Philip Connolly shares his thoughts on Global Corporate Challenge 2016 and its long term effects. It’s fair to say that when I was first invited to take part in the Global Corporate Challenge, later to be renamed Mission Stepossible, I had absolutely no idea what I was letting myself in for. The GCC was suggested […]
Luke Munro shares his experience from a recent visit to the Stockholm Furniture Fair 2017. Last week saw Wellworking visit the Stockholm Furniture Fair for the first time, and we left wondering why we had left it so long. The early morning flight proved a bit of shock to the system, reinforced by the bracing […]
Luke Munro shares his findings from the recent NECE, held in Las Vegas. With thousands of attendees, hundreds of exhibitors and dozens of workshops and sessions, the National Ergonomics Conference and ErgoExpo bills itself as the Industry’s most important event. While the Event’s location itself was quite rightly described by one speaker as enticing “packaging”, […]
Amalie Ditlevsen shares her volunteering experience on refurbishing MIND’s Southall office on October 10th 2016 – World Mental Health Day. Wellworking recently redecorated and refurbished the MIND Lotus Centre in Southall. The centre runs daily activities, including classes in yoga, creative writing, gardening and healthy living classes for people who struggle with mental and social […]
Paul Simons is excited by the launch of new remastered Aeron chair by Herman Miller. After over 20 years, the Herman Miller Aeron chair has been Remastered. Available from early 2017, the Aeron has been developed to meet the needs of today’s work, workers, and work environments. Co-designer of the original Aeron, Don Chadwick, has […]
Jayapriya Rathinam shares her experience of the London Design Biennale 2016. Designers and architects from 37 countries converged for the first edition of the London Design Biennale 2016 at Somerset House under the theme ‘Utopia by Design’, celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Sir Thomas More’s classic, Utopia (1516). This theme has served as impetus […]
London Design Festival and 100% Design show how the office is transforming into something else entirely. If art holds a mirror up to nature, shouldn’t the design of the workplace hold a mirror up to the way we work? By definition, the things with which we surround ourselves should tell us something about the way […]
Beata and Leanne share their experience about the 100 day challenge with ‘Get The World Moving’. We are writing this blog together as our experience mirrors each others. We had both made the personal decision to make a change to our lives to increase our wellbeing and improve our work life balance for the better, […]
Justin Miller reports from Herman Miller’s newly refurbished showroom at the iconic Merchandise Mart in Chicago. The epicentre of the world’s office design industry is to be found on the banks of the Chicago River. It is home to one of Herman Miller’s flagship global showrooms, but unlike the firm’s rural, lakeside idyll to the […]
Magdalena O’Sullivan of Wellworking shares her experience of using the new Klöber Klimastuhl. The eternal debate in most offices; who is too hot and who is too cold. Because we each enjoy a different level of temperature to work at our best, the climate control sometimes becomes the most hotly contested piece of equipment in […]
Justin Miller of Wellworking reflects on a trip to the epicentre of modern workplace design, Herman Miller’s Design and Research facilities in Michigan. There is a place that has possibly done more than any other to influence the way we work and the design of the modern workplace. It is a place that was built […]
One of the great things about an event as concentrated in one area as Clerkenwell Design Week is the chance to see what people are talking about and the forces that are inspiring the new generation of office designs. A number of themes were ubiquitous at this year’s show, reflecting both the things that occupiers […]
Although it may not have Milan Design Week’s usually fine Spring weather and bella figura, when it comes to office design shows Clerkenwell has a distinctly more advantageous geography. Most of its firms fit nicely into a square mile of hothoused design talent that attract tens of thousands of visitors from around the world each […]
Richard Patricio from Wellworking’s Workplace Wellbeing team describes our recent London Healthy Workplace Charter award. As part of Wellworking’s Workplace Wellbeing Services team I was thrilled to get the news this week that we have been awarded the London Healthy Workplace Charter at Commitment level. The Charter is a self-assessment framework that recognises and rewards […]
Justin Miller concludes his Milan visit by reporting on his 3rd day at the fair. The third and – for us – final day at Milan Design Week arrives along with a degree of design fatigue and the bleary eyes that are the inevitable result of the many miles covered each day. The bleary eyes […]
Wellworking’s Sales Director, Justin Miller reports on his 2nd day at Milan Design Week 2016. The perils of combining trend and weather forecasting were in evidence last night. Just hours after we’d extolled the joys of Milanese Spring sunshine and the opportunities it offered to enjoy Milan Design Week in the outdoors, the heavens opened. […]
