Focus for a minute. Wait. Make it useful. Go back and forth. Together or by yourself. Get the most out of your time with less. PROOF #006 SideSeat has been designed to present a solution to the blending of work and leisure, public and private. An attractive way of working or studying within a m2.

PROOFF #006 SideSeat has been designed to present a solution to the blending of work and leisure, public and private. How do you provide an environment which allows for changes in work focus and accommodates a full capacity workforce at the same time? How do you ensure that your visitor is free to decide how he spends his waiting time? PROOFF #006 SideSeat provides a solution: a self-contained desk, cupboard and chair which moves with you.

PROOFF #006 SideSeat provides a solution: a self-contained desk, cupboard and chair which moves with you. A balanced piece of furniture made using high quality materials. A compact workstation featuring functional elements which sit separately but together create a flexible space where one can work, wait, read, call or train. A welcoming gesture to your visitor. A stimulus for creativity and focus. It not only encourages users to be interactive and flexible with their working space, but creates privacy in an otherwise public area as well.

Work Light stems from a product range made for Prooff and is the creative foundation from which Studio Makkink & Bey develops new office furniture and products. These pieces generate visual strategies by enclosing and giving space, offering a double meaning or function. The Work lights’ beams encircle a small area, gently delineating that space. It can also be read as an artificial sky, bringing the outside, inside. At the same time it can be put outside to function as a lamppost for office events in the open air.

The idea for the WorkSofa grew out of our commitment to stimulate ‘genuine’ communication. We believe that by sitting differently we can influence people’s approach to sit different. After intensive research into the activity of sitting and the nature of maximizing social activity Studio Makkink & Bey have come across many different possibilities for creating a new furniture piece.

As a result of these, the idea of modularity and flexibility became the primary focus in creating the WorkSofa — essential ingredients when it comes to honouring the needs of our users. In every instance, the different characteristics of the WorkSofa offer many new possibilities and configurations in which stylish pieces of the puzzle allow for endless varieties of communication to occur.  From informal to intimate the modular WorkSofa has proven itself as an ideal setting for public meetings, presentations, brainstorm sessions and group work — or even a place to have a meeting with oneself.

By: Studio Makkink & Bey
Year: 2009

Public becomes private

What happens when furniture is designed while keeping in mind the idea that it should behave like a room?

It produces the result of a private domain which lives comfortably within a public space, a proper resting place in the middle of it all, a flexible & social meeting ground that can exist almost anywhere. For example, when a chair has been designed with a proper height and is built with a rounded aesthetic the result is a well resolved acoustic EarChair that lets you be yourself in your own personal space. Add another one of these to the equation and suddenly you have created a room within a room.

It is here, in open public space, where you can have a personal conversation, make a telephone call or listen privately to what you choose. The integrated arm-rest table of the EarChair also offers a personalized place for you to simply enjoy your coffee, write your notes, or even work on your laptop. No matter how many chairs or how big the room actually is, the EarChair’s unique variations of colour and fabric choice of the EarChair allow for every room to take on its own personal character.

PROgressive OFFice (LABoratory)