Parameters is the exclusive Knoll dealer in the Minneapolis market. When owners Lauri Bolin and David Haines realized they’d outgrown their showroom in Minneapolis’ theater district, they knew they wanted to “Go Big!” and make a statement. They ultimately took 16,000 square feet on the 10th floor of the 705 Building at the corner of Marquette Avenue and 8th Street, in the heart of the commercial business district.
When Betsy Vohs, founder and principal of the eponymous (almost) Studio BV, received the RFP from Parameters to design the interiors, she got busy. Studio BV is still new, having been founded only four years ago, but Ms. Vohs is no newcomer to the market. She had worked for Gensler in Minneapolis for 10 years prior to setting out on her own. So she knew Parameters well, and she had a pretty good idea of what she and other designers would like to see in a dealer’s showroom; it wasn’t a sea of disparate chairs and workstation – one each of everything on offer.
In an officeinsight interview, Ms. Vohs said, “I know the two owners, and I knew they were designers at heart. And they have deep relationships in the local design community. So while preparing my response to the RFP, I had the idea of changing the whole notion of a dealer showroom. I envisioned a refined space that could tell a clear brand story. One that could showcase the products Parameters sells, but in an environment that could speak to prospective clients and show them what their spaces could be like. A showroom that demonstrated the use of tech and how lounge and amenities and flexible meeting rooms could work with 6×6 workspaces.”
But in order to double-check herself, Ms. Vohs reached out to some other designers to make sure that this wasn’t just her own singular idea. Convinced she was on the right track, she built her response to the RFP around those concepts.
Said Mr. Haines, “Betsy and her team did some research ahead of time, and then we sent out surveys to interior designers, to project managers, to brokers and owners reps asking, ‘what do you want to see in a furniture showroom?’ because this was our chance to do it right.”
“The responses we got were interesting, but pretty much all over the place. For example, some said, ‘We only want to see 6×6 offices because that’s all our clients are buying these days.’ Or ‘We only want to see small offices, because nobody’s putting in big private offices.’ So we took some of that into account, but one of the driving factors for us was that we wanted this to look like an office. For one thing, this is where we work, and for another, this is where a design firm or architect is bringing their client in for a tour to see what Knoll has to offer. Instead of having a showroom with a bunch of little vignettes, we wanted this to look like a cohesive office so the client could imagine themselves just picking up and moving into this space.”
“But as I said, we work here. In fact, about half of the 16,000 square feet is for us, and the other half is public space. When it came to designing the workstations, we carefully selected finishes so that even though we show all the different laminates that Knoll has and all the different configurations of furniture, when you look at it, it all looks very similar – it all works together. To people who are coming in to tour the space, it all looks like an office where they could work. But we are aware of the variety of products shown and can demonstrate Knoll’s various product lines when that’s the level of detail the client wants to see.”
Founded in 1991, Parameters has been the exclusive Knoll dealer in the market from the get-go. Mr. Haines and Ms. Bolin were originally minority owners but they bought the company outright in 2013, and had been in their previous location for 10 years during which time they grew from a staff of 11 to their current staff of 24. They had clearly outgrown their space; nevertheless, breaking out of the well-established mold for dealer showrooms took some courage.
“We needed more space but we also needed more spaces for people to go work,” Mr. Haines continued, “Just as our clients are coming to us and saying, ‘Our workstations are small, we have low walls, we have no privacy – we need focus rooms, we need conference rooms, we need other places that people can go work.’ We wanted to make that same commitment to our employees. We wanted to be able to say, ‘You don’t have to sit at your desk, you can go work over here or go to the conference room or the library; wherever you want to go work, just pick up your computer and go.’ We wanted to practice what we do for our clients.”
The new Parameters showroom succeeds on many levels, not least of which is demonstrating how the Knoll “constellation of brands” can work together to provide a world-class, totally up-to-date workplace. Mr. Haines estimates that the project ended up being about 98% Knoll. Plus, it’s a refreshing take on what a dealer’s showroom can be. I hope it’s wildly successful as a selling tool for Parameters and Knoll. And congratulations to Studio BV for a job well done.