Justin Miller sheds light on Day 1 at Milan Design Week. There are few better places to be at this time of year than Milan. Tuesday arrived warm and sunny which always lifts the spirits of all involved, especially when so many of the events surrounding Milan Design Week take place either in the open […]
Paul Simons reflects on his recent trip to Copenhagen’s freshest furniture show. Copenhagen’s Trends & Traditions show is one of the new kids on the European Furniture Exhibitions block, and this year it reflected the overall philosophy of what makes Scandinavian design different – recycle, reuse and reinvent. The event was held for one day […]
Stuart Garside finds out more about Kloeber and their KlimaStuhl story. I was delighted to visit the Klöber Headquarters in Owingen, south west Germany, recently. On the shores of Lake Constance, I found their ecological sensitivity matched only by their desire to push the boundaries of what office seating can do for the office worker. […]
Wellworking’s Online Director Paul Simons on the 2016 Institute of Customer Service Awards – March 2016. It’s one of the first lessons in business. Look after your customers. So how do you measure your performance in this vital area, and how valuable is it to be scrutinised, evaluated and judged by experts in customer service, […]
In 2012 RBM embarked on a project which took furniture design to new levels. RBM Noor is the result of a very different approach to the design process – the union of three well-known design studios: Norway’s StokkeAustad, Sweden’s FUWL and Denmark’s Grønlund Design. It quickly won the coveted Red Dot Best of the Best […]
Lee Jones from Ergostation discusses the impact of reminder software in helping him to get the most out of his sit stand desking. Sitting for long periods of time isn’t good for you. We know that from a raft of compelling recent health studies. But if the argument about the health risks of sedentary behaviour […]
Luke Munro shares his experience of visiting Herman Miller’s new manufacturing and distribution hub, Portal Mill. We were delighted last week to visit Herman Miller’s recently opened Portal Mill facility, the 170,000 square foot development bringing together the company’s regional research and development, manufacturing, and logistics operations into one state of the art building. Cementing […]
Justin Miller enjoyed visiting Herman Miller’s Dubai showroom. One of the great joys of working with global office furniture designers is the opportunity it offers to see how their products and ideas are interpreted in different countries. Concepts may be launched to a worldwide market, but each region has its own tastes, culture and legislation […]
Wellworking and Wellnomics look at the significance of sit stand workstations. We’ve focussed over the last few weeks along with our colleagues at Wellnomics on how to get the best out of sit stand, but like anything in life, can we have too much of a good thing? There is plenty of on-going research into […]
HAG commissioned a workshop called ‘Workplace Invaders’ with young Londoners to discover how Generation Z imagines their future workplace. They beamed with innovative ideas like handing pods, holograms on walls, interactive tablet desks, virtual reality rooms and communal vegetable allotments. The four key themes emerged from the workshop were: Health Some inspiring ideas include a […]
We at Wellworking are very much looking forward over the coming weeks to contributing along with our friends at Wellnomics towards the important debate around sit-stand workstations. Each week we will be adding a helpful tip to our blog so do keep coming back to find out more, and contact us or leave a comment […]
Amalie Ditlevsen reports back on her annual health check at Wellbeing. As part of Wellworking’s ongoing Wellbeing programme we were all invited for a basic annual health check this Monday. Our friends from Healthy Performance came down to our office to do individual tests for all those who wanted to take part. We were given […]
Moving office is one of the best opportunities you’ll get to improve your organisation’s workplace wellbeing. So what did we do when it came to our own office relocation? Luke Munro, Wellworking’s Managing Director, explains. At Wellworking, after 15 successful years, we had outgrown our offices once again by 2015. Our team had more than […]
Luke Munro, Managing Director of Wellworking Ltd, looks at a key lesson learnt from another successful National Ergonomics Conference & ErgoExpo – companies can no longer afford to let their colleagues sit still. It is said that Sir Isaac Newton was sitting down when gravity hit him in the form of an apple. One of […]
Wellworking are moving! From Monday August 10th we will be located in our new offices at Unit 7 Western Avenue Business Park, Mansfield Rd, London W3 0BZ. With our new ‘working showroom’ featuring products from Herman Miller, Vitra, Brunner, BuzziSpace, James Burleigh, Muuto and more launched in early September it’s going to look great and […]
