Launching a new brand from the ground up is a dizzying endeavor with countless moving parts. Critical to the process are, to name a few – a clear creative focus, aesthetic and functional product design, and a strong selling strategy, not to mention favorable press coverage and a certain amount of industry “buzz” that can be difficult to nail down.
In the few short months since NeoCon 2015, West Elm Workspace with Inscape has been busy at work doing all of those things and more. After making a big splash at NeoCon, earning a Best of NeoCon Gold in Furniture: Benching and Best of NeoCon Editors’ Choice Award for Casegoods & Furniture: Benching, the brand can check “industry buzz” off the list. To get an update on the contract market newcomer’s progress, we caught up with James Cesario, director of brand marketing at West Elm Workspace.
One of the most prominent adjustments is the official reorganization of its collections.
“We originally focused the designs into four styles – Mid-Century, Modern, Industrial and Contemporary,” said Mr. Cesario. “But within the Contemporary style, there were three different system lines – Arne, Marin and Truss – that each had their own distinct aesthetic. We just recently shifted a couple weeks ago to referring to the collections as six lines instead of four. The three systems within Contemporary, although they always had very distinct aesthetics, are based off of the same functionality. It’s been a working category for us as we move through the design and branding process.”
Aside from that shift, the design team has been making minor design and functionality adjustments, such as refining finishes and color options.
Also at the top of everyone’s mind at West Elm Workspace is the distribution strategy. The company’s goal is to have 20-25 dealers set up over the first year. Mr. Cesario says that over the course of the next few months, several dealers will be up and running, and some of those are already starting to sell. Solidifying dealer relationships have been key to early successes.
“We knew that the brand would initially sell really well to tech and media companies,” said Mr. Cesario. “But we’re getting interest from a lot of different types of companies, including from some financial ones, for example. We’ve had some really nice sales, including ones for larger projects.”
Mr. Cesario notes that while benching is certainly the number one seller, the brand’s lounge collections are also selling very well.
When news of the collaboration first came out, the partnership between West Elm and Inscape dazzled industry people across the board. From the very beginning, people have been wondering how the two brands will mesh together in bringing the brand to market.
“West Elm is used to working very quickly in the retail market,” said Mr. Cesario. “They go through a few rounds of back and forth with their process and then things are moving very quickly. That’s in the DNA of the company, and the president of West Elm is one who is very used to working that way and making things happen. It’s been incredibly exciting to work with that mindset and energy, and it’s also presented some challenges to the way the contract market typically does business. We want to balance that eagerness to get to market with the way contract furniture companies create their products.”
Alongside final product tweaking and getting distribution in place, the team at West Elm Workspace is looking into the future to begin planning out logical extensions of the existing products, for example, single-side benching and the like. It’s also continuing to look at what West Elm can bring to the table in the future.
“I think we really nailed down the residential point of view that is becoming a part of the contract world,” said Mr. Cesario. “We’re bringing more comfort, more personality, and more warmth to the workplace. And in the future, those aesthetics from West Elm will definitely continue to inform our designs.”