What was once the joke of office banter and maligned as “boring” and “drab”, is now making a comeback with a vengeance, thanks to several factors.
Salia Santorini, a fashion designer turned office interior designer, has helped countless companies transition from modern open offices into classical floor plans featuring cubicles.
Santorini explains that fashion is constantly evolving. Trends come and go, and styles that seem outdated in one era seem to come back into the cycle every couple of years or every few decades.
“On one hand, it’s possible that the office cubicle has always worked, and people simply didn’t want to admit it because it’s a tried and true staple. People get bored easily, even if something is functional. But another reason could be that the COVID-19 pandemic showed people the other side of a society in which we are all connected but digitally. It can be hard for someone to come into the office not knowing where they are to sit and work in front of their laptops when everything is constantly being shifted around in an open space. They feel like they are in limbo. The pandemic made people a lot more self-aware of their boundaries, and now it’s cool to be more of an introvert.”
Fashion and interior design share many parallels. They reflect the sentiments of our times, swayed by technological and cultural shifts.
The office cubicle is surprisingly functional and practical, offering workers their own private spaces. In contrast to hot desks, which offer no separation or stationary allocation of space in an open office environment.
Santorini recommends installing New Cubicles if employees in your office need more compartmentalized focus. Cubicles can be shipped and set up quickly, allowing minimal downtime. Interra cubicles are designed and manufactured in Northern California, and comprised of recycled content. Little to no technical expertise is required, with a variety of colors and materials, including fabric, glass, and metal, to choose from.
“You can think of the office cubicle like the quiet luxury trend, muted, understated. Not flashy, not avant-garde, but ultimately stable and reliable. Consumer cycles are heavily dictated by how people feel. In times of upheaval and change, people want to count on something they know,” says Santorini. “The open office promised people freedom and autonomy, but what they got were distractions and noise.”
“Office cultures thrive when people feel like the environment accommodates their needs. People want ergonomic, lightweight, easy-to-assemble Office Furniture that allows them to personalize their space. Cubicles make the task of the HR manager much easier. Employees can decorate and hang up pictures and posters when they have their cubicle, but not when they sit at a shared desk.”
In the vibrant hub of Orange County, businesses depend on people. Ensuring that the design of your office caters to their well-being and productivity, rather than fleeting trends, ensures the long-term success of the organization. You can shop for a wide selection of the best new and used cubicles, desks, chairs, workstations, and more at Creative Office Design.
Everyone is offered the same twenty-four hours daily. It is up to the individual as to how one uses these hours that makes the difference between those who grow year of year and those who maintain the status quo. That’s why implementing productivity practices can make all the difference.
Increasing your personal productivity may be all it takes to reach new levels in your professional life. Therefore, this article discusses practical productivity tips that are simple enough for anyone to implement.
Remove interruptions
One will find many ways to get distracted at the workplace—not to mention other interruptions from your social media applications. Socializing and chit-chatting in the workplace is great, however, it is counter-productive when it turns into irrelevant, unwanted gossip. Even the smallest disturbances can make someone lose motivation and negatively affect their work patterns, resulting in a massive loss in productivity.
Get a standing desk
Standing desks have been all the rage in cities like Silicon Valley. A study conducted by Texas A&M University discovered that workers who used a standing desk were a staggering forty-six percent more productive than those using a standard seated desk configuration.
A standing desk will help your focus better on your work. Standing desks effectively eliminates the urge to multitask and flip between emails, websites, and other disturbances. They help you stay alert and active, given that you will be on your feet while you concentrate.
Concentrate on small and quick wins
One of the common mistakes people make while working on their projects is trying to do many things at the same time instead of taking small steps toward their milestones. As it is often said, you don’t need to climb the entire staircase before taking a single step.
Hence, it is essential to take small, baby steps if you want to get things done without falling behind. It helps to divide a big goal into daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, quarterly goals, and yearly goals. It’s time to stop dreaming about a big goal. Instead, concentrate on small and quick wins.
Instead of working hard, work smart. Using productivity apps can help save time, making it easier to organize your schedule for the day. Fortunately, you can find a plethora of apps to enhance your productivity. Applications such as Dropbox can keep files on the cloud, allowing them to be easily shared through a link. Zoom and Trello are widely used for online team collaboration. Meanwhile, Toggl can be used for tracking time. Todoist and Any.do are ideal for creating to-do lists.
