The contract furniture landscape is continually evolving, and NeoCon 2022 was a prime example of that. While the larger furniture brands introduced novelties with the same established industry designers, the North Carolina-based furniture and textile company, HBF, has over the past several years been working with emerging and established designers, offering a refreshing evolution for the decades-old brand. And the appointment of HBF’s creative director, Adrian Parra, who has risen through the furniture industry, having worked with brands like Knoll, Artek, Vitra, and Floyd, has refreshed the HBF brand. Curious about HBF’s new directions and the brand’s new collections, we interviewed Parra about some of the brand’s latest initiatives.
Parra and his design and marketing team have built out a three-year plan, with last month’s NeoCon introductions as the beginning of the company’s latest evolution bearing fruit. “We are developing new designs that explore the interplay of Timeliness and Timelessness,” said Parra. “It’s interesting to consider them on two opposing axes. Our goal is to engineer as much capacity for timeliness — in this case the ability to engage with the zeitgeist — into a design that, at its core, is timeless and has maximum longevity. It’s certainly a steep challenge and we may not always be successful.”
Parra sees the company’s biggest change as the infusion of new product concepts to HBF’s product pipeline by a new crop of designers. “We are being super purposeful in building a mix that mines intersectionality in terms of gender, ethnic identity, and of course racial affiliation,” says Parra. At a time when large companies are focusing on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI), HBF should be commended for actually hiring designers from diverse backgrounds rather than paying lip service to equity.
New Hospitality for Work
HBF presented their new introductions at NeoCon2022 around the theme of the “New Hospitality for Work,”an exploration of the evolving post-pandemic workplace through the expansion of hospitality-inspired collections, in addition to showcasing expanded collections of furniture and textiles. Parra believes that we are either witnessing or are active participants in an open revolt against the return to office. The main change is the resistance by team members to coming to the office. They feel like they are being forced to endure a pointless commute for very little payoff in terms of experience and company culture.
Photo courtesy of HBF, Pippa Drummond
“Pre-pandemic spaces once featured branded and experiential elements as a recruitment play, and maybe a self-serving, immersive brand moment,” said Parra. “Now, there is a move toward more ‘commute worthy’ and experiential spaces.” (A recent survey from the ADP Research Institute found that 64% of workers would consider quitting if asked to return to the office full-time). “I’m fascinated by the rifts forming on this topic on the basis of demographics: mothers of young children, Generation Z, and even some Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) have shown a marked resistance to a work mode that decreases equity,” said Parra.
“We know the workplace of yore is done. And yet, feelings of social awkwardness and isolation are on the rise. There is a hunger for ‘experiential’ third places that support a variety of activities throughout the day.”
With the ‘New Hospitality for Work’ approach, HBF is attempting to commercialize the kit of parts for third places, inspired by aspects of co-working spaces, business clubs, coffee shops, bar lounges, and hotel hospitality. “Buzzing hotel lobbies are built around an experiential program with a progression of different modes throughout the day: breakfast, coffee break, lunch, tea time, to happy hour, then dinner, and even perhaps a performance or a party in the evening,” Parra explained. “Can we reprogram the workplace to function as amenities driven spaces?”
HBF’s methodology also leverages their parent brand HNI’s ‘work geometry’ framework, that considers human-centric quantitative modes of posture, fit, and the tools one uses to be productive and comfortable. “We make sure we are looking at continental height as well as standard height,” noted Parra. “We are exploring ‘accessible’ counter height as a standard option.”
The company is also looking at powering installations with outlets and USB ports. “We are developing new products that address the fact that Zoom meetings in the office are here to stay,” Parra said, pointing out that HBF and its parent company HNI are also investing heavily into new digital marketing initiatives, including e-commerce and refreshed product marketing. “We are exploring this latter point with new photographers, directors of photography, and CGI collaborators”
Evolving HBF’s Brand Legacy
Last year, HBF headed into NeoCon 2021 with an invigorated brand and a compelling vision for a new workplace design language. The showroom showcased the first decade of the company’s rich legacy with chair designs and historical imagery from the 1980s. “Hickory Business Furniture’s brand image was rooted in a reverence for a sort of refined domestic Americana,” Parra noted “So much so, one version of the HBF logo system included a silhouette of US President Andrew Jackson, who was nicknamed ‘Old Hickory.’” Parra points out that most people in the 1980s weren’t aware of the fact that Old Hickory’s wealth was derived from his enslavement of people.
“Fast forward to today, we wouldn’t dare feature such an homage to this aspect of Americana that many are wont to ignore,” says Parra. “As heartbreakingly uncomfortable as it is to consider it, I find this ‘delta’ in the acceptability of elements of a 1980s brand to one crafted for the 2020s to be fascinating, and think that’s where our opportunities lie.” When looking at the legacy of HBF, Parra highlights the talent of Michael Vanderbyl: “He is gifted in how he can design an experiential space that packs a visceral pop. The showrooms were fun and really leveled up HBF into a different tier as a design company.”
