You only get one chance to make a first impression…

You only get one chance to make a first impression…

You know what they say…you only get one chance to make a first impression, and we are firm believers in this!

Your reception area is a perfect place to showcase your company so the Ian Smith team at West Brom have treated themselves to a brand spanking new reception area to welcome our customers. After installing so many new and fantastic reception areas and office re-fits we were getting far too jealous and knew it was about time we spruced up our own. And haven’t we done just that!

Our main design aim was to ensure that the space was transformed into a welcoming, exciting and stimulating space – whilst remaining relaxing, optimistic and a practical meeting point. We knew we wanted the design to reflect our identity and personality, after all, it instantly tells our visitors and reminds our employees who we are and what we stand for.

We want the customer to feel like they are a part of our company, instantly at ease and comfortable – not sitting on out of date, dull and uninspiring furniture whilst staring at our old trade counter.

You, our Customers, are part of our brand and you have helped us build our identity and we therefore hope you enjoy the new space and see how everything, from the splashes of colours on the walls and the fantastically textured (and practical!) flooring, is a reflection of our approach and values.

Our Reception desk is a beautiful bepsoke piece of furniture and we hope to inspire you with our stylish, modern, mis-matched seating which is creatively shaped and most certainly unique! This area also includes the ‘Smith’ chair (I wonder why!) and the amazingly comfortable ‘Columbus’ sofa by ‘Connections Seating’. We invite you to come in and pick your favourite and join us for a coffee any time.

You may also find your eye drawn to the piece of typographic wall art, created by our talented in-house Graphic Designer. We then simply printed the artwork onto a self adhesive vinyl and had the simple task of attaching it to smoothly to the wall… Let’s just say that a half an hour task took Adam and Nicole almost six hours to get right! However, we got there in the end and the artwork announced our quietly confident motto: “Welcome to the HQ of the best office supplies company in the world (Just ask our customers!)” and from the second you walk in the door, we hope you’ll agree.

100% Design

100% Design

During September our Interiors Team popped down to London Olympia to visit the 100% Design Show, we’d like to share their adventure with you and tell you all about the inspirational things they encountered. After a very early start (what happens when you leave Tony in charge of travel arrangements and which Adam did not appreciate) the guys arrived down in London. Having been momentarily separated when Adam was a bit over eager and squeezed onto a packed tube train, leaving Tony at the platform, they were re-united and made their way over to the impressive Olympia Arena for the opening day of this years 100% Design Show.

The arena was buzzing when the guys arrived and after a quick heads-up tour they made their way over to the Steelcase stand where Serena Borghero the EMEA Marketing Communications Manager gave a fascinating insight into humanising workplaces and bringing new life to the work arena. After the inspirational speech, the guys made their way over to see their colleagues at Boss Design, the guys at Boss were as welcoming as always and engaging as ever as they talked us through their beautiful Coza seating range and the exciting new Marnie range. The Coza really is like no other task chair we’ve ever seen! The visual impact is just stunning with a single organic ribbon that sweeps from under the seat, through the arm and over the backrest. In addition the colour options on the Coza offer an aesthetic unlike anything else, we absolutely loved the Azure Blue finish and having the option of either a 5 or 4 star base is again something really different. We cant wait to show this off in our Showroom soon…watch this space!
The afternoon session started with a couple of familiar faces when the guys bumped into their friends from Narbutas Furniture Company, after a good catch up the guys were on their way again. First stop was the ERGO Aircharge stand, what man doesn’t enjoy a bit of technology! The guys on stand were excellent, talking through their current range which we’re now happy to announce is on display in our fabulous Showroom and is available to buy with immediate effect. The guys on stand also enthused over their Koncept lighting range, talking through the elegant Equo LED multi level dimming lamp, the award winning z-bar desk lamp and another for the gadget lovers…the tono LED mood light.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent working their way from stand to stand grabbing as much info as their bags could carry, from the beautiful and barely believable Fake Landscapes stand to the Nowy Styl Group Play & Work range where we saw some really nice touches on how to bring vibrant colours into the workplace (the saffron, cashmere, atlantic and vino mfc finishes were really eye catching) and using innovative ideas to make use of wasted office space for soft seating such as corner areas and on top of storage cabinets. The reps on stand gave a fascinating insight into how arranging an office space can help employees flourish, support communication and positively impact an employees’ well being and efficiency.

There was also a touch of the ‘weird and wonderful’ on the Peska Seating stand with their range of Balance chairs. Not one for those amongst us who struggle to balance on their own two feet….these innovative chairs provide a unique combination of an office chair and a balance ball! Sound weird? You’d be right! Never has sitting down on a chair been such a challenge! After a few moments of ‘wind-milling’ arms and flailing legs, the chairs proved to be really comfortable, definitely one for the forward thinkers and gym bunnies of the world.

The day was brought to an end with sleep filled train journey arriving back in Birmingham at 9:15pm, long day but a great day giving the guys some fresh ideas and inspiration.