Other - The Maker's Magazine Issue 02 by Tangram

OTHER

IS SUE _ 0 2

The Maker Magazine

The Inside Scoop

Who We Are We are a team of industrial designers + engineers who believe in furniture inspired by you.

Table of Contents

4 8

14 20 26 36

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Nothing But Net. Gone Are The Days of Tchotchkes Tricon Residential Luthier How it All Comes Together Fail Quick With Cardboard

The Co-Design Process

Nothing But Net

Nothing But Net. BOSTON, MA

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The Co-Design Process

Two years ago, Studio Other’s journey with an iconic NBA team began. With a team as highlyregarded, unmistakable and loved as this one, Studio Other, their partner, architecture and design firm Gensler, and the client, agreed that the end solution needed to strongly express their brand and reflect who they are as an organization. In fact, this brand expression was taken towards its purist and most literal form, with elements of nets and basketballs expected in the final designs.

“I grew up in their city so to me, this team is so prominent— people live and die for it. Getting to help them express their brand made this probably one of the coolest projects I’ve ever worked on.” C H ARLOT T E W I E D E R H O LT

Nothing But Net

The client’s existing space had not been updated for 20 years, and still included high beige panel systems, massively dating its surroundings. The first floor is specifically designed for the public and serves as a space to bring clients and fans to, bridging the gap between the team’s back-ofhouse and public-facing members. Again, the singular goal for the new renovation of this space was to capture the branding so clearly that it would be undeniable where you were. In fact, a guiding truenorth question immerged during the design development process: Are you in the game? There were several basketball elements that were nonnegotiables during the design phase: parquet wood, net, basketball, and a subtle play on the team’s notable green. The challenge was how to to express these details in a refined, sophisticated and understated way. As Studio Other began developing designs with Gensler, they asked themselves time after time, “Do you feel like you’re in the

game and do the design details express that?” Studio Other began the process by ordering 20 different basketball net styles and put them to the test in their durability and knot designs. After landing on the style that would function the best, the team handknitted each panel frame, which became an incredibly distinctive design element in every workstation. Additionally, each workstation came outfitted with a storage cabinet, and featured a wood portion wrapped in leather that closely imitated a basketball. The team chose a gray metal that gave a grungy locker room feel and mixed in walnut veneer panels to bring some sophistication to the piece with a rope detail window to represent the net. Interestingly enough, many of the employees had been basketball players at some point, so the team had to account for a generally tall and athletic user when considering

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storage. Therefore, the team developed a work wall with a seven-foot-tall tower cabinet as part of each private office setup that would allow for the concealment of items like gym bags and winter coats. During the mockup process, the team spent an entire day with the NBA organization, getting to know who they are, how they think and what’s most valuable to them. The CTO was especially interested in how things are built and was

therefore an engaged collaborator from the start. Together, they dug into functionality and mechanics, the process of welding, and how something can be fabricated to be strong, durable and stand the test of time. “Within the first 10 minutes of meeting, we were under the desk, wiring and rewiring it. It instantly turned from a presentation to live collaboration,” says Wiederholt. Overall, Studio Other was struck

by the authenticity and excitement that radiated from every team member, including the dealer who had worked with the NBA team for 15 years, and Gensler’s Millescent Lizares and Marcus Hamblin. “When we were initially introduced to the team, it really had a family feel to it—it felt like everyone was fully in it,” says Wiederholt. “And when a client is kind, appreciative, engaged and humble, that’s the best kind of client to work with.”

Bisnow Article

Gone Are The Days of Tchotchkes

‘Gone Are The Days Of Tchotchkes’:

Covid Has Changed The Office Desk Forever Tim Carroll, Bisnow News Editor

Originally published on Bisnow

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Charlotte Wiederholt President + Creative Director, Studio Other

Bisnow Article

Gone Are The Days of Tchotchkes

The desks of yore are dying. For centuries, they were hulking pieces of furniture, a reflection of the needs of their owners to write letters, balance ledgers or intimidate subordinates. As technology permeated the modern workplace, they were crammed into increasingly shrinking cubicles or cramped open floor plans, stuffed with unread employee handbooks, unused office supplies and forgotten snacks. They were also the mantle on which to place photos of loved ones, bobbleheads and joke calendars. But after two years going largely unused, the office desks of 2022 are going to look quite different than their predecessors. “There’s going to be less personalization at a surface because I think things are going to be more on-demand use, not assigned,” OTJ Architects principal and Design Director Alyssa Smiroldo told Bisnow. “So gone are the days of tchotchkes and personal items on everyone’s desk, because it might be a shared environment now.” Manufacturers and dealers say there has been a trifurcation in the desk design game, among larger, unassigned desks, adaptable, mobile desks that can accommodate people working in different positions in different locations, and desks in spaces designed for when they need to put their heads down and complete solo work.

