When you walk through an office with demountable glass walls, even the most studied follower of the office furniture industry would have difficulty distinguishing one brand from another. There are differences, to be sure, but for most office dwellers who are unaware of things like ease of installation and fit and finish don’t immediately register.
So if you are in the office “glass” business, how do you set yourself apart? For Skyline Design, it’s all about design. It’s really that simple, said Vipul Bhagat, president, CEO and co-owner of the company based in the Humboldt Park neighborhood in Chicago.
He should know. Bhagat has been with the company for more than 30 years, starting out as a project manager in 1994 and steadily expanding his role in production, operations and finally as a partner in the company in 2022 and president and CEO a year ago.
Over that time, he has gained a keen understanding of the world of glass and how it can be used in an office. And he has honed the company’s focus in recent years, but not its ambitions.
“We’re trying to create more than just a vendor-supplier-customer relationship,” he said. “We’re going to support you on the design side because a lot of these demountable companies, they just get picked at the end and they all kind of look the same. The profile might be a quarter inch from one to the next, maybe even less in some cases. It’s just a piece of hardware and whoever gets in first and whoever has the best relationship gets the job.”
Glass is a competitive segment of the industry, especially for Skyline, which is competing in multiple categories at the same time. Skyline wants to be the go-to supplier of decorative glass, but it is also competing with companies like Claridge, Clarus and Ghent on glassboard projects. The company also creates smart glass, laminated glass, exterior glass (that is bird-friendly), art glass, glass film and glass backers.
Though it makes a product that has been around for millennia, it continually takes glass to new heights through collaboration with some of the worlds best designers and artists and state-of-the-art manufacturing that assures quality and consistency — critically important for a product that is so sturdy and yet delicate at the same time.
“I still want to make it something special. So all of our boards, our products are super well made in the U.S.,” Bhagat said.
Skyline Design started more than 40 years ago as a business focused on creating artwork for the restaurant and hotel industry. The company’s first (and at the time, only) customer was Bally’s Tom Foolery restaurant chain. The chain was short lived and only opened a handful of locations. When the plug was pulled, Skyline Design was effectively without customers.
The company began etching glass, at first with hand-applied masking tape patterns and art. Skyline’s current process uses designers and artists from around the world to create its patterns and they apply them using the most modern high-tech equipment.
Skyline Design’s first real customer in architectural glass was architect Helmut Jahn during his remodeling work for Northern Trust Corp. Slowly, architectural glass became its focus.
Skyline Design has benefitted from the popularity of glass in the office. In many ways, it is the new panel. LEED requirements for more natural light, the sleek beauty and design possibilities and advances in manufacturing are making glass a natural choice for office designers. Glass is being integrated in a broader way in just about every project.
That includes healthcare as well. Bhagat said healthcare has grown to become a sizable portion of Skyline’s business. The company is also interested in the K-12 and higher education markets, but schools tend to be very sensitive to price.
Using glass is one of the most environmentally friendly options available to designers. It can last 1,000 years and its made from little more than sand. And just like it was a millennia ago, creating beautiful glass is still an art form. Glass allows designers to create more interesting, contemporary interiors. High-tech glass processes allow for shading, color and privacy.
Quality is critical in glass products and inspectors are everywhere in the company’s plant. They watch over Skyline Design’s etching process, which uses different grits of oxide to create the beautiful glass designs. The automated process uses machines to shoot different grits at different pressures to create the designs. A four-cycle washer then cleans the glass and workers prepare it for shipping. An entire department is devoted to safely shipping the product. Custom wooden crates hold the glass safely until it arrives on the instillation site.
Though Skyline competes in a lot of markets, its glass printing is exceptional, whether a customer is looking for full opacity for wall and ceiling cladding, or varying levels of translucency for backlit features and subtle privacy.
Skyline Design is working to expand its distribution as well. The company is working with Fellowes to distribute its products like SDX Smart Glass. The Smart Glass and PDLC (Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal) technology shows how technology is becoming an important part of every corner of the industry, including glass products. SDX Smart Glass allows on-demand control of light and privacy, switching between transparent and opaque at the push of a button.
PDLC technology works by suspending liquid crystals within a polymer matrix between layers of glass. When an electric current is applied, the crystals align to allow light to pass through, making the glass transparent; when the current is off, the crystals scatter light, turning the glass opaque.
Bhagat isn’t standing still or resting on the company’s already-expansive glass product line. He is constantly scouring the internet, carefully following trends, working with other partners and listening to his customers to come up with the next great glass product.
The company already has an impressive roster of customers that include the likes of Bank of America and Tesla. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg as far as Bhagat is concerned.
“There’s a hundred more of those customers out there. There are 500 more just on the Fortune 500 list. So I’m going to go after all those other potential customers and when I’m done with those, I’m going to the next list of 501 to 1,000. We have the ammo and the right people to be able to go do that,” he said.
