Garage-Style Furniture “Hack”
Vitra’s “Hack” Furniture series is designed by Konstantin Grcic. It resembles a “garage-style” in the sense that the used material is mainly the rather cheap OSB board. OSB stands for Oriented Strand Board, which means that wooden strands (like flakes) are pressed together with additional adhesives. The flakes then form a visible structure due to the random orientation of the flakes.
These boards can be purchased for a cheap price in any hardware store. At the same time, they are rather stable and not too heavy. This makes them a popular material for self-made furniture.
What is it?
The furniture line “Hack” consists of mainly a desk frame with height-adjustable horizontal planes. Therefore, it can be used as a normal desk, as a standing desk, or as a sofa.
Hack, Design Konstantin Grcic, ©Vitra (www.vitra.com)
Moreover, the entire desk frame is foldable and can be easily stowed away. This can come in handy if the company has not a lot of office space, or when there’s a lot of fluctuation or expansion, which is both typical for a start-up company.
Hack, Design Konstantin Grcic, ©Vitra (www.vitra.com)
Hack, Design Konstantin Grcic, ©Vitra (www.vitra.com)
Why do I like it?
“Hack” triggers some sort of love–hate–love relationship with me. At first sight, I think it is a really smart design that hits the nerve of the many organizations that want to look “hip”, “creative”, and “agile”. I am almost a bit jealous that I didn’t come up with this idea myself.
But then I check out the price tag. It’s really steep (roughly 3.5k). And then I start wondering if this might actually be an example of a creative space fad. Something that pretends to be cheap, but isn’t. Would any employee actually dare to go into experimentation mode and start using cutter knives at this desk if they knew how much it costs? What do I make out of this?
Finally, I checked out “Hack” in more detail. And I realized that it’s not that simple. Sure, I could go to the hardware store and buy some cheap OBS boards, some screws and hinges. But it would take me a hell of an effort to make a desk that has so many cool features:
- It has multiple functions. In fact, one frame can be used as a normal desk, a standing desk, and a sofa.
- It is flexible. The entire frame is foldable. That way, it can be transformed into a thin box that can be stowed away in a corner or behind a shelf.
- It is of high quality and sturdy; adjusting the table height and folding can be accomplished within seconds. And the material is very forgiving. You can actually push your pushpins directly into the board, without ruining it.
- It expresses a creative company culture and, hence, might attract creative people as new employees and win clients.
- At the same time, it might prime employees into a creative mindset. The rough garage-style might actually communicate that an experimental culture is valued and encouraged by the company (of course, this must also be true). Check out my related post on Organizational Workspace Culture.
Conclusion
Multipurpose, flexibility, sturdiness, high quality, and rustic appearance. All these features make “Hack” a good companion for the agile, creative company that embraces an exploratory culture. So, in the end, the “love” wins.
What do you think about “Hack”? Please, leave a comment below.
Want to learn more about the relationship between workspace design and organizational culture? Check out my related post.
