The Top Five Workplace Furniture Trends to Watch For in 2015

Our friends at MOI, the full service office furniture dealership, share the top five trends they expect to take root in the workplace in 2015. 

1. You’ll see a lot of Marsala, Pantone‘s 2015 Color of the Year.

Marsala is not only a color that is warm and inviting, but the name conjures up the comfort of your kitchen, sipping delicious wine from the small Italian city from which the color’s name is derived. The thought of food and wine filling a home with comforting aromas can bring a touch of satisfaction and coziness to a corporate environment. Its rich saturated texture and color pairs perfectly with both warm and cool tones in its application.

2. Leather’s getting better.

Maintaining the integrity, color, and appearance of leather without comprising the functionality is a very important concern for many who use leather for commercial products. Edelman EDGE, a leather treatment product, has created a reliable solution that protects leather against stains and marks at no extra cost. Edelman EDGE meets the highest standards for reliability and cleanliness with the ability to function in almost any environment. It allows for designers to create spaces without sacrificing aesthetic for practicality.

3. It’s back to the future for the wingback chair.

Inspiration for the classic wingback dates to chair designs from the 17th century. This timeless piece has been a staple in many homes, libraries, and, more recently, restaurants and cafés. An effort to bring the comforts of home in to the office makes the wingback — once only suitable for fireside sits — the apex of home comfort in the office. The style offers privacy while still feeling connected to the surrounding environment, and takes up a relatively small amount of space, making it perfectly adaptable to the modern office.

4. Materials will reflect the increasingly blurred lines between home and office.

Characteristics of the home are carried out seamlessly through a shift in furniture materials. Chairs in particular with wood bases can naturally illustrate how the warm tones of wood can soften an environment while maintaining sophistication. Look for thin profiles and a balance of structured and fluid angles on wood bases, which ensure current and refined aesthetics. Above, an elegant re-definition of an upholstered wood chair with its warm tones make it a trend for 2015.

5. Even beyond materials, offices will start to look like “home” more this year than ever before.

Recognizable details of home can easily translate into corporate environments, creating a sense of comfort and serenity. Details that most of us encounter on a day to day basis, or nostalgic pieces that conjure simplicity, like a farmhouse dining room table can transform offices. The look and logic of these “homey” environments can be applied to the furniture in which we interact with in the office.

For example, our dining room tables have dual functionality in our homes; we work on them, we entertain, we dine and wrap presents on them, all within a 4′ x 6′ perimeter. Our workstations serve a similar purpose, as do our corporate dining room tables. The idea of bringing comforts of home into the office without compromising functionality would be the ultimate goal for creating inspiring and cozy office environments. So, what’s the trend? It is taking our home furnishings and the comfort they create for us and making them compatible in the office, but the parallels of how we function in our homes vs. how we function in solutions inspired by the home will be the trend in the 2015 office environment.

This article was sponsored by MOI.