The production facilities are spread out among seven, soon to be eight buildings, reflecting the history of a third generation family owned business that has deep roots where it lives and has grown in a way that reflects the personality of its owners.
“We have all these buildings because my dad was really a frustrated contractor,” said Davis Furniture President Danny Davis. “He loved to build, so as we grew, if we needed more room he preferred to build a new building.”
And following in those footsteps, at least somewhat, Mr. Davis currently has a new building underway that will soon house the company’s new powdercoat line. When that similarity was mentioned, he replied, “The difference is I just stay on the contractor to meet his promised completion date. My dad would have been out here driving the equipment to level the site.”
The campus comprises seven neat, mainly single story concrete block buildings painted gray with a black stipe 2/3rds of the way up and a big white number. It’s impressive…it looks designed. It is in notable contrast to the neighboring mostly red brick construction, giving the campus a cohesiveness, which might not be expected given its spread out nature.
“Being spread out in several buildings like this is a bit of a pain logistically, as we sometimes have to move products from one building to another before shipment to our customers. But since we ship such a high percentage of our orders on our own trucks, it’s manageable.”
The pace in the various buildings is fast, because as Mr. Davis said, “Sales have been very strong and very consistent. We’re firing on all cylinders: sales and manufacturing, product development, marketing, logistics – everything.”
However, I had traveled to High Point to get a preview of Davis’ new products for launch at NeoCon 2015. The company has set a torrid pace of product launches over the last several years, with a remarkable number of Contract magazine’s Best of NeoCon Awards. So we set up in a newly finished preview and presentation showroom equipped with media for watching videos of product designers presenting their work along with models, prototypes and NeoCon samples for “kicking the tires.”
The first product we previewed was a pre-preview of a new “everyday working chair” named Linq. So instead of a sample we had a video of Jonathan Prestwich, its London based designer, discussing the chair and how it is designed to move with the user.“I wanted to make a chair that moved and followed the human form,” said Mr. Prestwich. “A chair that articulated in a simple way and was made up of only the bare necessity of parts. I also wanted to make a clever chair. An object that through its materials and geometry was intelligent enough to measure the person sitting down and react accordingly. The best products are of their time — relevant to the needs of the people at that moment. As technology in the beginning of the 21st Century started having a real effect on the shape of the office, a chair was needed that dealt with the changes in behavior.”
The A-Chair, designed by Jehs+Laub, is a no-nonsense side chair. The A-frame base is a highly refined shape that is either cast in aluminum or molded in glass-filled nylon. The gasket detail where the seat and legs meet is striking in its simplicity. Similarly, when arms are specified, they just seem to grow out of the seat-to-leg joint. When spec’d in its all-plastic incarnation, it hits a price point not often enjoyed by Davis products.
While they were at it, Jehs+Laub also designed a new arm-version of Davis’ popular Ginkgo chair, the Ginkgo Arm Chair, for launch at this NeoCon. The sculpted bent-plywood shell maintains the dignified, classic elegance of the Ginkgo line and adds the comfort and convenience of an arm.
To complete the Gingko family concept and to give Davis the iconic lounge chair that is sweeping the reception and collaborative areas of the newly dominant planning paradigm, Jehs+Laub designed the Ginkgo Lounge Chair. It maintains the angular shape of the other Ginkgo chairs and features the molded-foam/steel-frame construction that has become the quality standard in Europe. Exacting and innovative stitching and upholstery details convinced me that the Ginkgo Lounge will take its place among the favorites of the specifying community and its comfort will play well with users.
However, just because they finally considered the Ginkgo family complete didn’t mean Jehs+Laub threw in the design towel. No…they whipped up the Tré Bar Table to go with last year’s highly popular Tré Barstool. I love designers who heed the voice of the market and keep designing things to go with the successful things they’ve already designed. It makes perfect sense for the manufacturer, for specifiers, and for end users, as long as it is done well. And the bentwood grace of the Tré barstool really wanted a companion table.
Oh, and while they were at it, Jehs+Laub figured that once they had the basic shape and construction figured out, they could apply those concepts to a bench cum coffee table. I can see the Tré Bench being used in reception and collaborative areas in conjunction with the Gingko Lounge, as well as in the waiting/reception areas in healthcare and hospitality projects.
Wolfgang C.R. Mezger has brought the refined eye of a maestro at his peak to the extension, to barstool height, of his design for the successful Join Chair. Responding to the trending use of barstools in corporate settings as well as the more traditional use in hospitality, Davis asked Mr. Mezger to adapt Join to the taller height. His “spire base” works perfectly with the scaled-down, contoured, bentwood shell to achieve the goal.
At NeoCon 2013, Davis launched a new brand called Elements with the promise to build the collection of well-designed tchotchkes over time. The goal was to give interior designers some fun design elements so often required to add the functional finishing touches to a space.
Here is the Elements graduating class of 2015:
Bits, designed by Walter Zwick, is a new minimal coat hook. These polished chrome wall hooks feature two recessed rings to accept one or two coat hangers.
Flip, designed by my good friends Fritz Frenkler and Anette Ponholzer of F/P Design, is just the sort of piece I’d expect from them; it reflects both their sense of humor and their elevated rationality. Turned one way it’s an umbrella stand, and turned the other it’s a small side table. Constructed from solid, powder-coated steel, Flip is strong and durable enough for high-traffic areas and continual use.
Kopa, a new wall hook designed by Dante Bonuccelli, delivers multidimensional interest and much-needed functionality in a minimalistic way. Because of the way it reflects light off its polished chrome, concave face, Kopa looks different from various angles of approach.
Designed by 08|16 quergedacht, Leaf, is another coat hook in the spirit of Dots, but with a double-cone shape and many different finishes to present a splash of color. Like Dots, it can be used to simply add interest to an otherwise plain wall, or for its actual planned use as a wall hook.
Lux, on the other hand, is a double wall hook from designer Christian Hoisl that looks like a wall hook and functions like a double wall hook. While it won’t be used to spice up a boring wall, it will definitely add a level of sophistication to any wall it’s attached to.
Somewhere between the fun splash of color you can get with Dots or Leaf, Plane, designed by Gino Carollo, is the traditional wood counterpoint to the strictly modernist Leaf. It is beautifully shaped and finished solid wood. Since it can be spec’d in many different finishes, Plane can also be used in groups to add some functional and visual pop to an otherwise plain wall.
While at Davis, I saw the showroom design for NeoCon 2015 and had a chance to review many of the finished showroom samples already staged for shipment to Chicago. I couldn’t resist taking a picture of them to share with officeinsight readers (see photo, this page).
It’s great to visit a company that is so invested in design and it’s exciting to get an early peak at the culmination of another year of product design and development by a company that is “…firing on all cylinders.” I’d urge you to stop by Davis on the third floor of the Merchandise Mart, but I know you already plan to.