Summary
Can a well-designed workspace really boost productivity and employee well-being? Join us as we tackle this intriguing question and dive into the core elements of creating commercial spaces that are both comfortable and functional. From the critical elements of seating, lighting, and color to the emerging trend of "resumersial" design, we explore how blending the comforts of home with commercial settings can revolutionize the way we work. Discover why BIFMA certification matters when selecting furniture and how ergonomic and aesthetic considerations play a crucial role in crafting an inviting work environment, especially in the post-COVID era.
In the second half of our episode, we shift our focus to an unexpected yet increasingly popular trend: nap pods in the workplace. These sophisticated units, featuring amenities like massagers and heating, are transforming how we think about rest during the workday. Drawing parallels to kindergarten naps and European-style siestas, we discuss how integrating nap pods can significantly enhance productivity and overall well-being. Whether you're a business owner looking to optimize your workspace or an employee seeking a more comfortable environment, this episode provides actionable insights into leveraging interior design for a competitive edge.
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Speaker 1: 0:00
Welcome to Design to Help your Business Grow. I'm your host, randy Lynn Johnson, with Pasley Commercial Interiors. So today, robin, I wanted to talk to you a little bit about what I imagine people think of when they think of interior design the things that make a space comfortable and look good and you know we're going to talk about colors and lighting, comfortable seats, all of that stuff.
Speaker 2: 0:31
So I hear one word that you keep saying, which is comfort. Okay, is that our thread?
Speaker 1: 0:35
Let's make that the thread.
Speaker 2: 0:39
Well, comfort is something everyone wants, right. We don't want to be uncomfortable in a space Although I do, I have gone to many spaces with really uncomfortable chairs so it is a focus a lot of times on a workspace or a gathering space, a hospitality space in an office or a retail or food and beverage location. It is funny that I think there are some spaces that people they don't want them to be too comfortable because they want people to move in and out. Oh sure, there is something to that, but when we want comfort to be let's say maybe it's part of the brand they want people to feel comfortable, they want them to feel welcomed and to feel hospitality, and that is definitely something we're focusing on. There's so many different facets to comfort that you know we can address it from many angles, whether it's materials or lighting or the actual furnishings in the space that kind of invite, like soft seating, says you should sit down and stay for a bit.
Speaker 2: 1:51
That's where some of those companies are like no, don't stay for too long.
Speaker 1: 1:55
Is it possible? Because a few minutes ago you said the seats like they're not very. You've been in non-comfortable seats and I know sometimes with commercial furniture they have to have different coverings on them fire. Yeah, all of that, but is it possible to find really comfortable commercial furniture that looks good?
Speaker 2: 2:17
yes, yes, I think that's part of our industry that's changed a lot in the last several years and, you know, going way back. There's even specific designers that have been noteworthy, you know, through the decades because they created very ergonomic seating.
Speaker 2: 2:45
A new word that's been adopted called resumershal, which is trying to bring a mix between residential and commercial furniture specifically, and I think it's even more important now because after COVID, people worked from home for so long they got used to that soft you know sitting on the sofa with a small table to do some of their work, or you know lounging uh to do, you know, phone calls and things like that, instead of having to sit at a desk, and so I think there is something to that being adopted more and more in the workspace.
Speaker 1: 3:11
Well, when you think about people being comfortable, home is where we are comfortable. So I think the whole idea of resumersial is really smart, because we spend a lot of time in commercial spaces Like we're at work for hours of a day and more time in our offices than we do with our families at home, yeah, which is very sad.
Speaker 2: 3:32
That's a topic for another day.
Speaker 1: 3:34
Not, we don't cover that in our podcast, but it's important. Yeah, it is important. Okay, so we're talking about color lighting and seating is important. Okay, so we're talking about color lighting and seating. Let's unpack seating a little bit more. Okay, Me as a I'm a business owner or just a random employee and I'm like what do I want to look for when trying to decide about what kind of seating I need to have? Like, how do I know what will last and provide the needs? Yes, Okay.
