Historical Perspective |
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Deciding to purchase discount office furniture for your company can be one of the
most frustrating experiences for even the most vigilant, diligent and prudent facilities
or office managers.
The early 1900s saw rapid industrial development due in part to advancement in electronics
and communications. It was the time of the robber barons and the steel and oil magnates
like the Rockefellers and the Carnegies. These circumstances, along with the emigration
of European peoples, increased the U.S. population in 1910 to near 92 million. The
U.S. industrial boom had begun.
Grand Rapids, Michigan had already come to be known as Furniture City. Yet the concept
of metal furniture was a relatively new concept. Such pioneers as Stow and Davis,
Macey, and Metal Office represented a small but growing segment of office furniture
manufacturers, increasingly involved in the manufacture of metal furniture in a
city known for its mass-produced wooden furniture.
With large government contracts due to World War II, and as the American workforce
increased and more high rise office spaces were built in the 1950's, the metal office
manufacturers known as the "circle" increased their production of steel
desks and seating. With the ever-expanding need for more efficient use of space,
companies like Steelcase and Herman Miller hired engineers and designers to come
up with more cost-effective solutions or "systems" to accommodate workers.
Then it happened - the birth of systems furniture. Near the end of the 1950's Herman
Miller conceived of a framework to surround their metal desks (Action Office or
AO1). As the other manufactures began to develop their own versions of AO1 (Steelcase
9000, for example), Miller introduced Action Office / Version 2. AO2 was based on
the theories of Marcel Propst, a scientist who after studying the habits of workers
in relation to their space, developed the theory of a "facility built on change".
Propst believed that the right environment would not only motivate it's occupants,
but also encourage productivity.
The concept exploded in the mid 1960's. The new desk or "systems furniture"
- as it is often called - incorporated the human factor and its variety as a fact
of life. Unlike the old steel desk, with its fixed files that required the worker
to adapt to it, systems furniture can be "tailor made" for maximum utilization
by the human who will be its occupant.
The desk used to be a surface for writing and its fixed draws a box for storing
documents. Now the "desk" has become a medium - a system - that supports
people and the tools with which they work their trade.
Systems furniture with it's ability to extend the work area has contributed to the
rethinking of office storage solutions, as have the proliferation of new accessories,
telecommunication devices, reproduction equipment, and computers. The result is
an office built around storage capabilities and the needs of each unique business.
New seating designs were also being developed to keep up with the expansion in systems
furniture. Designers like Wassily, Mies Van Der Rohe, Thonet, Breuer, and Eames
ergonomicallyas well as aesthetically pleasing.
By the 1970's systems furniture had become an integral part of the modern office.
To this day, systems furniture manufacturers strive to improve upon their original
concepts. They have substituted softer surfaces such as wood for metal.
Foreseeing corporate facilities trends, they engineered systems furniture for maximum
flexibility and adaptability. Systems furniture manufacturers have also streamlined
the manufacturing process, thus providing end users with greater performance and
function.
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