I am no expert on office furniture, but do know one particular ‘name’ – Vitra. They have a fantastic showroom in New Yorks Meatpacking District which is well worth a visit.

Vitra’s furniture is amazing. It has real Italian style in my view despite being a Swiss company. It has a price tag to match but the quality of the kit is palpable.

But what caught my eye in the week was they they have launched a new concept – the Citizen Office. You can read all about it here.

I sat in on a discussion a few weeks ago when we were talking about the way offices ‘work’. I blogged about some of the issues we spoke about here.

Vitra really are at the forefront of office design and working practices. They have spotted that employees work better in comfortable surroundings. Younger workers are wanting a ‘cool’ environment in which to work. it needs to be bright, spacious and modern. It has to encourage collaborative working – an environment where great ideas can be teased out and encouraged.

The physical structure of the office is based around a marketplace – much like a town – where people come together and ‘trade’ (ideas not goods). This is then surrounded by different forms of workstations – like neighbourhoods around the town. The whole environment is designed to motivate people. There are different forms of furniture which allow you to work whilst standing, sitting or lounging.

Work does comprise formal and informal working and this new office idea tries to encapsulate this.

The office is changing – we are becoming a knowledge based society and we will need to move with the times. This seems to be a natural step along the way. They also look really cool places to work?