Standing or height-adjustable desks, a relatively new sight in the office, are also growing in popularity. Standing desk market share is estimated at $6.7B in 2022, but that figure is expected to rise to $10.3B by 2028, according to a Market Reports World analysis. The global office furniture sales market is expected to grow from $69.2B in 2021 to $82.2B in 2028. It would be good news for U.S. manufacturers, whose overall seasonally adjusted furniture output declined during the pandemic, dropping from $72.4B in Q4 2019 to pandemic lows of $67.5B in Q2 and Q4 2020, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis data. Most notably for office owners, post-pandemic design trends mean larger desks and, in turn, larger footprints. While 8-foot desks were once the office norm, the average desk size had been

dropping before the pandemic to between 4 and 5 feet in the last five years, Studio Other President and Creative Director Charlotte Wiederholt said. Now that remote workers have had two full years to build out their home offices to their own specifications, employers have to contend with the comfort and choice that work-from-home provided. “I would say 100% of our clients are challenged with people [getting] very comfortable at home. They’ve built an office at home, they like staying home — it’s easier to stay at home,” Wiederholt said. “How do you inspire or engage people to come back to the office, and how do you create a space that doesn’t feel like you’re just going back to the old office you had two years ago that’s just been sitting empty for two years and sort of has no life to it, it feels dead, it has no vibe or energy?”

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Even before the pandemic accelerated the trend away from the heavy, immobile, storageburdened desk, 17 billion pounds of office furniture ended up in U.S. landfills annually, according to Environmental Protection Agency data from a 2015 study cited by The Huffington Post. Although the manufacturers and designers Bisnow spoke with said their clients try to reuse what they can and donate the rest, not every piece is reusable or ripe for the secondary market. And employers aren’t finding that reuse is an effective tactic in inspiring an office renaissance. “We find that about 30% of our clients, the offices they’re building out are the old-school vibe: Everybody gets a dedicated desk. They’re doing the same things that they’d done before the pandemic,” Wiederholt said. “And about 60% to 70% of our clients are exploring, ‘How do we change the desk?’” Wiederholt, whose custom workspace design firm is based in Los Angeles, said that of the 60% to 70% of Studio Other clients looking into shaking up their prepandemic layouts, about 70% are employing a hybrid model, with employees coming to the physical office two or three days a week. Since not all employees are there full time, one of the main concerns has been figuring out how in-office workers can take video calls at their desks. In many cases, that means desks that can accommodate dualmonitor setups, Smiroldo said, adding that employees want more space to safely distance themselves from co-workers, in

addition to options to improve posture and decrease sedentary time. “Density is not a priority anymore; safety is and well-being,” she said. “Employers and companies are really thinking about what they can do to the workplace, inclusive of desks and the environments people work in, to make them feel safe and comfortable to come back into the work environment.” After false starts brought on by

backyard hammock. As companies design a more vibrant workspace to bring employees back, technology can help them figure out what their office needs really are. While Kastle’s data shows the proportion of employees in the office — or, in this case, not — it doesn’t show where within the office they work. “Now you have some added technology that’s becoming a lot more affordable that can actually

