworking - During the past decade, furniture designers have tried to part the sea of cubi- cles and encourage sociability—without going nuts. Knoll, for example, created systems with movable, semi-enclosed pods and connected desks whose shape separates work areas in lieu of dividers. Most recently, Vitra unveiled furniture in which privacy is suggested if not realized. Its large tables have low dividers that cordon off personal space but won’t guard personal calls. 1960 1980 2005 19941968 20001904 Taylorism Bürolandschaft Action office Cube farm Virtual office Networking First co-working office opened A Brief History of the Office 14 15
- 9. 16 17 Offices arenot what they used to be - and that’s largely a good thing. New technology as well as changing attitudes and working prac- tices have led some (especially hip new media and tech companies) to go all out with the de- sign of their offices, installing slides, play areas and even indoor farms. A great example of this is the Google offices. No two offices are the same, though visitors to any office can expect to find a few common features: murals and decorations expressing local personality; Googlers sharing cubes, yurts and “huddles”; video games, pool tables and pianos; cafes and “microkitchens” stocked with healthy food; and good old fashioned white- boards for spur-of-the-moment brainstorming. The Future of the Office Google Tel Aviv campusGoogle Dublin campus Google Dublin campus
- 10. 18 19 Market Research Inoffice interior design, acoustic panels and partitions are the focus with many product designers. Private pods and informal meeting spaces are needed The trend of installing wall panels has increasingly gained popularity as a great sound proofing treatment. In this, the decorative wall panels are installed over the walls and ceilings of a room. These wall panels help a lot to reduce the sound reverberation by simply controlling the exterior noise while absorbing the interior high pitch sound waves. Thus, they provide the high wuality sound out- puts that are extremely good, clear and crisp with no echo.
- 11. 20 21 2. BORGOÜ “We are glad to deliver you furniture which is de- signed to work in harmony with the environment. Good design is the power to generate innovative ideas which create real transformation. Continuous investment into production and product develop- ment helps to ensure that products are designed according to customer needs.” - Mart Jõhvikas, President and CEO of Borg OÜ Borg OÜ is an Estonian furniture manufactur- ing and development company that launched in year 2004 in Tallinn, Estonia. Their furniture salon is situated in Liivalaia 40 with the compa- nies Tank, Piel and Sunorek. Borg’s mission is to offer high-quality made-to- order furniture with competitive pricing for com- panies and private customers. Most of Borg’s production is made-to-order (around 95%). These products include anything from lounge suites and footrests to stools and armchairs. Borg’s clientelle includes hotels (Swissôtel, Sokos Hotel Viru), banks (SEB, Swedbank), restaurants (Restaurant Ö, SteakHouse), office buildings (PricewaterhouseCoopers) and many other public spaces (Tallinn Airport, VolksWa- gen, KUMU, etc.) Recently Borg launched several products with fascinating acoustic solutions. One of these products is the new acoustic HAUS (image above), line of furniture that allows for a good working environment, and also the opportunity to be separated. At the same time it’s kind of a phone speaker, where you can have your private space for important conversations. Model “Haus”
- 12. 22 23 Product Portfolio Borg’sproduct portfolio encompasses well designed artefacts that make living more com- fortable and beautiful. They are manufacturing soft funiture - chairs, decorative chairs and armchairs; sofas, beds and bedends. But also some wooden furniture (tables, shelves, etc.). Borg has seen that the new ‘must have’ in the offices and public spaces at the moment are acoustic furniture and accessories so they have also started to design acoustic furni- ture (“Custo”, “CC”, “Hallo”, page 26-27). Our recommended improvement for their product portfolio would be a set of ‘parasite’ products, accessories that could be easily installed and put anywhere. Model “Cona” Model “Enter” Model “Rapide”
- 13. 24 25 Bedend Model “Custo” Model“CC” Model “Hallo”
- 14. 3. CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT Wemapped out the areas that emerged during our research where we could design something useful.The concept we created tackles most of them (marked with green above). We started the sketching process. Here are all reasons, why we decided to develop our project in this direction. We visited two creative studios for our research. First one was Identity where we met up with Ionel Lehari and asked for his feedback and also feedback from some of their employees. Firstly, he invited two peo- ple from their design team. We explained to them our ideas and showed the sketches and asked them to be brutally honest in their feed- • They would likely use the larger mountain screens. • They thought that the christmas tree would be too much for some offices. It’s too literal and childish and many people wouldn’t go there. • It’s good that it’s such a universal idea and scalable. Then, two people from the financial side were brought in and we had the same conversation. Their thoughts: • “The products would have fit in nicely in my old office in a factory building” • Mountain shades - why not, maybe • Christmas tree - it’s so hard to find a private place to talk on the phone in our office so it would be very necessary • ‘Mine metsa’ - it’s not very practical. I wouldn’t use it. Well, maybe on friday nigth after the work is done. I would like some space around my head, I like the tree more. • Grass - good for creatives, not for us. • Table - strange and different. The position wouldn’t be good (too bent forward). It’s de- finately not something you would have your first meeting with a person in. PRIVACY FOCUSING STORAGE ORGANISATION A QUIET PLACE TO USE THE PHONE/SKYPE FLEXIBILITY OF WORKSPACE AUDIO/VISUAL DISTRACTIONS LACK OF SPACE • They really liked the cord organiser on the table and they would definately use this one. The second office we visited was Age McCann. The comments we got there: • Very cool. Ready made things that can be installed anywhere. • They liked the larger mountains. They thought the smaller ones would go more in bank offices. • They often have teams and teamwork and rarely any meeting tables available so they really like the table. • They liked the ‘mine metsa’ as well. They also have a big problem of not finding a place to talk on the phone so sometimes they have to use the restroom for phone calls. But grass would probably take up a lot of space. • Everyone thougth the clothes hanger was okay and would go nicely with the rest of the products, but no strong feelings. The main idea of concept is to create space in space for offices, emotional value and emo- tional quality for employes. So we focused on 26 27 back. Here’s what they thought: • The overall feedback was positive. There was laughter at some of the concepts but in a positive way. • They liked the nature theme because every- body can adapt to it. It made them feel safe. • They thought that they probably wouldn’t use the small christmas trees as they would likely need the cover to be behind their back so others wouldn’t see their work, not in front of the computer. They have really used to working head-to-head with the other designers.
