The Krost family business has a rich history of quality manufacturing, spanning an era, an ocean and a generation or two. Here’s how it all began.
Krost Business Furniture has its earliest beginnings in South Africa in the 1920s. Launched by three brothers to create and manufacture lasting steel products, the company’s initial focus was not solely office and commercial products.
The original Krost logo was a knight clad in indestructible armour. The figure symbolised durability and hardiness, one of the key beliefs of the original founders. Initially, the small outfit made a wide range of steel products, which included steel office furniture.
During the war years, Krost was a supplier to the South African and British army, sending off utility items like jerry cans, pots, pans and even water bottles. Interestingly too – Krost supplied jerry cans to the Australian army and the broader Commonwealth.
It wasn’t until after World War Two, that the focus began to be office furniture pieces. In South Africa, Krost pioneered 4 drawer filing cabinets, steel office chairs and steel desking systems. By the mid 80s, the business had expanded into multiple divisions including plastic manufacturing, warehouse racking, office accessories and other general office products. These divisions eventually became separate businesses, and most still operate today.
As for Krost eventually landed in Australia – some 11,000km away – the new Australian outpost was established in Sydney in 1989, by brothers Colin and Steve Krost, grandsons of one of the original founders, Barney Krost. Manufacturing and supply, and the office furniture industry, was a part of the family.
Over Krost’s 25 years in Australia, the philosophy and focus has been on providing customers with complete office furniture solutions, as opposed to just product-by-product. At the company’s very beginnings, Krost set out to offer the best service, provide the highest quality products, and always sell at a fair price. These key principles date back to Krost’s foundations many years ago, and have remained company keystones ever since.
INDESIGN is on instagram
Follow @indesignlive
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
Aeron Chair’s new shades, Nightfall and Jasper, arrive with a sense of quiet cohesion – no bells and whistles, no loud technicolour; just two timeless, perfectly versatile near-neutrals. But the new hues aren’t just about colour – and their significance is much more profound than their surface-level subtlety might suggest.
The magnetic pull of certain spaces comes down to how seamlessly they work and, more importantly, how they feel. Recognising this, Kettal Workplace draws on the uplifting codes of other sectors to deliver contemporary workplace design.
As Woven Image celebrates 40 years, it introduces a new collection developed in collaboration with Australian artist Ben Goss, inspired by his original artwork Where the Kookaburra Sits into a vibrant collection of digitally printed EchoPanel® murals and patterns.
Functionally minded and balanced in design, Krost’s new Remi table collection navigates the evolving nature of work with pieces that blend seamlessly into any commercial environment.
Creative design interventions, relationship building, knowledge sharing – Saturday Indesign has it all. Coming up Saturday 21 May in Sydney, Saturday Indesign has something for everyone. We get you started with our top 10 picks.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
For The Eye Piece’s fourth store, Ricci Bloch brings general optometry and a dedicated Lindberg shop-in-shop together within a double-height tenancy at Sydney’s EY Centre.
Late night rethinks, endless material testing and prototyping, half-finished or abandoned projects – the work behind-the-scenes work is often where ideas come undone. Elton Group’s Think Good Micro-Grant – a $5,000 annual fund now open for applications – exists to back this kind of unseen effort.
KFive Furniture and Finnish design brand, Nikari, invite us into a world of Finnish folklore and exquisite woodworking traditions. As we step through this moody, magical forest of culture and contemporary design, we discover what makes Finnish design distinct from its Scandinavian counterparts.