How do you inspire or engage people to come back to the office, and how do you create a space that doesn’t feel like you’re just back to the old office you had two years ago... C HAR LOTTE WIED ER HO LT

coronavirus variants, it looks like a mass return the office may finally be on the horizon. Covid-19 case counts were down 51% nationwide over the two weeks prior to Monday, marking their lowest levels since the summer, and tech companies with massive office footprints like Google and Apple expect at least a part-time return to in-office work by April. But offices still aren’t close to as full as they once were. Keycard swipe data compiled by Kastle Systems shows that average office occupancy across 10 of the largest U.S. cities was at 38% of pre-pandemic figures the week of March 2, up from 36.8% a week prior, leaving a vast majority of pre-pandemic office workers still toiling away on the couch or in the

give you data to show how often things are being used,” Interior Investments Vice President of Strategic Accounts Ed O’Neill said. His Chicagoland-based furniture supply firm is working with one of the top three credit reporting bureaus to implement a pilot study as it ushers employees back to its Denver office, he said. The credit agency has left its office exactly the same, but the plan is to install nearly 200 seat sensors and review the data after three and six months to see where people are gathering and how they are using the space, O’Neill said. The agency plans to survey its users, asking them how they feel about the office, then compare the sentiment responses to

Bisnow Article

Gone Are The Days of Tchotchkes

to move offices to 130K SF in suburban Waltham. Instead of permanent, individualized seating, the firm opted for exclusively touchdown desks, and Studio Other was tasked with creating a space that could work for every single department and that would compel workers to return.

employees’ real-life habits, allowing the company to make office design choices with hard data in hand. That kind of data has applications beyond employee comfort, he said, including prioritizing safety. “What if there’s an active shooter, but we know everybody is hanging out in one corner of the office which is farthest from the exit, because that might be the best seating?” O’Neill said. “I’d say there might be a shift toward that technology being more useful to people, less as a Big Brother tool — less as a, ‘Who’s in their seat and how often they’re there,’ because that’s dumb data, you’re just knowing that someone’s there. But more in the [sense of], ‘How do we effectively plan for this?’” The pandemic proved that everyday work traditionally done in the office can be done at home, but companies insist that the office is a place of collaboration, mentorship and team-building. Now they have to get employees to buy in to get them back through that revolving glass door, and they have to do so for a variety of workers with differing needs.

“What we’ve seen is more of that increase in variety and the ability for users to have more choice and control to find the right place to work for their preferences versus it being a one-or-the-other solution,” Steelcase Furniture Category Director David Cooper said. Flexibility is key, and that is evident in the selections office occupiers are making in their desk choices and where those desks are placed. Furnishing private offices has been a growing area of business, Cooper said, and those offices aren’t reserved only for the C-suite. He said Steelcase is designing multipurpose products for spaces that, when they aren’t utilized as private offices, can accommodate two or three people with a large monitor for videoconferencing with even more. Wiederholt said she is working with a tech firm she declined to name that built out an office before the pandemic in the Kendall Square neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts, for about 1,000 employees, each with their own desk. After the pandemic hit, the firm’s head of real estate decided

A detailed survey of the tech firm’s users revealed they weren’t interested in tightly spaced, 60inch desks anymore, Wiederholt said. Although they won’t have dedicated desks, they wanted to have personal space around them, with at-desk small-group collaboration capabilities and the adaptability to turn the touchdown desk into a more private setting. Studio Other designed a space with 6-foot desks and offset seating so that employees aren’t face-to-face or shoulder-toshoulder. The design also includes whiteboards at each desk. “At my desk, all I have to do is slide 3 feet to the right or 3 feet to the left, and I have a whiteboard that I can access,” Wiederholt said. “And then my co-worker, who is 6 feet away from me safely, can also slide over and have a conversation with me at that whiteboard.”

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The design is complete with acoustic screens with wings that office users can pull out when they need to complete solo work or take a video call, which has the added benefit of giving fellow office users cues on when it is convenient to collaborate and engage and when it isn’t. Various desk types, adaptable, semiprivate spaces and multiuse

Cooper called increased employee choice and control an ecosystem of spaces — a wide range of options complete with a social hub or café for people to come together and connect. But they aren’t just for play and socialization. “We believe that some of our solutions are uniquely tailored to make those places hard-working, because oftentimes those are

private offices are only a partial answer. While trinkets and baubles on a cubicle-confined desk may become less common, diversity of furniture is on the rise. Landlords are selling the office as a place for socialization and even a place for romance, and they are working to provide spaces that engender such camaraderie. “One of the biggest things is

places where people are doing real work, individually and together,” he said. Employers are ready to bring their workers back, but that doesn’t mean their workers are ready to fully leave behind the comforts of home. So while employees need spaces for hard work, companies are working to give them a slice of remote work — spaces with warm lighting, comfort seating

now supporting community socialization, so for that kind of activity and that kind of situation, you really need to have within your floor plan ancillary spaces,” said Maria Paula Zajar, who leads manufacturer Herman Miller’s desking portfolio in the Americas. “You need to have soft seating that will gather people in a different way.”

and, perhaps most importantly, an absence of the stuffy old two-ton desk they spent most of their waking hours sitting at before the pandemic. “People have pulled little things that they like from home and want to maintain that in an office,” Smiroldo said.