The Mirra chair from Herman Miller was designed in 2003 by Studio 7.5 in Berlin, Germany. 2003 doesn’t seem so long ago, but to put that in perspective this was years before Twitter, YouTube and the social media revolution began! Now, some 12 years later, the Mirra chair is going out of production, being replaced […]
Three key messages from Clerkenwell Design Week The dust has now settled on Clerkenwell Design Week for another year and we are presented with the usual opportunity to take a step back and discern. Workplace Wellbeing It’s not so long ago that the prevailing themes of office design exhibitions would be focussed on coldly corporate […]
It’s great that more is being done to protect iconic furniture designs, but the real work now begins It’s been a long time coming but the UK has finally set a deadline for the introduction of its new copyright protection law. From April 2020, it will be illegal to make or sell copies of mass […]
Luke Munro shares his experience from his visit to the Vitra campus in Weil am Rhein. Time to reflect on a memorable visit to the remarkable Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein last week. While we may dream of collecting furniture, Vitra have been busy collecting buildings, and not just any old buildings. Works from […]
CDW Preview Today marks the beginning of Clerkenwell Design Week. Now in its sixth year and running for three days, if you discount the hangovers and washing up on Friday, the event takes place in the creative heartland of the most vibrant city on Earth. As well as forming the epicentre of the UK’s workplace […]
Digital presenteeism and the growing problem of eye strain. The consequences of presenteeism are not restricted to the number of hours we put in at the office as we strive to be (or appear to be) more productive. As digital presenteeism becomes more prevalent, with many of us spending more and more time glued to […]
Why it pays to check the green credentials of office furniture manufacturers and their products. Cynics might argue that when companies talk about issues such as corporate social responsibility they are doing so because it helps them to achieve their business goals. However that does not explain why so many companies do more than they […]
It’s wise never to underestimate the scale or importance of the annual Milan Salone De Mobile. 24 halls stretched out across more than a mile featuring the cream of European furniture manufacturers for both the residential and commercial markets. 2015 (its 54th edition) saw the continuing convergence of these markets with brands such as Danish […]
One of the least remarked upon consequences of the digital revolution of the past two decades has been its impact on the world of exhibitions. Not so long ago, these were one of the few ways people had of finding out about new products, firms, services and technologies. Now we can find as much as […]
We shouldn’t rely on narrow outmoded ideas to define what we mean by flexible working. One of the particular issues that raises its head in any debate about flexible working is what we mean by the term. We’ve been talking about new ways of working for a good quarter of a century now and what […]
The Malcontents of Presenteeism and their Solutions One of the foundations for our success as a business is the partnership we have with the world’s most progressive and well-informed designers of office furniture. Not only does this allow us to offer customers the world’s best furniture products but also allows us to share with them […]
The psychological roots of good ergonomics and workplace productivity One of the most famous and illuminating experiments into workplace productivity is nearly one hundred years old, yet it continues to influence the way we think because it taps into an eternal truth about people. Namely that we are influenced as much by the attention of […]
A new generation of workplaces is helping to resolve the problem of office acoustics. If there is one subject that crops up more than any other in any contemporary debate about office design, it is acoustics. There are now lots of reasons why staff have difficulties coming to terms with the sounds that form the […]
It’s the end of the year, so time to have a quick look back at our Top 5 most read news articles for 2014 – thanks to everyone who contributed and enjoyed them. Happy New Year from all of us at Wellworking. Number 5 From July – The UK’s Home Workers Need to Look After Themselves […]
Released at Orgatec 2014, Wellworking are pleased to offer the Cascando range of coat stands. Each design brings a unique look and feature that makes them stand out from the crowd making them both practical and visually interesting. These are now available to buy online from our Home and Office Accents section here or if you […]
Wellworking would like to thank our clients, suppliers and colleagues for making 2014 such a fantastic year and look forward to seeing you all in 2015. Wellworking festive opening times; Dec 25 – Closed Dec 26 – Closed Dec 27 – Closed Dec 28 – Closed Dec 29 – Open 9am – 5.30pm Dec 30 […]
Great to see the Elite Evo modular sofa on The Apprentice this year – they looked and performed perfectly (guess even Lord Sugar can’t fire a sofa!) as the nervous contestants waited to find out their fate….