Speaker 2: 4:06
so as a business owner, I would say, one of the things that we want to always think about is is this furniture suitable for our usage? One of the first things to think about is BIFMA. B-i-f-m-a is a certification that the furniture can receive by passing all these certain tests. Okay, Ergonomics, air quality, health, all of that.
Speaker 1: 4:31
Can you define ergonomics for me? The?
Speaker 2: 4:34
way the human body interacts with something. Oh so it could be the reach at a shelf or something, the way that our hand grips something or we naturally just the way the human body is made, how we'll stand and touch, like the fact that all countertops, for the most part, that we use in a kitchen are 36 inches high. There are very, very tall people who would like them higher and there are very, very short people who would like them lower, but the average human being ergonomics 36 is proper for being able to work and do something with your hands while you're standing.
Speaker 1: 5:15
I learned something today. Thank you for that, you're welcome.
Speaker 2: 5:19
So you know, I would say a baseline would be make sure your your furniture is BIFMA certified, because then you know I would say a baseline would be make sure your furniture is BIFMA certified, because then you know you're ticking a whole bunch of boxes that you're not having to think about. Yeah, you just look at that and go, oh good, this is going to be the right fit, we're not going to be off gassing. I mean, there's some stuff that you can buy from China, that you can open the box and be like wow, we need to set that one outside for like a week Sure and I imagine all of there's probably legal things that will play into that.
Speaker 2: 5:45
You don't want your people going home from the office with a headache from the chair. You bought.
Speaker 1: 5:51
But I just mean like if it's BIFMA, then it's all good. Yeah, you're all good yeah.
Speaker 2: 5:55
And you know that ergonomically that's going to be appropriate for your work staff and it's going to be healthy for them. That's one of the things that BIFMA helps address is health.
Speaker 1: 6:03
OK, is that listed? How do you know if something's BIFMA it usually?
Speaker 2: 6:06
will say it, and your furniture dealer, which we are one, would help you know that as well.
Speaker 2: 6:12
Okay, that's great. The other thing for you as a user to think about and a business owner, is what are we using the furniture for? And a business owner is what are we using the furniture for? Because that usage will determine the kind of seating or comfort that you need to be addressing. So, like lounge furniture, for example, we will want to think of it differently than we will furniture for a break room. Like both of those, we might want it to have a back on it so that we're resting when we're sitting there. But you will want to sit more upright at your lounge I mean in your break room than you will in your lounge. You'll, you know, have a little more recline.
Speaker 2: 6:53
And so then, in a, a lounge, we're going to be thinking more about fabrics and foam and structure to make sure that, um, you know, it's going to sit long enough. I've I've seen some low-cost um furniture that it fit the budget. As soon as we sat on it, we were like, oh my gosh, because it was like the block of foam was so the close. It was really closed cell foam that was really stiff and, honestly, over time it was probably going to wear in. But that was how they were maintaining like a structure that for a cheap, cheaply made piece of furniture, that's how they were maintaining a structure that would last longer. So better made furniture just has a better base that then they can put a comfort foam inside of.
Speaker 2: 7:39
And then of course, you think about your fabrics and the use for that. Like if it's going to be where we're also going to have a coffee bar and a lounge, you might want to use like a faux leather or some kind of polyurethane or some other kind of you know, easy to wipe fabric because you're going to spill coffee on that. Sure, if there's children using that space, please use that kind of fabric. There's also really high grades of Krypton and other treatments that are on non-vinyl fabric. So if you want it to be a little more comfortable and have a look and a touch that feels less like vinyl or leather and maybe be some cost control too, they do treat fabrics and most companies, even if they're not made that way from the manufacturer, you can have a treatment put on them.
Speaker 1: 8:28
See how the list just goes on, it goes on and on, and that I'm just thinking. I'm like thank God for you.
Speaker 2: 8:35
Oh no, you know the things. You can help me think through things that I wouldn't even begin to think of yeah, cause, yeah.
Speaker 2: 8:43
So task seating is something else. It's a use. You know it's a different kind of chair than you would put even as a guest chair at a desk. You would not use the same chair for the guest as you would for the person working behind the desk. Okay, and that has to do with ergonomics as well as just function. You know, when we're typing at a computer there's the ergonomics for your arms. You know to be typing on a keyboard.