Featured Project

Tricon Residential

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Tricon Residential

T USTIN, CA

Featured Project

Tricon Residential

TRI CON RESIDENT IAL Tricon Residential is a rental housing company dedicated to providing an exceptional rental experience to every resident who makes one of their houses or apartments their home. When the company began planning their own move to a new 70,000-square-foot Tustin, CA office space, they imagined a unique and unconventional workplace that would appeal to and engage their growing workforce. Tricon, architecture firm Shubin Donaldson, Tangram Interiors and Studio Other closely collaborated on every detail to establish an eclectic and worldly space that featured corners of unexpected beauty and tranquility. Within the 70,000-square-foot space are large open areas dubbed “parks” that are filled with live vegetation, large trees, and grass16

like floorcovering to emulate a park setting and capture the tranquility of public nature environments. Tangram provided organicallyshaped ancillary furniture that complemented the feel of the space with its soft edges and stonelike features. Studio Other created 300 workstations using eight design variations based on the specific needs of various roles. Because the new space held less private offices on the new floorplan, Studio Other ideated two types of “soft offices” which became the new Vice President and Director stations. These stations were made with the same materials as the standardized workstations in the open plan, but featured increased division, privacy and storage.

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Featured Project

Tricon Residential

Studio Other worked closely with Shubin Donaldson and the client to create a suite of furniture that works for each individual workmode for every employee. Call-Center workstations are more compact stations designed for density, limited need for storage, and higher panels for acoustic privacy. Marketing/Admin workstations (for the general population) feature metal powder-coated and perforated divider panels between users, and a higher fabric-wrapped panel at the end conditions. It is designed around a tube frame used as support for the end panels and power beam. This allowed support for “soft offices” for directors and VPs to be integrated into the workstation clusters. Soft-Office workstations include fabric-wrapped panels around a tube frame, which acoustic panels and whiteboard panels can be inserted into based on the user’s needs. A leather belt/ wood dowel system allows the user to lift up the fabric panels, or close them when they need more privacy. All storage units feature a leather pull detail.

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Culture Spotlight

Luthier – Jason Doerr

Luthier noun lu·thi·er one who makes stringed musical instruments (such as violins or guitars)

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Luthier JASO N D O E R R

Culture Spotlight

Luthier – Jason Doerr

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Meet Jason Doerr, he’s got music in his blood. Jason Doerr, Studio Other Industrial Engineer, has been perfecting his Luthiery (the construction of stringed instruments) and amp building craft since before he can remember. With a dual love of building and music, he began Kraken Music in partnership with his Uncle Fernando, a retired Aerospace Engineer. Together, they meticulously hand-build wood guitar bodies and amps using locally sourced materials, each piece created with an attention to detail that can only be administered by one with a love for the craft.

Culture Spotlight

Luthier – Jason Doerr

Q: How did your interest in guitar and amp building begin? I’ve always been a tinkerer and I’m pretty sure I was born with music in my blood.

a little like something out of an old sci-fi movie since I restore and use antique electronic test equipment for creating new useful electronic projects. Kind of nerdy, right?

Q: Can you describe the design? I make guitar bodies from scratch, something known by the trade as Partscasters. I’ll start with 8/4 wood of different species and route the body shape and cavities for the electronics, ergo and neck using meticulously-created templates. My uncle and business partner, Fernando, and I make several body styles, including the popular Telecaster, Stratocaster, 51 P-Bass, 57 P-Bass, and J-Bass bodies. I also do custom tube amp design engineering and building for the musical and hi-fi enthusiasts. My home office looks