Take breaks when needed
Regular breaks can help enhance focus. Professionals may find it difficult to fit exercise into their hectic schedules. Nonetheless, taking time to exercise boosts mental abilities. One can make smarter decisions and accomplish goals faster when the brain is working at its full capacity. Each minute saved is a minute gained.
If you are looking for productivity boosting furniture with fast shipping, give Creative Office Designs a call today.
When it comes to starting a new business, there are a million things to think about. You have to consider which recruiting service to use, which neighborhood would be the best place for HQ, which property would have affordable rent in a safe area…the list is practically endless. With all of the things you have to juggle, probably the last thing on your mind is office furniture.
But nevertheless, it is a necessary part of the process. In a way, the way you pick your office furniture essentially establishes the flow of the office. Are you opting for an open office plan like Buzzfeed? Are you going back to the traditional format, like in The Office? Or does everyone have their own separate desks without dividers, so sort of a hybrid between the two?
Well if you’re opting for a more traditional method, you may encounter some unique challenges. Since cubicle companies know that many established businesses (with established revenue) seek out their products, they can overprice their products dramatically. And this works with those kinds of businesses; Chase bank probably isn’t splitting hairs over the affordability of mahogany cubicles. But for the new business that wants to keep profits high and spending thin, this system just isn’t functional.
But thanks to the free market, there is another option besides Craigslist and dumpster diving. And that option is used office furniture. And not just home office furniture compiled from random eBay sellers — entire, cohesive collections of lightly used office furniture. You don’t even have to worry about the company feng shui looking like a hodge-podge hipster shop. You can look completely professional without going for something “homey” or “kitschy”.
Gone are the days when brand new furniture in Los Angeles was the only sensible office furniture option. With Creative Office Design’s expanding footprint, you can now get high-quality used cubicles in Los Angeles, as well as desks and chairs to match. However, you aren’t required to have shared workspaces either. Businesses like these cater to the aspiring business like yours; a company that is starting strong without getting ahead of themselves with overly expensive furniture. They offer all types of desks, files, storage, common workspaces, office accessories…basically any piece of featured furniture in an office so that you can make the perfect office for your company culture.
However, if you are looking to spend up on some brand new furniture, you don’t even have to leave the website. They offer brand new pieces as well so you could mix-and-match if you’d prefer. And in a city like Los Angeles, variety is everything.
Whatever your business does, it’s not likely that all of your clients will have the same vibe. The beauty of Los Angeles is that is changes with every side street — hip Downtown becomes a working-class neighborhood, then Beverly Hills five minutes later until you’re in the bars of Westwood. Shops like Creative Office Design understand that market — and they appeal to it with finesse. Do you need to rebrand to become more relevant to the average age of your customer? No problem. Need more color as your company transitions from strictly industrial to somewhat commercial business? Totally doable. Because smart office spaces, especially in cities that are constantly changing, aren’t just built to last; they are built to change and last. And a business with a sense of mobility, as well as longevity, could really benefit from a company like Creative Office Design.
The most important ability one must master to become a true garage sale shopping professional is the ability to negotiate. Like any skill, it takes time and determination to master the art of garage sale shopping. Some tips to help you become a master garage sale negotiator are to follow below.
Let’s say you wake up one morning and realize you need a writing desk in your living room; your budget is tight though, or maybe you prefer the character of used furniture to the new furniture you would find at your run of the mill Ikea store. Well, it sounds like it’s time to hit your small-town garage sales. There are tons of places to find used furniture in OC.
The first tip, don’t wear your nicest clothes to the sale. If you want to find the perfect piece of used furniture you must remember, don’t wear anything even remotely expensive. When you walk up the drive, ready to hunt for that picture-perfect writing desk you woke up itching for, you don’t want to look like you have money to blow. The garage sale host will be analyzing everyone that shops at their humble abode. You don’t want them buzzing around while you’re trying to make your first big find because they noticed your Michael Kors watch. Also, once you do find something that really catches your eye you’ll have more haggle power if they don’t automatically assume you are in a position to pay top dollar.
