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Quite a topical question at the moment At Workbench we have long practised sustainable design, material selection and manufacture. Sustainable manufacture raises a lot of questions and this is where Workbench can offer its knowledge: what is the largest core board available for a table top, will that fit on a veneer press, is there a laminate sheet wide enough, what is the length of the veneer, how thick is the material, how heavy is that to manoeuvre, will it fit in the building, what impact does that detail have on cost, material wastage, labour time, energy and recyclability at end of life? The last point is an initiative gaining momentum in interior design. Recyclability at the end of a products life can have a bigger impact on the environment than its fabrication. Designing, at the point of creation, how a product can be dismantled and recycled could be the biggest benefit to its environment impact and significantly reduce the carbon foot print of a product. Perkins and Will is one architects practice that has recently identified this as an important area of focus in their seminar on Net – Xero Interiors. The thinking goes far further than the usual lip service to using a material that can ‘technically’ be recycled. It investigates how possible that actually is once the material is fabricated, joined to other components, finished and perhaps most important how compelling it is for the owner to recycle rather than dispose of. It is this process, recyclability at the end of life, that we at Workbench along with our clients have a great opportunity to contribute to and it will form a key part of our design process as we champion ISO14001 certification. How you end a term of service could have a bigger impact than how you start.

What’s trending… looking forward...We are looking forward to being back in the office. Our main workshop has remained where possible in operation, mainly due to the diligent planning by Production Director Terry,  in implementing social distancing. It has been a humbling experience to be able to support all our clients through this, not least Johnson + Johnson and AstraZeneca as they trail blaze with undimmed determination to supply tests and research vaccines for the global good in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. Having product in manufacture for them in the workshop, designs in development and mockups being tested has certainly kept the team very busy. We are looking forward to delivering these projects over the coming weeks and months. So how are we all coping in lockdown? From the London team Heather and Paul have stepped aside from work temporarily and like many have the joy of home schooling, possibly the hardest job ever, Ofsted rating due anytime now!  At our company well being meeting we have enjoyed seeing the tomato plant progress and the Lego so we know they are covering Biology and DT at the very least. Darrell our Design Director has been enjoying some quality Air-fix time in between working on projects and developing a new over sized rise / fall meeting table, watch this space. Emmanuel, Head of Purchasing has also become Chief Communications Officer and has tirelessly spoken to all our suppliers on daily/ weekly basis to keep our projects on track…. slightly regretting not getting the camera on his laptop fixed before lockdown, company note to make sure we keep on top of the ’tomorrow jobs' when we are back in the office. Our suppliers and workshop partners have been amazing, UK manufacturing certainly knows how to step up in difficult times! Joe our Managing Director has had to juggle running the company from home with two children aged 2 and 4, not an easy task by any means, we have enjoyed the singing in the back ground on conference calls.  Wendy, in between work, has been defending the fridge from two teenage boys, and running a lot. Lee who oversees all our site installations has been busy setting out social distancing requirements on sites and making sure projects can be completed on time and safely. And finally everyones pets, well they have become Zoom superstars! We hope that everyone is staying as positive as possible, we are looking forward to the new normal, whatever that looks like and seeing everyone ‘in the flesh‘ really soon.

...back painted glass Variation of colour. When installing identical coloured panels of back painted glass in the same location such as a full-length splashback and returns, there will likely be a visual colour variation as the painted surface is being viewed on different sized panels and on different planes. Colours play a part in how much they may or may not change in certain light. Whites and off-whites may seem vanilla, but they are often very adaptable to all light conditions. This can also be said of pale shades of other colours. However, whites and other light colours can sometimes reflect hues from objects in the room, such as furniture, flooring, etc. Brighter, richer colours can often be problematic and colours like khaki, sage and taupe are some of the worst offenders when it comes to changing under different lighting. Hopefully this will provide some pointers when choosing painted glass and understanding how light can affect paint colour. Natural Light Natural light affects the way colours appear in various locations. And the effect this light has depends on the direction in which it comes into the room and the position of the sun. If your room is north facing, the light that enters will be softer and will produce a warmer effect, with darker hues looking darker and light colours a touch more subdued, this is because light from the north adds a touch of blue. If the location has a southern exposure, it will receive the most intense light. Darker colours will be somewhat brightened and light colours (especially white) have the potential to leave the room washed out. In the evening, a west facing room will have warmth from the setting sun, adding orange hues and can leave room’s that are orange, red, or yellow looking over saturated. Likewise, eastern exposure adds a bit of green. #everydayisaschoolday Thanks to to GX Glass for their expert knowledge!

