The Clerkenwell neighborhood in London has the highest concentration of architecture and design firms in the world. It is a compact area of London, technically part of the Borough of Islington and just north of St. Paul’s Cathedral, that is home to some of the world’s most influential design firms. It is also home to Clerkenwell Design Week, an event that brings about 40,000 visitors to the neighborhood every May.
So it is no wonder MillerKnoll opened a fabulous new showroom in the heart of the neighborhood in September, a true flagship space for the important U.K. market. While the U.K. is a big market for MillerKnoll, designers in Clerkenwell influence space design far beyond Great Britain. Its architecture and design firms are influential in creating spaces throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
On a recent trip to Europe, officeinsight took a detour and visited the new 1,700 square meter showroom and retail space spread over three floors. It is a marvelous blend of commercial and retail and shows the direction of MillerKnoll and its split personality — balancing the needs of its contract furniture customers and fans of the brand who want to buy one of its classic furniture pieces.
Located in The Sans at 20 St John’s Square, the retail stores and contract showrooms are a short walk from the Muuto, NaughtOne and HAY showrooms. The Sans sits right next to St. John’s Gate, built in 1504 by Prior Thomas Docwra as the south entrance to the inner precinct of Clerkenwell Priory, the English headquarters of the Knights of the Order of St. John.
Though Herman Miller has had space in London (and has even taken pop-up space in Clerkenwell during design week), the new MillerKnoll showroom is the company’s first major showroom outside of the U.S. It is a showroom and retail space first, but it also serves as a dedicated MillerKnoll Studio, meaning it is a working hub for about 50 London-based employees.
As a showroom, the space is strikingly different than what is found in the U.S. Our tour guides were Rebecca Smith, senior manager of the company’s contract marketing and program management and Jonathan Audis, MillerKnoll’s European dealer manager.
The showroom is different for a reason. Since Vitra has the rights to produce the Eames classics in Europe, not Herman Miller, the new MillerKnoll London showroom has a healthy dose of Knoll classics. While the Herman Miller-Knoll merger was big news in the U.S., it was especially important for the MillerKnoll salesforce in Europe because it added all Knoll’s classics to its lineup.
The new MillerKnoll London showroom emphasizes customer experience, adaptability, and the seamless merging of different design philosophies. The space includes multi-use rooms, private offices, and collaborative areas, all designed to enhance connection, wellbeing, and adaptability. The showroom also features a retail section for the public.
“We were over in West London before, so coming into Clerkenwell, which is the design capital of the world, it’s the place to be. And then knowing that over the road, we’ve got Muuto, which is another one of our brands, around the corner you’ve got NaughtOne, HAY is just down there, CBS (Colebrook Bosson Saunders) over there,” Audis said pointing at the other nearby MillerKnoll brands. “So all the brands are really close together. If we haven’t got the piece that visitors want to see here, they just have to head across the road. It’s brilliant.”
Visitors to MillerKnoll’s new London showroom are greeted in the forum, an open, adaptable area marked by a Chadwick Sofa that can be used as a classroom or for town hall meetings or large group gatherings. The space also includes a piece from every one of MillerKnoll’s ancillary brands, all decked out in the same leather to show how furniture from all the brands can be used together. While that’s the case now, Smith said the space is flexible and designed to change.
The showroom opened on Sept. 12 with a soft launch designed to give the Herman Miller and Knoll teams — coming together for the first time — a chance to get to know each other a little better. Still, in the first month the space was open, more than 700 visitors have toured the space, said Audis.
MillerKnoll CEO Andi Owen was visiting the new showroom recently when a visitor walked in the showroom randomly. It turned out to be Florence Knoll’s daughter, who happened to be in London and happened to be at the showroom at the same time. The two had an impromptu meeting in the space.
“It’s been nonstop. Even this morning we must’ve had three or four parties of at least 20 each walking around it. There is just this constant flow of people, which is great. There is such a good buzz in the building,” he said.
The MillerKnoll showroom is a reflection of how London works. It is elegant and its Knoll products use some of the most beautiful marble we’ve seen. There’s lots of leather and a classic feel with plenty of black and gray. Less formal spaces use natural colors like olive green and yellow.
There was a method and reason behind the furniture that was used on the contract furniture floor, said Smith. The company used case studies of projects that it has won in London and studied repeat requests for certain furniture pieces. Those studies were used to build out each space or vignette in the showroom.
Over the three floors, the MillerKnoll showroom includes spaces for contract, home and for its London-based workforce. It also shows the variety of work styles that its brands can support, from desking to private office, high-tech work to traditional heads-down. Like other MillerKnoll showrooms, there is a chair wall showing off the breadth of MillerKnoll seating products.
Since it is the first MillerKnoll showroom of its kind, the space is also designed to bring its expansive list of brands together in one spot, said Smith. “At MillerKnoll we’ve got (dozens of brands) coming in together as one culture,” she said. “Each of those brands has been significantly different. So we are trying to gain this understanding: As a shared MillerKnoll space, how do we come together? And that’s definitely the purpose of our space.”
The showroom also includes an outdoor area, perfect for taking a break or working outside if the weather is cooperative.
MillerKnoll is testing the waters with its London showroom, in a way. The company is seeing how its brands can come together in a powerful way to boost its sales in Europe.
“We believe there is substantial opportunity to grow internationally,” said Ben Groom, President, International Contract at MillerKnoll. “The opening of MillerKnoll London is just one step we’re taking to offer an enhanced experience to our customers across the United Kingdom and Europe.”