Speaker 1: 9:09
You can't see this in the podcast world, but Robin is pantomiming typing. Wherever you are, just pretend you're sitting at desk typing.
Speaker 2: 9:19
You're doing that motion with your hands. Um, anyways, you're. You're need to adjust to the minutia of you know what fits your body, your weight, your shape and form is necessary when you're typing, which is totally different than when you're just sitting across the table in a guest chair. So we spend a lot more money on that task chair for the person that's sitting behind the desk, because we want to make sure you're sitting there a long time.
Speaker 2: 9:45
We want to make sure that there's all kinds of adjustability for the height and the width of the arms and the tilt and the turn. I mean it just goes on and on again. Okay, all right. And the turn? I mean it just goes on and on again. Okay, all right. Break room is another space that we want to address. You know, making sure we have the right kind of seating for that.
Speaker 2: 10:15
Another way to think about that is that you know when you have a smaller space and you need to get seating into it, the higher the chair, the more chairs you can get into the space. Because the way that ergonomics of the body work is that when you're sitting at a normal table height, you're taking up more space because your body's folded in half. When you're sitting at a 42 inch height table which is standing height or bar height your body is almost. Which is standing height or bar height? Your body is almost. You know you're sitting, but you're almost at a standing space. So the way you approach the table is different with your body. So you can get a little more seating into a space by using bar height tables Interesting.
Speaker 1: 10:48
Or a bar height.
Speaker 2: 10:48
you know, built-in tabletop to the wall.
Speaker 1: 10:51
Yeah, Wow, I never knew there's science behind all of it. It's so fascinating.
Speaker 2: 10:59
There is understanding. The human body is part of our job and knowing why. You know how it interacts with the furniture that we use with it.
Speaker 1: 11:07
Yeah, something I would love to talk about is just the you just said how affects our bodies, but I think it also can affect our psyche. Oh, yes, you know, and so like it also can affect our psyche. Oh, yes, you know, and so like that mental and that is everything, and we're going to talk more about the lighting and colors.
Speaker 2: 11:22
But yeah, I mean. Well, just think about it, you, you sit in that chair all day. One of the things that is changing too is, of course, we have all these sit to stand desks, so having an option to get out of a chair is really, really helpful. Another thing that's coming into more and more workspaces, especially where we have lots of shared space, is nap pods, and they're getting really fancy. I mean, it's kind of becoming a little more of an easy thing to get your hands on. If you've got a big shared workspace and you can find a quiet corner to put one of these nap pods in it's. You know, it's more than seating, obviously. It's kind of like a lounger that has a little shroud built around it, and they actually have some that have massagers in the chairs and heat in the chairs.
Speaker 1: 12:15
According to your budget.
Speaker 2: 12:16
Yeah, totally, it's like the car you know, like the basic model, all the way up to the, but you know, just addressing that need for rest during a workday.
Speaker 1: 12:26
That's super good. I always think back to. We give kindergartners naps. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: 12:31
They don't appreciate it.
Speaker 1: 12:32
They don't they need it, but they don't appreciate it. In they don't they need it, but they don't appreciate it. In my workplace I'm like I'd love a nap.
Speaker 2: 12:37
I know 20 minute power nap, I think, the more that we can start to accommodate the human needs, especially because we're meant to go get the job done and go home, but you know, again we're spending so much time in that space. Yeah, if we could rejuvenate with a little bit of 10 minute power nap.
Speaker 1: 12:54
Let's adopt the European model of siesta. Why is that? Not caught on here. I know I think we should too.
Speaker 2: 13:01
Then we'll all need nap pods Awesome.
Speaker 1: 13:09
In an increasingly competitive market, the merits of using interior design as a strategic growth tool can make all the difference in not just surviving but thriving. Hasley Commercial.
Speaker 2: 13:20
Interiors designed to help your business grow.
*Recorded in our studio in Colorado Springs, Colorado