- 15. nature theme becauseeverybody can adapt to it. It made people feel safe. Workspace isn’t flexible enough to quickly adapt to the needs of the workers. Because we, as much as possible tried to made emotionally comfortable accesso- ries for workspace. The core of the concept was to create poeti- cal, emotional, playful shapes for offices and also reduce acoustic and visual distractions. 28 29 Emotions play such a big role in our lives. So we tried to focus on color, shape and softness. This ready made things that can be installed anywhere, and create a comfortable environ- ment for employees where they can see that they are spending whole day in office which gives them opportunity to arrange things in this way in which they prefer and feel comfortable.
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- 18. 34 35 4. “MINEMETSA” “Mine metsa” (‘Go to the forest’) is our pro- posed new design platform for Borg. The concept encompasses various acoustic office accessories, so called parasite products that can be easily installed into any home or cor- porate office, university or other place where efficient work style is needed. Create new defined spaces in- side bigger spaces easily. The base for a productive workplace. Focus. In order to get your work done as efficiently as possible you need to be able to focus. You have an aim and we want to help you reach it. But it takes more than just a qui- et box without distractions. We know what it takes to create a motivating work environment. “Mine metsa” creates a poetical and playful, yet functional approach to focusing on what’s important. Yet tested and functional, it’s more than just a noise-absorbing product line. The products immediately become jewels in the public spaces and office interior designs. Foreclosure. What “mine metsa” really does, is it creates new spaces inside bigger spaces. The tested noise-absorbing structure fights acoustic distractions while well thought-through product measurements protect you from visu- al distratcions. The products are designed to dampen the noise level and screen off the of- fice landscape. There are thousands of ways to combine the products, creating meeting areas, workstations, phone booths and what ever else your imagination allows. Flexibilty. “Mine metsa” sound-absorbing accessories help to organize the spaces in- side bigger spaces better. These ready-made artefacts can be installed anywhere, creating a customized, comfortable environment for the employees. People spend a lot of their time at work, so they should have to option to adjust their working space for maximum comfort and efficiency. The products are designed in an economically-concious way so that the packag- ing and shipping is very compact.
- 19. 36 37 To standout To create meaningful designs To excel 36 37
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- 21. 40 41 METS (“forest”)is a mountable acoustic ceil- ing panel system. The panels have 13 soft hanging strands which are fixed to the panel with velcro. That makes the strands easily re- movable and washable. The panels are made of sound-absorbing materials, which help to reduce the echo in large office buildings. The panels can be arranged in various patterns, which will give customers the opportunity to create their own dividers or spaces inside big- ger spaces. METS will be available in various lengths, suitable for any room height. The pan- els are standard dropped ceiling panel size (60x60 cm). The functions include echo reduction, a quiet space to make phone calls and acoustic and visual room dividing.
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- 24. 46 47 140 mm 600mm 600mm Endless possibilities in combining, creating your own spaces and separators. 100-4000mm
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- 26. 50 51 PUU (‘tree’)is an acoustic space divider. It consist of three parts which can be layed on top of each other, creating a spruce-tree-like artefact. It’s made of thick felt which is rein- forced with sound-absorbing materials. The triangular parts can be layed on top of each other vertically or manipulated to create wind- blown playful shapes. The triangles come with a wooden construction which helps the tree to stand tall and sturdy. The ready-made height of the tree is 150 cm. The parts are designed in a way so that the shipping is economical and safe, as the parts can be pocketed inside each other. PUU is a great way to separate working sta- tions, it’s easy to move and will quickly create new spaces inside bigger spaces where em- ployees can focus on their working process.
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- 28. 54 55 550 mm 800mm 1000 mm 400 mm 400mm 910mm
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- 31. 60 61 MAGI (‘mountain’)is an acoustic table screen. It is a flexible workspace divider which con- sists of five panels that allow the screen to take the shape required. It is easily foldable and storable. It’s gives people the opportunity to save space and create their own working area, without visual distractions, which adds emo- tional quality to the working process. The length of MAGI is 110 cm and the average height 45 cm. It is made of thick felt fabric, insulated with sound-absorbing materials. The velcro triangles in each end of MAGI enable to create longer mountain ranges for group work or other use cases.
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- 34. 66 67 5. FUTUREDEVELOPMENTS The products themselves are not yet ready to be marketed. What has been created during this project is a design platform for Borg’s future products. This is in a conceptual stage and future developments are needed. In this chapter we will propose a few ways of continu- ing with the product development. Firstly, we have worked out manufacturing pro- cesses for the three products which we chose to prototype. These are not ideal, though. The manufacturig process could be made more efficient and increase the product quality. Secondly, for prototyping cheap, available material were used. We suggest a thorough market research for available similar materials that would have good acoustic properties, as well as soft, natural feel. Lastly, before launching the product line, we recommend proper acoustic testing to get precise data as we believe this would give the company the edge to succeed in the vast market. We hope that Borg will see the same potential in the products that we do and that proper R&D and marketing will pay off in profit.
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