Q: How long does it take you to build the guitars and amps? Guitar bodies take 2-6 hours depending on how many I do in a batch. Amps take days to weeks. Q: What materials do you use? Wood (alder, ash, sugar pine, mahogany, exotic laminates) and electronics Q: How would you describe the building process? Arduous and meticulous, but satisfying Q: What was your greatest

obstacle in the process and how did you overcome it? Amplifier design requires lots of self-paced electronics courses and practice. As for the guitar-building process, my biggest obstacle has been preventing chip out while routing the peripheral. Luckily, I solved for this issue with a combination of closer band-sawing and designing a custom routing station. Learn more and purchase at KrakenMusic.com

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Manufacturing Story

How It All Comes Together

How It All Comes Together STE PH ANIE BO NIL L A, ARMAN DO R ODR IGU EZ , B RYA N OR OZCO

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Manufacturing Story

How It All Comes Together

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Meet Armando and Bryan, they get the job done. We spend a lot of time telling our co-design and ideation stories, but we want to shed more light on our installation process because it is just as valuable and streamlined. We spoke with our Lead Installer, Armando Rodriguez, and Bryan Orozco, Installation Foreman to get the full picture of what it looks like to work with Studio Other throughout the project installation process.

Manufacturing Story

After manufacturing is complete, how do you get the product to site and install it? First, we contact the supplier and schedule a truck when the products are ready for pick up. Then, we obtain a pallet count to schedule a truck arrival to the SFS warehouse. Our team checks all count documents and sorts items according to the products’ labels that indicate phase and floor. To simplify install when it arrives at the job site, we sort everything by PO, floor, area, and color to correlate with location. We then pull the load, double check for truck capabilities, and deliver to the job site. Lastly, it is important to note that Studio regularly works with five different suppliers for glass, wood, and upholstery to arrange the initial product pickups. Why is the installation process important to the overall project? Simply put, having everything organized beforehand correctly minimizes issues on site. Because making the install run smoothly is our top priority, we spend hours clearly labeling all items and tagging them to help identify the products on site. What has been the biggest install challenge and how did your team overcome it? One issue that can arise is a missing item on site. The goods news is that we have the ability to track this item through our diligent loading process that tells us where everything was placed and on what truck. This allows us to mitigate any issues in advance. The other possible issue is damage that occurs in transit. For example, we had a truck that was in a near accident and the load shifted in the back of the truck

How It All Comes Together

and damaged several desk legs. Prior to shipping, we take pictures of all loads to ensure we have proof of how items are loaded. When this type of issue arises, we redirect products back to our Santa Fe Springs warehouse or to a local manufacturer to repair any damage before items arrive on site, and we deal with the shipping company separately. What do you do when the install isn’t local? How does your process change? For installs beyond our reach, we check will call timelines on all products, focusing on the timeline specifically and constantly check in with our suppliers for pickups. Additionally, we take images of all items before the order ships to that state’s local dealer who will be handling the install from there. In this special case, we truly act as the manufacturer. Live Nation is a good example of a national client that we do not use a dealer for install. In special cases like this one, we send our Foreman or Project Manager on site to make sure everything is installed correctly and up to the Studio Other quality control standards. How do you ensure all products are installed and delivered to Studio Other’s standards and on time? Studio Other establishes timelines early with our sales team that carry through the entire project, and we schedule trucks accordingly to the construction company or end user needs. If we are off timeline or the area isn’t ready yet, then we are in constant communication with the client to reschedule the shipment immediately. Have you faced any supply chain issues in today climate?

Fortunately, we have generally mitigated this issue by scheduling more check-in calls with our suppliers throughout the week to make sure the logistics are on schedule. However, when we’re shipping products nationally, we have certainly been affected by the current market supply challenges. The good news is, since we create custom furniture on the design and engineering side, we have the flexibility to pivot to products that are readily available to avoid supply delays. So should we face product delays, we will provide in-stock options to our clients to avoid project setbacks. We are frequently calling our suppliers to see who has availability on certain products that may be available now so that we can avoid delayed install timelines at all cost. What if issues arise with the product or install? Should any issue arise, we send a Studio representative to confirm inaccurate measurements and plan to replace it. We handle all issues internally for local installs and will find a local supplier to correct any issues for national installs. Additionally, Studio provides a 12-year warranty for veneer and desktops and a seven-year warranty for height adjustable bases. We frequently check the market trends to make adjustments to every warranty policy to match industry standards. What is your favorite project you’ve worked on and why? Armando: Live Nation – Stephanie and Bryan coordinated it diligently and it was an easy install with no on site issues. Bryan: Insomniac Games– This was the first project where I handled the Foreman role fully on my own. It was a huge accomplishment for me.

