If you were a manufacturer and had a crystal ball a few years ago and knew the pandemic was coming and the workplace forever changed, what would you have done to prepare?
You probably would have added an ancillary furniture brand to tap into the changing needs for the office. You might upgrade your factories to make them more modern and efficient. You might also redesign your main showrooms to better reflect the times.
We recently sat down with David Feldberg, chief executive officer at Teknion at the company’s Toronto headquarters to discuss its strategy and outlook. And although we didn’t find signs of a crystal ball, we did discover that the company seemed to be way ahead of the curve.
Studio TK, the company’s brand focused on social spaces that was founded a decade ago, is thriving. A crane can be seen from the window of Feldberg’s office, evidence of the company’s new seating plant rising nearby. And its showrooms in Chicago’s Fulton Market and across North America reflect the way people are working today.
“I think that we were seeing changes to the office before COVID,” said Feldberg. “People wanted more choice in the office, more flexibility, a little more eclectic, a little bit more residential or hotel. It was happening. We started Studio TK 10 years ago now with a focus on some of those areas. [The shift] was already happening at that time. It wasn’t just ‘How many people can you fit on a floor plate.’ Our customers want to make the office more meaningful and they want to make it more attractive to retain employees; to harness teamwork. So I actually think it’s positive. I think it’s a good time to be in the industry, and sometimes a bit of a shakeup isn’t a bad thing.”
Since it was founded, the company itself has done a good job of shaking up the industry. Just a few years after Teknion grew out of the Feldberg family’s Global brand, it beat out the majors for an enormous project at Boeing in Everett, Wash. that included 7,700 workstations. And when Apple Park was developed — perhaps the most important office furniture project ever — a major chunk of the furniture went to Teknion.
The evolution of the company is a story of entrepreneurial spirit, timeliness design and speed. Teknion was born in 1983 with the Teknion Office System (T/O/S), a furniture system designed with the changing office in mind. Global’s visionary founder Saul Feldberg could see technology was transforming the workplace. Teknion would be his company to serve that market.
Global was founded in 1966 and while it was a powerhouse in its own right by the early 1980s, at that time, it was still focused mainly on selling chairs. Its goal at the time was to build reasonably priced furniture and chairs that people could afford. Global is a much different company now, focused on affordable design. Global has evolved and thrived under the leadership of David Feldberg’s brother, Joel, and deserves a story of its own (look for that in these pages in the next few weeks).
Teknion’s spectacular growth made industry history. In only six years, the company completed 5,000 T/O/S installations and opened showrooms worldwide, including a Chicago showroom at the Merchandise Mart and another at the Interior Design Center in New York City. Its expanding client base included some of the world’s largest corporations, including airlines, auto manufacturers, banks, education, healthcare, government, and in particular, the emerging high-tech industry.
About a year ago, Feldberg lost his father, Saul, who founded the companies and was a guiding force for the businesses. He was truly a giant in the industry. More importantly, the family had to deal with losing a loved one and mentor.
“He was just great to talk to about everything. He had a lot of wisdom, and common sense at the same time. We had a lot of discussions about everything, whether it was world politics or business or personal practice. So that’s tough. I can’t just pick up the phone and talk to him. But he embedded great values in our family and the people he worked with and those values live on. He was a powerful figure in many ways and touched so many people. So many people reached out with stories — some of which we had never heard — it was phenomenal. I’m not kidding. It was unbelievable how many people he touched in meaningful ways.”
Feldberg also had to work through the pandemic, which affected Teknion’s business the same way it did every company in the industry. Canada was much more stringent on its lockdown efforts, which made it difficult to do business. It was also slower to return to the office than other parts of North America. Still, Feldberg is bullish on the future and feels offices still have a critical role in bringing together teams.
“I’m still positive and I’m a pretty optimistic person generally, but I really think that it’s important for a company to have face-to-face time and meet in person,” he said. “Now, work is a bit more distributed. Video has enhanced work in some ways, making us more efficient, especially when we can’t visit someone in person. But I think for company culture, especially for younger people in the company who want to advance and connect to mentorship, it is important [to be in the office]. It’s hard to do it solely from a screen.”
Things move quickly in an office, he said, and impromptu meetings where a few people get together — unscheduled — and talk about projects are important. Sometimes, workers simply need to bounce ideas off each other, which is difficult when they are not sharing the same office.
So what makes Feldberg so positive about the changes in the office? He said the dialogue with customers has elevated in the wake of the pandemic.
“You’re not just pitching products, you’re talking about solutions and culture and what a company’s trying to achieve and how to motivate people,” he said. “We’ve just finished an engagement like that with one of our top customers, getting a bunch of top folks together and just spending a few hours whiteboarding things. Those are meaningful meetings. I think the folks that are still buying furniture and keeping their space are looking to be more creative and thoughtful about what that space has to offer.”
There has been a meaningful shift toward products that make offices feel more like hospitality spaces. Customers are looking for hotel-like settings, team spaces and flexibility. Architectural products are becoming more important as well, he said. Pods and rooms within a room are creating private spaces in open offices.
“Workstations proper have been declining for some time, and I think that continues to be the case. But the whole idea of really more choice within a space within an office is happening. And thankfully we’ve got some good products to fill a lot of those needs and continue to develop that. I like the fact that we’ve expanded the thinking about what space can be.” Feldberg said.
Teknion just celebrated its 40th anniversary and Feldberg remembers coming into the industry (he had a successful career as a lawyer prior to joining the family business) and being the youngest guy in the room. That is no longer the case, he said with a laugh.
“It’s quite an achievement,” he said. “I’m proud of what our people have been able to do, and I think we all have a lot of pride in the company. The number of people here who’ve been here from that time and 35 years and 30 years and 20, we have a lot of longevity, which is a great thing. People are proud of what they do, and we have really good relationships with our people. I think it’s part of our values and respecting one another and celebrating the diversity of our people. It was a nice feeling. It’s a long time, but it isn’t, in a way. It sort of seems like it’s gone by in a flash.”