Tip number two, strike up a conversation with the host at the appropriate time. Timing is everything when it comes to small-town yard sales. Have a look around while maintaining an air of polite nonverbal body language and then once you know what you want, go in for the kill. Approach the host with a smile and a polite greeting. Remember all of these things were once loved possessions, complimenting their great taste will make them feel warmly towards you. Even go so far as to inquire about how their day is going. Mention you hope the sale goes well for them. Then compliment the item you would like to buy. Let’s say you found that perfect piece of used furniture, a writing desk that would fit great in your home. Now, this part is important, don’t overstate your desire to own faultless writing desk. Just mention that you like it and might be interested. This leads us into the third tip, don’t be the first to throw out a price.
A smart garage sale host won’t give you a price, they’ll ask you want you think it’s worth. That way you may potentially offer more than they would have asked for it. Do not be fooled by this trickery, instead ask them what an item like this is worth? This will put the ball in your court because they may offer less than you were originally thinking or you can always then take that opportunity to throw out a price you would genuinely be comfortable with. There may come a time where a price cannot be agreed upon. This can be very upsetting. You’ve now found this amazing piece of used furniture, you can already picture it in your home, but it’s out of reach price-wise.
This leads us to our fourth and final tip, you must always be willing to walk away. The willingness to walk away will solidify your buying power. The perfect piece of used furniture isn’t perfect if the price isn’t right.
One of my favorite spots to find used furniture is at Creative Office Design. You can find them at the address below:
Consultants dedicate careers to the idea of cultivating a “flow state” for corporate environments. Specialists, thought-leaders, gurus and shamans sell seminars and courses dedicated to the topic but frequently fall short of anything more than breathing and cheesy playlists. However, UK government sponsored research now illuminates that one of the chief contributions to workplace productivity is office layout. The physical space in which one works has an overwhelmingly strong influence on final work product.
Picture a beige and fluorescent white sea of sterile office grid. Picture this bleak prism prison for months, years, and decades. Welcome to the unfortunate plight of the office worker post 1980. Fast forward to the Google coffee bar work lounge delivering world-warping code with giddily happy employees. What happened the acoustic dampening panels and clean grid lines? Human conversation and big data happened. Tech startups and forward-thinking market leaders realized that their employees could perform better (ironically designing robots) so long as they weren’t treated as robots. The invention of the open floor-plan broke the grid system and refused to reassemble the pieces.
Standing at work? Someone call the warden. The prisoners -err- employees must be crazy. These standing desks aren’t anything like cubicles of the past.
So the paradigm shifted and even small businesses today operate on open floorplans and office layouts that cater to creative flow. Liquidating used cubicles in lieu of new adjustable sit-to-stand desks and polygonal workstations began to coax out more creativity juice from the minds of young professionals than grey mouse-mazes could ever pound from them. Today companies look to move their old cubicles and purchase new workstations from industry leaders like Creative Office Design. Office Furniture is no longer a boring afternoon meeting with the Operations and HR departments, it’s part interior design strategist, part feng shui shaman, part skeletal physiological ninja.
New collaborative table plans, contemporary desk arrangements and ergo-seating pairings make for a head-spinning number of choices that make genuine, trackable impact in the productivity of the workforce they elegantly yet sturdily support. And think how just a few years ago, ‘hang in there’ cat posters were considered acceptable corporate art and not vomit-inducing, sarcastic memes. Today offices compete to craft truly artistic flow spaces from the most contemporary office furniture distributors.
Lo and behold these investments in the human capital of commercial space pays dividends several orders of magnitude larger than the furniture investment days of office past. Fortunate for the spinal, social, and psychological health of the workers, collaborate flow spaces and half-caf, non-fat, upsidedown, marble mocha macchiatos come as standard perks of the job. Perhaps the pendulum will swing back the other direction and ‘bring your aardvark to work’ days will thin down a bit but until that day office managers are clamoring over the local office furniture dealers with modern showrooms and fast shipping. This week’s featured business is leading the charge to the highest retention office layouts in the market with their Orange County showroom available by appointment only.
Creative Office Design
Address: 15440 Laguna Canyon Rd Suite 120, Irvine, CA 92618
Hours: Closed ⋅ Opens 9AM Wed
Phone: (714) 328-7627