Feeling a little blue at this time of year? You’re not alone. Here we are in the depths of the British Winter and in spite of all of the Christmas cheer that goes along with it, most of us are just about ready for a break from work and the chance to recharge our batteries. […]
No surprise to hear that this year’s National Ergonomics Conference & Expo is all about movement. This year Wellworking are represented at this important global conference by leading Ergonomics Consultant Lee Jones, alongside our friends at Wellnomics, and the feedback is of increasing awareness of the importance of taking breaks and fighting sedentary workstyles. It’s […]
The UK Government is very big on evidence based design these days and it is applying this approach in a number of new areas of policy, including wellbeing. Invariably the outcomes of its research and analysis are first refracted through a political prism on their way to becoming legislation, but the approach is very welcome […]
The latest person to contribute to the ongoing debate about standing at work and our changing relationship with mobile technology is Dr Kenneth Hansraj, chief of spine surgery at New York Spine Surgery and Rehabilitation Medicine. In a new study which has just been published in the academic journal Surgical Technology International, Dr Hansraj points […]
The leap in the number of MSDs in the UK is almost certainly down to mobile devices and flexible working. As we reported last week, the UK has witnessed a huge jump in the number of reported cases of musculoskeletal disorders associated with the nation’s workplaces. The numbers make for somewhat depressing reading and include […]
Herman Miller are adding to their extensive catalogue with the newly released, in the UK, ‘Collection’ products. Mid-century classics from Ward Bennett (Sled & Envelope chairs) sit side by side with modern design stars such as BassamFellows (Tuxedo chair) & Sam Hecht and Kim Colin (Wireframe Sofa), but in an entirely cohesive manner! These are now available […]
While the UK remains one of the safest places to work in Europe, work related ill health continues to rise for British employees according to the latest data from the Health and Safety Executive. The HSE claims that there are some 28 million days lost each year, costing the economy over £14 billion. While the […]
Watch this space. Five key workplace trends from Orgatec 2014 Old lags from the office furniture industry will always tell you that Orgatec isn’t what it was. Even allowing for their rose tinted hindsight, there is truth in this but primarily only in terms of its scale. Staged every two years in Cologne, Germany, it […]
Wellworking will have a full review of Orgatec 2014 shortly, but here are a couple of photos from the show. The emphasis on collaborative spaces and acoustics were definitely at the front of a majority of manufacturers thinking this year, with some innovative and eye catching designs – more soon!
The next generation workplace. There is a well travelled international circuit for those interested in what office furniture design tells us about the way we work that has, for a number of years, taken in London, Milan, Chicago, Stockholm and Cologne as its main stopping off points. This week sees the launch of Orgatec, the […]
This week saw the return of Lord Alan Sugar and ‘The Apprentice’ to our screens via the BBC. This year will see twenty hopeful applicants put through their paces during the ever changing tasks as Lord Sugar whittles the applicants down to one winner who will receive a £250,000 injection into a business partnership. However […]
Orgatec 2014 is the bi-annual furniture show held in Cologne that is the ‘go to’ event for the office furniture industry. Starting on Tuesday 21st of October this year and running for 4 days, it showcases all the latest innovations and designs from manufacturers around the world. This year the theme is Modern Office & […]
Big congratulations to Wellworking Health & Safety Advisor Magdalena Molecka for her recent excellent result in Site Management Safety which is part of her NEBOSH certificate. NEBOSH is a degree level qualification in Occupational Safety & Health which is one of the highest qualifications in this area in the UK. As part of the Wellworking […]
Client Services Executive at Wellworking, Phil Connolly, is is taking a big step to raise money for the Macmillan Cancer Research charity – by leaping out of a plane at 10,000ft (with a parachute!). Wellworking are backing Phil for his big leap on October 11th and wish him good luck (he may need it considering […]
Wellworking offer a service called ‘Precision’ for customers who purchase Herman Miller products for delivery within 50 miles of London. We often thought about the best way to explain what the ‘Precision’ delivery service was, and decided that a short film would be perfect! So if you are thinking of getting a new Herman Miller […]
The Hag SoFi seating range has expanded, it now includes the Executive meeting chair that blends Scandinavian design elements with more traditional boardroom looks. With it’s ‘built in’ ergonomics and soft Antigo leather, meeting chairs can be now be both stylish and comfortable. To purchase online please visit the Wellworking Online Furniture store here.
Great to see the Nomique Coco Sofa supplied by Wellworking on Double Your House For Half The Money on Wednesday night (if you missed it check it on 4oD) – looks great on screen & in your home or office. Coco has an extravagant combination of fabrics, retro design and modern comfort that makes this sofa […]
One of the most underrated and least talked about aspects of a productive workplace is not only completely free; we enjoy a limitless supply of it. Daylight is very much an underrated commodity as an element of building design and new evidence from the University of Illinois proves just how important it is to our […]
Wellworking have added some great new products to our website this week. First up is the Boss Design Cuba Coffee Table – a glass top coffee table with polished frame that has great presence and looks great in the corporate environment. Also the Herman Miller Tato range – is it a ball or […]
Amongst all the talk about Generation Y and its impact on the world of work, it can be easy to miss the fact that the modern workplace is not defined by one particular generation, but a number of them. The multi-generational workplace has significant implications for the way we design and manage offices. While we […]
This is a great video update on the new offices for News UK, good to see Wellworking furniture being used to help create new ways of working. Wellworking are delighted to be part of this impressive project and look forward to seeing more results soon.
