As Bill Stumpf, a furniture designer who helped create Herman Miller’s iconic Aeron, Embody, and Ergon chairs, once said: “Everybody deserves a good chair”.

At InterOffice’s Fargo showroom, the need for a good chair is two-fold: there are the InterOffice employees who need a comfortable place to work, and the customers who come to the showroom seeking a stylish, functional addition for their home or office space. 

This is just one of many factors that InterOffice teammates Melissa LaBay, Jolynn Kaldor, and Sheila Hanson had to consider when planning the recent remodel of our Fargo showroom. 

“You want your showroom to be fresh so when clients come in they see new things that spark inspiration,” Hanson said. “We get a lot of clients by word of mouth. Having a nice showroom helps.”

A Warm, Welcoming Environment

LaBay, Kaldor, and Hanson spend every day crafting beautiful environments that meet the needs of their clients, but when the tables are turned, it can be a bit more challenging.

“It is really hard to design for ourselves,” LaBay said. “We need it to be cohesive enough to work for us, but diverse enough to show our customers the options we can provide.”

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To do this, the team created a series of small vignettes throughout the space, each with its own purpose and aesthetic. They “divided and conquered,” Hanson said–each designer working on their own space before coming together to collaborate. Around one corner, you’ll find a model living room with a plush sofa and inviting armchairs; take a few more steps and you’ll swear you’ve stepped into a clinic exam room.  

The showroom–a large, wide-open industrial space–is an intentionally blank slate upon which customers can project their own unique vision. However, the vast space, white walls, and concrete flooring can also come off as cold. To warm up the space, the trio took inspiration from the Knoll showroom in Chicago.

“There was something about it that just made you feel comfortable,” Kaldor said. 

The InterOffice team warmed up the showroom by choosing rich colors–deep navy, vibrant orange, earthy olive–for furnishings and accent walls alike. They also incorporated lush fabrics–velvet couches, faux fur rugs, knit throw blankets–in several of the vignettes.

The result is a space that feels sophisticated, but not stuffy; comfortable, yet still classy. It invites customers to sit and experience a piece, imagining it in their own space.

“You could see a chair online and think it looks great, but when it arrives, you find that it’s too small or the seat is kind of funky,” Kaldor said. “We want to let people see and touch and feel pieces of furniture before they order them.”

”We want to let people see and touch and feel pieces of furniture before they order them.

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Designing for Designers

While the customer experience was a top priority for the remodel, Hanson, LaBay, and Kaldor wanted to create a space that was just as comfortable and inviting for their teammates. 

“We spend a lot of time here. And we’re designers ourselves; we want things to function the way we want them to function, and we want them to look good,” LaBay said. “We have high standards.”

Rather than traditional cubicles, low-walled workstations from Herman Miller were selected for the main work area, giving employees a designated place to work without closing them off from customers or one another. Kaldor, LaBay, and Hanson also decided to create several open meeting spaces and small huddle rooms to encourage collaboration among teammates. A new conference room table, the Huddle Table from OFS, has quickly become a favorite amongst the InterOffice team. 

It can be challenging to take yourself on as a client, but in doing so, InterOffice has transformed the Fargo showroom into a warm, inviting space where everyone–employees and customers alike–can find the chair they deserve.

Experience the new Fargo InterOffice showroom for yourself. Visit us at 1630 1st Ave. North!

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