We at workbench were due to start a series of breakfast chats with the A&D community about specifying veneer, laminate and glass for furniture. Whilst we look forward to inviting you all along to these in the future we thought we would share a few sound bites over the next few days & weeks of what we try to keep in mind when specifying and selecting these materials.

We would like to let you know what we are doing regarding Covid-19 Our showroom remains open with a skeleton team present, for showroom visits by appointment only. In line with government advice from today most of our team are working from home to protect themselves and minimise the risk of any infection. The systems we have in place enable our team to work at near full capacity wherever they are over the next few weeks to ensure we provide you with the best service possible. Our UK workshops remain fully operational and we have put measures in place to ensure if one closes we can call upon our partners to deliver existing projects and take on new orders. These are uncertain and challenging times and we will be looking closely at the situation over the coming days to see if we need to take further action. We are all in this together and we will offer our support to our clients and suppliers alike over the coming weeks. Thank you for your continued support and business.

We launched our standard furniture range last year consisting of over ten designs, all of our standard ranges have their roots in the bespoke projects we have worked on over the last 10 years. The whole Workbench team have influenced the final design detail looking at the best way to source materials, fabricate, finish and deliver. Whilst we love a standard product we also love the creative design process of getting to one. Estee Lauder with MCM Architecture is a perfect example and has resulted with our Astar table and Whitchurch trestle table about to join our standard range of furniture. If you would like our specification guide then let us know! www.workbenchltd.co.uk

Bold colours will to continue to rise in popularity during 2020. The new Fenix laminate colour way is focused on primary colours, they have been accurate when predicting the direction of colour trends in the past so look out for bold and primary colours. The Pantone colour for 2020 is a primary colour this year and RAL go a little further with RAL Colour Feeling 2020+ have a look at the article https://www.ral-shop.com/product/ral-colour-feeling-2020 for a glimpse at what to expect. Geometric patterns An ongoing the theme from 2019. We are seeing this influence even in the layout of designers mood boards. Geometric patterns can provide a feature for an interior at low cost and often without the requirement for huge structural input, making it easy to change in the future. Influencers like Kvadrat with their Soft Cells http://soft-cells.com/ and Buzzi Space with Buzzie Blox https://www.buzzi.space/products/buzziblox have led the way. Co working influence. Co working is not a new concept but its influence is transforming permanent office spaces as well. We have seen hot desking and collaborative spaces appearing in even the ‘most traditional’  offices. We look forward to the new concepts and designs that the interior industry continues to develop for these spaces. 9 of the best Co working spaces according to Hubble. https://hubblehq.com/blog/the-coolest-co-working-spaces-in-london Biophilia this trend grew steadily through 2019 and is set to continue through 2020. There are now a wide variety of companies offering solutions and it does not have to be high maintanance, Innerspace Cheshire, amongst others, have creative products delivering the biophilia design with little or no further upkeep day 2. https://www.innerspacecheshire.co.uk/materials/mosswall/ Environmental responsibility. To describe this as a trend is to trivialise the enormous issues we are faced with over the coming decades. Climate change will be the single biggest topic addressed in 2020 and onwards. It requires us all to not just 'box tick’  the tender questionnaire but to go further and look at at our supply chains with closer scrutinty and work collectively to improve not only just how we manufacture but how we recycle the product our new designs replace. Certifications such as FSC and  ISO 14001 go a long way to addressing the problem however the UK manufacturing  landscape is made up of a large number of very small workshops and production facilities who tend not to pursue costly certification but actually operate a more sustainable production line than larger companies. It will be important for us to make sure these companies are not excluded from supply chains because they cant “tick the box “  as they provide a large proportion of the UK manufacturing capacity. There are a number of helpful websites as well as government backed help such as Envirowise to help advise. https://www.bpf.co.uk/bsn/tech_and_ops/Envirowise.aspx Natural materials, it sits hand in hand with the environmental issues we face so this trend will ‘naturally’ excuse the pun, be a strong influence in office spaces. Ratan, wicker, cane furniture are all on trend and will grow in popularity. Traditionally used for seating and screening these materials are being used to create unique features in interiors. https://www.trouva.com/products/market-set-natural-screen-caning-wall-lamp Legs! According to Elle decoration German and Italian influences are going to be very popular for furniture design in 2020. We have noticed this in the furniture we are detailing and in particular legs, there is a move away from the larger slab style credenza and storage solutions in meeting and boardrooms, it is being replaced with a much lighter design of storage.  This is partly due to smaller AV equipment, video conferencing services available from the likes of  Google and Skype means less need for large AV racks to be housed leaving room for lighter storage details. Check out one of our new designs Grooves https://www.instagram.com/p/B5AoTyqB68k/

