Andreu World: Filling Gaps with the Spirit of a Brand

As residential trends continue to move into the workspace, high design furnishings will become increasingly popular in commercial environments. But the contract furniture market is also flush with heavy research and is increasingly focused on products informed by big data. In this climate, high design minded and small-scale companies without a research budget must find gaps in product lines that even research has perhaps overlooked.

Spanish furniture manufacturer Andreu World is doing just that, with phenomenal success. Its 2015 collections received four Best of NeoCon 2015 awards in the Conference Seating, Sofas & Lounges, Barstools and Occasional Tables categories. The new introductions expand and reinforce some of Andreu World’s most iconic collections with pieces that are conducive to new uses, new aesthetics and new functional possibilities for public spaces, corporate environments in particular. Andreu World gathered together an impressive list of designers including Jasper Morrison, Patricia Urquiola, Lievore Altherr Molina and Piergiorgio Cazzaniga to craft its 2015 collections, an exquisite grouping of pieces that push corporate furnishings to an elevated aesthetic.

“Innovation requires different models, elegant and functional seating that responds to individual and home aesthetics and functionality, and that preserves people as the design center,” said Jesús Llinares, CEO of Andreu World, in an email interview. “An example of this is our collection of operative and task chairs Flex, an extended family of chairs that allows us to customize and provide more than 25 versions divided into typologies: chair, armchair, bar & counter stool; in base options of wood, steel or aluminum; and possibilities for shells in thermos-polymer, all upholstered or with pad seat and backrest.”

At NeoCon 2015, Andreu World reimagined its showroom on the 10^th floor with large backlit graphics and a redistributed layout with large elevated platforms as the stages for table and seating sets. The displays include corporate, residential and hospitality scenes created for contemporary lifestyles. The new space offered visitors a punchy visual tour of Andreu World’s main collections in a true exhibition style.

Greeting NeoCon visitors at the entryway of the showroom was Beat, a new ottoman/side chair collection that stood out as one of the cleanest and most innovative designs in soft seating. A category that many other companies also attempted this year. Beat is comfy and resilient, and yet still lends an air of sophistication to ottoman/side chair solutions. Available in three sizes and many fabric and leather options, it was designed to add to a cozy and inviting space – and does exactly that.

Inside, the showroom displayed an architecture conveying the natural style and warmth of materials such as wood, ceramic and stone. Natural wood and warm colored textiles were both extensions of recurring themes in Andreu World’s 2015 collections as well as an extension of the brand’s history and values; excellence in woodworking, and innovation in construction and sustainable materials is palpable in this year’s collections and in Andreu World’s past.

“At the core of Andreu Wood is wood,” said Mr. Llinares. “There is no other material as unique, warm and noble. Woodworking is a philosophy unto itself; it is a way of relating to the world. Over time, we have sought to maintain these qualities in all of our designs, regardless of the materials and technology employed. Natural wood, in our work, is synonymous with nature, which is why we work with 100% sustainable wood.

Mr. Llinares cited worker performance and wellbeing as sources of inspiration for this year’s warm color palettes. “Offices are changing and are demanding new aesthetics. Some colors, or the combination of colors, enhance worker performance and wellbeing in confined office spaces. For this reason, we chose for this year to work with a palette of warm and natural colors that give warmth to the environment approaching the comfort of our homes.”

The new Couvé sofa, by Italian designer Piergiorgio Cazzaniga, embraces both contemporary styling and quintessential aesthetics of classic sofa and lounge chair collections. Winning Best of NeoCon Gold in the Sofas & Lounges category, the lush collection, available in lounge chair, armchair and two and three-seat sofa versions, looks and feels both comfortable and polished.

Mr. Cazzaniga also designed the Flex Executive seating collection, which won Best of NeoCon Gold in Conference Seating. As part of the larger Flex family of seating, Flex Executive consists of conference chairs, armchairs and lounge chairs. A walnut veneer back refines the design, while precise geometry defines the lines of the seat.

Beyond that, customization options enable designers to adapt the collection to any meeting or collaboration room according to differing needs. Three backrest heights (low, intermediate and high), base options (four-star swivel base, constructed from injected aluminum, or a height adjustable base with five casters, both with optional tilt mechanism), and the option to add or remove die cast aluminum arms, are available across the entire line.

The lounge chair version of Flex Executive features more ample and effortless lines that mold to the back for heightened comfort. Flex Executive Lounge is available in two backrest heights, with or without arms, is offered with the shell entirely upholstered or with the back finished in walnut veneer, and with an optional tilt mechanism.

The new counter and barstool versions with swivel central bases of the Flex family also won Best of NeoCon Gold in the Barstool category.

The Piergiorgio Cazzaniga-designed Reverse Occasional won a “Best of NeoCon Silver Award” in the “Tables: Occasional” category, and for good reason. Available in two base heights and two tabletop diameters, it seamlessly integrates power into the design, tucked underneath the top of the table. The Reverse Occasional is a prime example of providing elegance to corporate environments where power connectivity and wire management is also essential.

Also making their debut at NeoCon were three new options for the Nub chair: stool, armchair and lounge chair, the latter two with rocker base, and options for expanded seat. Located in a small back section of the Andreu World’s Merch Mart showroom, Nub’s attractive lines take on an even more whimsical personality with the addition of the rocker base. While designers could easily incorporate this piece into numerous residentially inspired commercial spaces, it could truly shine in a nursing/family-focused room in workplaces across the country and the world.

Andreu World also showed new designs for the Tauro Wood and Serena Collections, designed by Lievore Altherr Molina. Tauro is now available in a fully wood version, drawing a direct correlation to the brand’s history and tradition as manufacturers specializing in woodworking. The Raglan Collection, designed by Piergiorgio Cazzaniga, also expanded with new module options and occasional tables to create highly adaptable systems created for collaboration areas. Also introduced were new stools, with fixed or swivel bases, for the Ronda, Lineal, Lineal Comfort, Flex, and Flex High Back Collections.

Andreu World’s impressive 2015 splash points to a strength in areas of the market focusing on superb construction and attention to materials, and in companies using their individual company strengths to fill gaps in furniture offerings.

“Each design examines all of its possibilities, constantly pushing us to improve comfort, finish and function,” said Mr. Llinares. “We depend on our resources to inform our entire working method, from obtaining the raw materials all the way through to finishing. Through our continuous investment in advanced technology and infrastructure, as well as in the training of our team, we maintain and improve our processes. This in the only way we can only maintain our passion for well-made products, and how we can complement the offering of large scale companies.”