Get Your Office on Board...Literally.

Clever puns aside, we're seeing more and more collaborative designs pop up all over the interior design community. The classic white board may be old news, but how about entire walls dedicated to note taking? Interactive work places are proven to be more productive work places. By getting your office on board with things like the Smart Board technology and truly interactive walls, you can boost both your collaboration and creative idea potential - then turn those bright ideas into sales. Think brainstorming and mind mapping on a giant scale.

Along with providing private meeting areas for collaboration, Workspace Design Magazine encourages writable wall surfaces in centralized spaces to provide a more informal spot for employees to come together and express new thoughts. tvsdesign’s Don Ricker says “Our most successful office designs feature writable walls in large open spaces where multiple people from diverse teams gather to exchange ideas and feedback. This fosters genuine collaboration along with a sense of play and fun, which in turn, opens the floodgates of creativity while serving as a potent morale booster.”

According to MMQB, one of the oldest building materials - glass - is gaining popularity in the office world yet again and a Texas based company, Clarus Glassboards, is first in line with the newest innovation in wet and dry erase technology. Clarus boards are made in a variety of sizes from 2'x3' to 4'x10' and may be fully customized to fit specific project dimensions if necessary. They're compatible with any dry erase pens, permanent markers, grease pens, etc. The glassboards easily wipe clean and are also made with eco-friendly and recyclable materials. Clarus even provides magnetic options, calendar grids, and customizable colors, logos or branding of your choice. Our showroom utilizes both the Smart Board technologies and Clarus Glassboards, shown below. Both of which we can help you get for your own office!

Come visit us for a look at some interactive options!

What We're In To: OFS - Eleven

OFS is just one of the many success stories in the industry running with a clearly minimalist design pattern. We love the Eleven workspace, designed around this concept of "Architecture Uninterrupted" by Swiss architect and designer Daniel Korb. He "developed Eleven around a fundamental concept: 'Furniture is Architecture on a Different Scale'." Korb was able to use this to design an effortless blend of function, storage, and media integration for interior spaces. Inspired by the international style and backed up with an architect's eye for detail, Eleven "presents an adaptable, sustainable aesthetic that scales from private to collaborative and open spaces."

We're definitely into making lives easier at the office, and we're always looking for new ways to integrate fresh technology into our spaces. The Eleven tables are perfect for charging up iPads, iPhones, laptops, you name it. When work goes uninterrupted, office productivity can only follow suit. Their sleek design is just an added bonus to these extremely functional tables. There are no visible fasteners or bulky eye sores to interrupt the visual aesthetic of the product, remaining faithful to a truly minimalist design idea. What a perfect addition to your newly renovated space, bringing your office to the 21st century.

Coming in a variety of finishes, these well designed tables aim to match the look you're hoping to achieve...and that's something we can get behind. Here's a closer look at Eleven at work: 

Contact us at NWOI for more details!

Products shown include: Eleven Workspace, Madrid chairs, and Flexxy Swivel Chairs

Just in case...

If you weren't able to come see us last week for a look at our selection of sale items in the warehouse, don't worry! We've decided to extend our offering and keep the sale event up and running thru the end of this week from 9am-4pm, as well as on Saturday April 20th from 9am-12pm.

Don't miss out on these amazing deals! If you're in the market for a single new chair or desk, this is the time to buy. Deep discounts on these gently used showroom samples are the way to go for that little pick me up your office needs. Come down to check out deals on multiples of the same item as well! We've got around 20,000 sq. feet full of product to move and everything is marked to guarantee smart savings for you.

Our warehouse is located just down the street from the Rose Garden at 524 N Tillamook, Portland, OR 97227.

We'll see you there!

Introducing: The Smart Board

As we've been trying to drive home recently, offices everywhere are transitioning from the typical 9-5, cubical, dry and ancient work environment to a more modern, fresh, and technologically savvy spot for employees to enjoy doing what they do. In an effort to stay ahead of the game in that respect, we've recently invested in the Smart Board technology for our working showroom.

This awesome piece of equipment acts as an interactive white board and allows us to give appealing client presentations, show product typicals and CAD drawings during design consultations, and even keep track of and share meeting minutes with the staff on Monday mornings. By creating an engaging learning environment, we can make sure clients are in touch with the product they'll be buying and feel like they're a part of the design process from start to finish. Not to mention, the board makes for a more exciting early morning meeting for workers, too!

As a touchscreen device, we're able to use a finger - or the provided stylus - to quickly write, draw, and swipe from application to internet and back to client documents. When adding text to a form, snapshots are captured and sent off to clients or staff with those handwritten updates included. Think high-tech NCIS media boards...for the office! With all this talk of new gadgets and technology updates for virtually every aspect of our lives, why not give a little refresh to your typical meetings or appointments at work? The board is great for new educational environments as well!

We're proud to be one of the first companies in the NW to use the Smart Board and can't wait to help you become one of the few in the industry to utilize this awesome new technology.

Stop by our showroom to get a look at the board in action!

In Case You Haven't Heard...

A new season has sprung and we're doing a little "Spring Cleaning" of our own! While you're dusting off your old furniture, consider the need for a great new piece to complete - or update - your home office. Spring is the perfect time of year for a fresh furniture makeover and what's better than big savings on great items?

Our downtown Portland warehouse holds some of our best sample products and we're giving them all some pretty generous discounts for you! If you're in need of a simple office refresh, a new task chair, some extra file storage, or even common area lounge seating, we've got it all.

The space houses over 1,000 items that will be up for grabs - nearly $50,000 worth of product that we're hoping to move for pennies on the dollar. Along with basic office elements, we're discounting some major "wow" pieces as well, so stop by our sale event this week to grab the best stuff before it's gone. The sale will be running from 9am-4pm on April 2nd, 3rd, and 4th and our warehouse is located at 524 N Tillamook, Portland, OR 97227.
Here's a preview of some of our best deals:

We'll see you Tuesday!