As we learn to navigate the uncertainty of the post-pandemic reality, it’s hard to deny that the constraints of outdated workspaces seem more pronounced than ever before. The fixed walls of our offices feel too restrictive, rigid floor plans lack flexibility – and many hybrid models and home offices still fail to empower businesses, teams and individuals to fully curate their work experience.

Enter Herman Miller’s OE1 Workspace Collection. A natural continuation of the brand’s long tradition of innovative, timeless and solution-oriented product releases in Australia, Herman Miller’s pivotal range provides an alternative to the more customary spatial solutions. In fact, OE1 was designed by Sam Hecht and Kim Colin by deconstructing the traditional system approach to furniture. “OE1 isn’t more of the same,” explains Sam Hecht. “It really is a departure for how things are produced and made in a more responsible way, how they can be flexible and agile, grow and adapt with you, and how they can be customised for you as an individual or as a company.”

The insight-driven collection comprises a selection of tables, screens, storage solutions and technological elements that enable organisations and individuals to create adaptable environments that evolve alongside personal and business needs, preferences and goals – and do so at speed. “OE1 allows offices to reconfigure themselves more rapidly,” says Kim Collin. “Previously, they were beholden to a floor plan for at least a year, if not five. Now, change can be more rapidly played out, and teams can be accommodated quicker, easier and more flexibly.”

The broad range of designs allows for a deliberate and insightful gradient of agility, which the designers behind OE1 refer to as “one minute, one hour, one day.” The way the collection has been engineered allows for simple objects – like screens – to be moved in a matter of minutes and the more complex set-ups – a desk with power, for instance – in under one hour. And it empowers the employees to reconfigure a floor plan with agile walls in just one day, enabling a responsive enhancement of the layout in a conveniently short space of time.

Designed both to amplify and optimise the existing interiors and generate entirely new spaces, the elements of the range can be used as individual pieces or as a comprehensive collection. Designed as a pick-and-mix system, the revolutionary designs work together perfectly but aren’t reliant on each other and can be integrated within the existing workplace landscape alongside other furniture and fit-out elements.

Whether integrated with the existing set-up or incorporated as a curated collection, the multi-functional OE1 allows businesses and employees to fine-tune the interiors they work within – the space can be ramped up, ramped down, mobilised or densified. The ease of integration and spatial adaptability of the range lend themselves perfectly to capitalising on underutilised floor plan areas and enabling a plethora of arrangements that generate agile and effective spaces – and not only in the office. “Work nowadays isn’t really a place; it’s an activity,” Sam points out. “That means that the furniture needs to be able to live in all sorts of different environments, different situations, but be able to perform these different activities wherever they may happen.” OE1 does just that.

Further enhancing OE1’s versatility of applications and spatial contexts, the design’s physical expression is effortlessly minimalist, fitting in wonderfully with a broad range of interiors. With nothing clunky, incidental or unnecessary in sight, the light, pleasing designs are available in a wide range of configurations and colours that are bound to reinforce the space’s aesthetic appeal.

This revolutionary collection, dubbed by its designers as the “furniture for wherever work may take place”, is as timely as it is timeless. Enabling the users to harness the perfect blend of purpose, performance and expression, OE1 is designed to help us move instead of getting stuck; explore rather than follow the same path every time, and go with the flow to discover what works best – over, and over again.

OE1 Workspace Collection Glossary

OE1 Micro Packs: Compact in size yet highly-adjustable workstations that enhance mobility across the floor plan.

OE1 Nook: A flexible and private corner of the office designed to foster individual work, focus and productivity.

OE1 Storage Trolleys: Modern personal storage solutions with a minimalist aesthetic that will be the perfect addition to any office or home setting.

OE1 Agile Wall: A subarchitectural, movable boundary that enables swift and flexible space definition, spontaneous collaboration and unconstrained ideas exchange.

OE1 Communal Tables: Gathering spaces that act as flexible anchors for casual productivity and teamwork in an open plan workplace.

OE1 Mobile Easel:  Working in tandem with OE1 Wall Rail and Board, this light and mobile piece stimulates collaboration anywhere in the office – and doubles as a portable wall.

OE1 Rectangular Table: Perfect as an individual workstation or a part of a more substantial bench set-up, this modern desk boasts minimalist aesthetic, dynamic design and expressive detailing.

OE1 Project Table: Whether it’s an open office, a meeting room or a flexible training room, this mobile table encourages agile collaboration in any context.

Herman Miller

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