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I love that everyone on the team has an equal voice. Our projects are successful because each person brings something unique and necessary to the table. C HAR LOTTE WIED ER HO LT

Manufacturing Story

How It All Comes Together

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What’s the best part about working for Studio Other? Armando: The team atmosphere throughout the design, manufacturing and install process. Our team is more like family than co-workers which makes my job so enjoyable. Bryan: I love that everyone is easy to work with and willing to get their hands dirty to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Charlotte: I love that everyone on the team has an equal voice. Our projects are successful because each person brings something unique and necessary to the table. It’s incredible to watch the team rally together to install on time and within budget on project after project.

What do you enjoy or makes you feel the most fulfilled about your specific role? Armando: Receiving a minimal punch list is always exciting. Also, it’s fulfilling to see products go from a drawing to an actual product being installed. Getting to be a part of bringing items on paper to life in a space makes it all worthwhile.

with the products as everything is installed and live in the space. Ultimately, we all share in the process. Our team cares as much as the client cares about their beautiful new space and all the new furniture in it.

Bryan: Seeing it all come to life with the final product gives you an immense sense of accomplishment, and I love to celebrate with the team when getting a minimal punch list. Charlotte: At times, having our client onsite overseeing the install can be stressful, but it’s also so rewarding to share in the excitement with them when it all comes together. It feels good to experience how happy clients are

Word Search

Studio Other

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Directions: Read the words in the word box. Can you find all the word box words hidden in the puzzle? Circle each word you find. You might find the words spelled across, up and down, or diagonally. The words might be spelled forward or backward.

WORD BOX MOCKUP

FLEXIBILITY

MAKERS

LUTHIER

CNC

GUITAR

MAHOGANY

INSOMNIAC

MANUFACTURING

HYBRID

PROTOTYPE

KRAKEN

WORKSTATION

QUALITY

Process Story

Fail Quick with Cardboard: The Evolution of Office Design, A Conversation with Cassie Stepanek

Fail Quick with Cardboard:

T H E E VOLU TI ON OF O FFIC E DESIG N, A CON V ER SAT ION WIT H CASSIE ST EPA N E K

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Process Story

Fail Quick with Cardboard: The Evolution of Office Design, A Conversation with Cassie Stepanek

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Meet Cassie Stepanek she likes to build sh*t. Cassie has been with Studio Other for the last five years. As the Senior Industrial Design Consultant, she works closely with A+D partners and clients to co-design rad workspaces. When she’s not in the office, Cassie spends her time on creative endeavors, including building and welding, or out in the great outdoors with her wife, Chelsea, and dog, Moon.

Process Story

Fail Quick with Cardboard: The Evolution of Office Design, A Conversation with Cassie Stepanek

With a workplace in flux, no one has defined what it should or will be. This means customizing an office is not a luxury anymore. It’s more of a necessity, because flexibility is the name of the game. CAS S IE STEPAN EK

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Over the past two years, how have you noticed your industry change? It’s a very interesting time to be designing for the workplace. A couple of years ago, it might have felt like a luxury to get a custom piece of furniture. But the pandemic was the great equalizer. We had the shared experience of working from home and seeing what the future of the workplace could be. Today, we’ve become used to doing laundry at lunch or picking up our kids, and everybody wants a work-life balance. A nine-to-five schedule and five days in the office are is now antiquated. With a workplace in flux, no one has defined what it should or will be. This means customizing an office is not a luxury anymore. It’s more of a necessity, because flexibility is the name of the game. I find that clients are more in tune with our suggestions and offerings since we’re one of the few companies that can be agile and test things quickly. Employers must think in new ways, and we’re helping them. How are office furniture products changing? Before the pandemic, the most important products we made were individual desks for employees, adjustable workstations, and private offices. Everyone would come into the office, nine to five, to a dedicated seat. I used to call the rows upon rows of desks the “sea of sadness.” Today, people are starting to think of the office as a cultural magnet and a place for collaboration – not a mandate. Employers are planning for half the number desks, and, in the