Expanding the Collection
At NeoCon 2022, the company expanded popular furniture portfolios. The Mod Collection has two new additions for more diverse planning applications: The ‘Mod Work’ seating is characterized by a raised seat height to accommodate additional distributed work modes, and the ‘Mod Highback’ seating raises the office horizon to 53 inches, creating ideal sofa elements to build micro-architectural spaces using the same kit of parts, including down stuffed upholstery. With the expansion of the Torre Collection, new heights, new tabletop shapes, and future-proof technology integrations were added to HBF’s successful conference table line.
In terms of new product launches, HBF’s presentation featured the Tyler seating collection, a new set of executive seating options designed for comfort yet suitable for the executive suite. “Tyler is a universal name,” said Parra. “It’s a first name for a man or a woman, and it’s a past name. It’s gender neutral and universal at the same time. That’s how we envision this chair, universal and able to adopt the personality of its textile.”
HBF also presented Brooklyn-based industrial designer Jonathan Yoshida Rowell’s Jueki collection of new tables. “Jonathan is synthesizing the crafts of disparate cultures to create something new,” said Parra. “As a Japanese American living in Greenpoint Brooklyn, working with a French global luxury powerhouse, his perspective is unique. With his Jueki stools and the design studies for his Jueki tables, he has elevated humble craft woodworking through technologically sophisticated means, parametric design and five-axis CNC.” The result is that Rowell’s designs feel both ancient and contemporary — something that resonates with the legacy of HBF.
HBF also launched additional custom-made furniture offerings for the Note Desk, designed by Copenhagen-based OEO Studio, which designed the company’s first flat pack product, a universal wood desk that nods to Scandinavian woodworking and early French modernism. “We have seen good traction for this product in work-from-home applications despite its very tight CMF range,” Parra noted.
He also explained that HBF is working on a custom-color lacquer offering for the entire portfolio. “When we considered how to communicate this capability with a product example, we felt Note Desk was the perfect product to explore this. While OEO didn’t choose the colors of the NeoCon vignette per se, we demonstrated how straightforward it now is to specify a range of custom colors for a project and realize this on contract furniture at all scales, from small to expansive.”
New HBF Design Studies Program
HBF also launched a series of design studies, a preview of their innovation and design thought leadership in real time. Parra sees these design studies as an effective means to engage HBF’s stakeholder partners and clients.“We may continue to iterate or, if we maybe miss the mark with a design study, we may decide to shelve a project based on feedback,” Parra said. “The latter hasn’t happened yet!” HBF’s design studies also have the effect of generating buzz for a new product concept and collaboration.
Instead of banking on industry stalwarts who design for a multitude of furniture brands, HBF is taking a refreshing risk by working with Alda Ly Architecture (ALA), a New York-based architecture studio, founded in 2017, that has not commercially designed products for manufacturers before. “Alda Ly and ALA design director Tania Chau, have built up a project base that spans a really diverse set of verticals, from coworking spaces such as the Wing to retail and boutique healthcare,” said Parra. “I think ALA’s ‘transversality’ of practice and their expertise built as specifiers of FF&E, not to mention all the custom furniture products they design for their projects, informed our choice to work with them not so much as a risk but as a gem. They’re so attuned to opportunities for building inclusion and equity into our product development.” HBF previewed design studies of ALA’s yet-to-be-named pouf concept for the company that is now in advanced design development. Alda Ly and Tania Chau conceived a versatile family of upholstered pouf elements, each supported by a crafted wood frame and leg components. “We’re excited about our partnership with HBF, extending the tradition of high-quality American craftsmanship while bringing a fresh perspective to contract furnishings. As workspaces and new modalities of working continue to shift and expand, our design is rooted in adaptability,” said Alda Ly, ALA founder.The Need for Inclusive Design
Both HBF and ALA stressed the importance of designing for accessibility. “Together, we see opportunities in the ‘amenitization’ of accessibility,” said Parra, who noted that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has traditionally been viewed as an afterthought and a costly requirement that doesn’t really get its due. “We can become ableist without really thinking about it at all. ALA actively challenges us and helps us to put it all into perspective. It’s important for HBF to make accessibility chic.”In addition to the cleverly-designed pouf concepts, the company is also looking at other neglected opportunities on the office plate. For example, supporting the ultimate lactation room experience through design is something HBF has been talking a lot about recently.
New Textiles and What’s Coming
And finally, HBF Textiles introduced In Your Skin, designed by long-time HBF collaborator Erin Ruby, which is a timely and refreshing woven fabric collection that celebrates being comfortable in your own skin. It officially launches on July 5th.
And what is HBF looking forward to in the future? ALA will also design the new 3,500-square foot HBF and HBF Textiles flagship showroom in New York City. Located on Fifth Avenue on a block adjacent to the Flatiron Building, the showroom will be in a 19th-century penthouse space in the old Scribner Building.“As the headquarters of the Charles Scribner’s Sons publishing company, Scribner’s once published a magazine that attracted emerging talent that went on to write masterworks of American literature,” said Parra. “We are particularly attracted to this history.” The top floor they are renovating features a great skylight, which has a sightline to the south exposure of the Flatiron Building. “We are building out a furniture exhibition space housed in a Palm Court to explore our updated notion of Americana,” noted Parra. “It will hopefully be moody, or at least a mood.”