We are sometimes considered a small company for the punch we pack, so when we were asked to host a work experience student for a week we thought quite carefully about it. How much of our time would this take up?  Who would mentor them? What exactly would we give them to do? How do we make sure they gain something meaningful from it? All these questions before we even looked at the safeguarding responsibility. The negatives seemed to outweigh the positives, however we decided to try it once and 'do our bit.' That was five years ago and we have hosted a work-experience student every year since. For us as a team it was like employing a management consultant to assess the business. Explaining the business function and everyones job roles to a complete outsider, one with little or no knowledge of the corporate world, highlighted so many observations and questions it was enlightening for us and has changed some of the business practice. One simple example, we asked the student to answer the phones for an afternoon, a skill we take for granted but if you have never done it before it can be intimidating.  After managing to cut a few people off and transfer several to the wrong place, they got the hang of it! At the end of the day one team member said, "it’s been great not to have to answer the phone, I have been really productive this afternoon." We all looked a bit quizzically at him,  “ I always answer the phone, no one else does.” he said. We reflected on this, he was right, no other team member answered the phone, we had slipped into this routine where the role fell to him alone and as a result he was being constantly disturbed. It prompted a swift change in our business practice which was identified because we had a work-experience student. If you are considering hosting a work-experience student we would whole heartily recommend it. It does take up some time and effort but in our experience you gain more than you give.

Often the function of the furniture we design and manufacture is so specific to the client it is unlikely that we will use on other projects. What we can reuse is all the learning. We worked along side our client to develop 27 rise/ fall lecterns with plug and play facility. Housing two screens, computer terminals, power, data, Crestron units, mics and the all important retractable cup holder, they were over 80kg each and easily moved to be used in over 40 locations throughout the building. Whilst it is unlikely we will be asked to recreate anything similar, our expanded knowledge of actuators, finishing, heat build up, plug & play, screen reflection, cable retraction, ventilation and metal deflection are all deposited in the knowledge bank for next time! Designed by us tailored by you.

Over the last few weeks we have been working with a client to develop a table range for a meeting suite that embraces the current influences of industrial style furnitur, whilst making the work surface unique and practical. As with most design briefs we try to begin with the most basic ideas around the key words used by the client, in this case 'industrial.' Cranes immediately sprung to mind and so we started there. And here is where we have ended up. BOOM!. Simple, cost effective and unique details for each client. Designed by us, tailored by you.

The designing of a product does not stop at the signed off drawing. If you want to be truly innovative it is about designing all the way through production. The importance of clients seeing product through the manufacturing process cannot be underestimated. It gives us as designers and clients as users the opportunity to consider and improve the design detail so what ends up on site is as considered as possible. Flexible manufacturing and an open minded workshop provide the keys! @JCLWorkbench @tpbennet

We are seeing a rising trend for eating spaces in the office footprint even if your office doesn't provide the actual food. Unsurprisingly eating spaces create relaxed environments for team members to socialise without any pressure. The benefits to well being far out weigh any argument about the square ft lost. Employees to get to know each other better, improving general communication, which in turn benefits the companies that provide them. We’ve come a long way from hanging out at the water cooler for a quick chat!