extra space, they’re including furniture like touchdown tables for collaboration. Or they’re incorporating farm-style tables without adjustable seats that create a “library” feel in the office – quiet spaces to sit and accomplish heads-down work. In other sections of the building, you might have meetings in the open where it’s bit louder. We’re making a lot of mobile TV monitors and mobile whiteboards now – and plenty of things on casters. Let’s say you’re in your boss’s office and you both want to talk to co-workers who are at home. Do you really want to walk down the hall to find a conference room? Or would you rather quickly plug into something next to you? Figuring out how to do that with electrical and building power is the challenge. So, yes, the product is definitely changing. We’re still making individual workstations, but we’re seeing less and less of that. You have a unique approach to the prototyping process. Can you describe it? In the recent past, the way to bring a piece of furniture – like a desk – to life was to make a photo-real rendering. It was something on a screen that people could imagine. But people are no longer sure of what they need. Now, the question is: “Is the answer even a desk? Is that the right thing to make?” And imagining something new and unfamiliar can be difficult. That’s why we’re finding it’s effective to work with low-cost materials – like cardboard – and quickly build something in real life, to scale, for clients to view. The process of doing this quickly in rapid rounds is what I call “fail

quick.” When we involve the client, fail quick might take 30 minutes and $100 to get to the real solution. It’s much better than spending six months, 15 rounds of prototyping, and hundreds of thousands of dollars on something that, in the end isn’t right. Those are very “slow and expensive” fails. With its low investment costs, fail quick is the key to building today’s office spaces and furniture. We’ve had such success with it that, if our client isn’t in the LA area, we will fly out to them with our cardboard. Are you finding clients open to this idea of “fail quick?” Failure seems like a word to avoid. I happen to like the word fail. People do get scared of it and ask me “why would you promote that?!” But, to me, it’s hubris to think your first idea is going to be your best idea. Fail quick is a great way to get at the solution, but it takes someone who is not afraid to roll up their sleeves and wrestle with the 3D world. And not every client is comfortable doing this. I just worked on a project with the creative director for Belkin, and, in three weeks’ time we made three rounds of prototypes for a storage unit. It was great – he came in with a Sharpie and scissors and just cut it up and drew on it. He said, “Oh, this should be such-and-such radius. This should be taller.” For fail quick to work, a client has to accept the idea of failure and be open to collaboration with us. In design school, we are trained to withstand critique. But clients aren’t used to tough and immediate critiques, or to seeing a mistake. When they learn to trust the process – and even get involved – they see mistakes as useful things that eventually turn into something great.

Process Story

What’s great about customization and what does it mean today? Customization is more human. Everyone wants to be the main character in their life and building a piece of furniture for someone’s particular needs honors that thought. This is especially important when we are in a place of high uncertainty – like today’s hybrid workplace. If employers want to bring employees back – how will those employees feel valued and will they appreciate the office environment? In addition, as furniture is designed, it’s more human for people to be able to touch and feel things and have the agency to say “this is not right; this is what I want.” This becoming more important. Many people misunderstand the term “customization.” When people hear “customized,’ they

Fail Quick with Cardboard: The Evolution of Office Design, A Conversation with Cassie Stepanek

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think it’s going to take a lot of time, money and personal investment to figure it out. Or they think that we’re a small shop and team “making stuff in our back yard.” In fact, Studio Other works in all 48 states and does tens of millions of dollars in business for some of the largest corporations. So, actually, it’s “mass customization” that we’re doing. What do you predict the industry will look like 10 years from now? In the future, I think there will be entire digital worlds that we juggle alongside our physical home and work presences. I cannot say what that’s going to be like, but it’s intriguing to consider. The other day someone suggested that I should design furniture for the metaverse – a place where gravity doesn’t exist. So, for example – a chair. First of all, do you even need a chair? Is it a place to rest? Likely the idea of rest would be entirely different.

More immediately, I do hope we start to build things with more intention. And that we stop mass producing without having a clients to buy the items. The production houses of the world make thousands of products and store them all over the country, hoping people will buy them. I do not think that will be the way of the future. I’d like to think people are slowing down and thinking more intentionally. We’re thinking about the “stuff” we’re putting out into the world. Do we just want to make more stuff, or do we want to make what we absolutely need?

Let’s make cool sh*t.

@studioother