Modularity
Can we soon stop thinking in terms of furniture categories?
In the Home Report 2022, the renowned Zukunftsinstitut defines the most important living and furnishing trends of the next few years and concludes: "Our way of living and working is becoming increasingly flexible, and so will our furniture (...). Modular furniture will become important companions for us, allowing us pure flexibility. With their functionality and flexibility, they offer us the freedom to adapt our environment according to our needs - whether in a professional or private context."
A result of New Work and individualization
The shift toward greater freedom in terms of where people work, when they work, and how they organize their tasks goes hand in hand with many people's desire to be more self-determined with their time and resources. This development has been accelerated by the pandemic. Today, most of us spend more time at home than we used to - working, but also taking vacations, relaxing, being creative, doing DIY, cooking, and engaging in family activities.
The overlap between work and private life, as futurologist Oona Horx-Stratern sees it, means that it will become more important to design furniture in a modular way. This applies to one's own four walls, but also to office landscapes. "It is desired and required that pieces of furniture can be integrated into situationally changing environments without much effort."
Modular furniture is more sustainable
In view of limited (often also financial) resources, the trend towards flexible use of furniture pieces is a sustainable and economical furnishing option for private individuals and for companies. Our retail partners, customers are increasingly asking for solutions that are suitable for different users and for different uses. One example of this is our flexible table system TALO.YOU, which can be used as a stand-alone table and converted into a benching system, or used as a relay table and transformed into a whiteboard for seminars.
Multifunctional design: today an acoustically effective partition, tomorrow a whiteboard for meetings
In the development of our new, acoustically effective panel system INSIDE.30, we have also been guided by the premise of modularity. The panels were designed so that they can be clamped to tables or placed freely in the room. They can be rearranged and even change their function if necessary. The mobile version on castors can be equipped with a whiteboard or flipchart and used as a work tool.
How quality pays off in terms of sustainability
High-quality furniture that has a long service life usually provides loyal service to its users. They can be repaired and do not need to be completely replaced. This saves resources and money. Design also plays an important role. The more timeless the design or the more iconic the character, the less fashion-dependent the piece.
The production of a furnishing item also plays an important role in its sustainability: robust natural fibers or hard-wearing materials, for example made from recycled recyclables, processed in a way that conserves resources, score points with a long service life. This is one reason why we now offer our new panels with the new ECONOMY 71 fabric group. Gabriel's Tonal fabric is made from 99% recycled post-consumer polyester, produced with recyclables from PET beverage bottle collection.
Sources: Die wichtigsten Wohntrends 2022. Welche Wohntrends unser Zuhause, die Architektur- und Baubranche prägen werden. – Ein Auszug aus dem Home Report 2022 von Oona Horx-Strathern.
https://www.zukunftsinstitut.de/artikel/wohnen/die-wichtigsten- wohntrends-2022/? utm_source=zinews_cnl_trendausblick-2022&utm_medium=email&utm_c ampaign=Trendausblick22&utm_content=textverlinkung_home-trend- map&goal=0_ffe62bfdc6-6a86882140-108043462&mc_cid=6a8688214 0&mc_eid=3569feee51, abgerufen am 03.03.2022