A couple of interesting new products for the Wellworking Online Store this week – the Dynamobel Slat C task chair offering great value for a well specified mesh office task chair. The new Herman Miller Anywhere case takes the brand in an exciting new direction – the perfect product for the modern, flexible worker! More soon!!
The benefits of the sit-stand workstation and the business case for it are both pretty well developed, if not exactly widely appreciated in the UK. That is why we should embrace campaigns such as Get Britain Standing as it seeks to popularise a product that can have genuine and long-lasting beneficial effects for the people […]
As long ago as 1977, the then Health and Safety Commission’s annual report claimed that its ‘overriding concern is to stimulate awareness of risks and encourage the joint participation of workers and management in efforts to eliminate them.’ The world has changed dramatically since then, but the basic premise about the balance of managing risk […]
The British have an enduring love affair with Scandinavia. From Norwegian Wood to Ikea, Abba to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the country’s love affair with everything Nordic shows no sign of abating any time soon. We have a particular affinity with Scandinavian design, which is both familiar to our shared Northern European sensibilities […]
The number of people who work from home in the UK is now officially so large that we should stop referring to this particular work practice as a ‘trend’ and simply see it as a perfectly normal way for people to work. The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, published at the beginning […]
Given the track record of people when it comes to making predictions about the future, it’s easy to grow cynical. But while we should be wary of more fanciful and long term thinking, any natural scepticism shouldn’t blind us to those predictions that we know will largely come true, especially those based on what we […]
There has always been a certain degree of skepticism within the UK’s business community about the way the public sector goes about buying goods and services. Some of it is justified but some is unfair. The efforts of successive governments to address the problem demonstrates that there is always a will to improve things. So […]
The face of customer service has been changing for some time. Driven by the digital revolution, customers have often been one step ahead of businesses, using technologies in unexpected and advanced ways and so developing new expectations about the speed and quality of service they expect. The challenge for firms was laid out in a […]
One of the most talked about office design trends right now is activity based working. The principle itself is pretty simple: it means work that is based on a range of specific activities which people do in a number of different and appropriate locations. Because it is something of an alternative to the tradition of […]
This Summer sees not only the FIFA World Cup 2014 take place in Rio de Janerio but also, and perhaps just as importantly, the Wellworking 5 A–Side Cup. Run in partnership with Scandinavian Business Seating, this fun event also is raising money for charity. Take 4 leading architectural practices from the London area, give them a ball and […]
Another event in the design world has been and gone – Clerkenwell Design Week once again brought a festival atmosphere to one of the most world-renowned areas for design and architecture. We featured on a recent blog post what we were most looking forward to – but now that the event is over, it is […]
Every year Neocon forms a highlight of the US and Global office furniture calendar, and for Herman Miller in 2014 it provides the opportunity for them to build on their Living Office concept, unveiled in 2013. Running from June 9-11 in Chicago and attended by over 40,000 Architecture and Design professionals, Neocon remains the […]
By common consent, the office is a little over 100 years old, with most commentators agreeing that the first true office as we now understand it was the Larkin Building, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1904. Yet ninety years after this building ushered in the 20th Century workplace, there was another seismic shift in […]
Clerkenwell Design Week runs from 20-22 May 2014 and is a showcase of leading UK and international individuals, brands and companies. 2013’s event brought over 50,000 registered attendees and over 250 exhibitors, so here at Wellworking we are excited to see what 2014 brings. Home to more creative businesses and architects per square mile than […]
Originally designed in 1964, the trusty cubicle turns 50 this month. It was a bright idea, thought up by Robert Propst, who was working for Herman Miller. At the time, the company was focused on home furnishings, but now the brand is more known for office furniture, thanks to this invention. Robert Propst wanted to […]
It has been over twenty years since we first started talking seriously about flexible working. Interest in the subject was so intense at its peak during the mid 1990s that we were at times asked to consider nothing less than the death of the office itself. The world with which we were presented was one […]
We recently visited Milan Design Week and iSalone, but there are a number of other design shows and trade shows which exhibit and influence the current and future market trends of the design and furnishings world. Four of the most important events in addition to Milan are Neocon in Chicago, Stockholm Design Week, Furniture Fair […]