In Kuala Lumpur’s Haworth 2010 annual product exhibition, held early this month, a series of sofas fascinated the guests. However the eight-year old classic design of the Hello series stood out for its functionalism and enduring design.
Since the beginning of 20th century, product designers struggled to achieve perfect harmony between elegant design and technology integration. Lynda Chesser and Bill Schacht, a husband and wife team found this balance when they designed Hello. Like yin and yang in Chinese philosophy, when they combine, it makes a more powerful whole with masculine strength and practicality and feminine attention to design aesthetics.
Bill approached the technical issues which make the Hello so functional while Lynda assured a timeless design. The couple has no fancy design philosophy, but their works were collected by the world’s leading office furniture firms such as Haworth, Steelcase and Herman Miller. Surprisingly, they love to design furniture for mass production, because for them, the purpose of their design is to balance the world of wants and the world of needs.
Their first cooperation with Haworth started in 1990, when Haworth purchased Mueller Furniture Company where they served after graduation. Haworth took a look at what they were designing and encouraged them to keep on going; Chesser and Schacht have been designing for Haworth ever since.
After creating a few case goods for Haworth as Composites, Tempo, Forenze and Vancouver, both sides came over the idea of designing a sofa range that could go easily in any architectural space. With only a simple requirement, Chesser and Schacht kept in mind that inspiration should come from all the criteria required in the workplace today and this drove their solution-based design.
Hello, like a universal language of greeting, was then conceived as stationary lounge chairs in a lobby or wood guest chairs in an executive office or mobile seating in any teaming space or the mini mobile that adds an irresistible element of fun to your workplace. They worked closely with Haworth engineer team to ensure every detail to be executed into mass production.
Once it was introduced in year 2002, Hello, instantly pleased the global A&D community as well as their end users. Due to high demand and to reach a wider range of consumers with more pleasant prices and better lead time, Haworth AP team decided to bring the well-received series two years later into Shanghai. Here, we inherited almost all models except for the wood guest chairs.
Over the years, Haworth AP-made Hello was selected by numerous projects to help them making statement such as Microsoft, NSN, ICBC and Cisco. But for most of the time, this practical product was preferred simply because it’s sturdy, looks nice, and does its job!
Fashion fade, but enduring design will remain eternal. Haworth and their design partners Chesser and Schacht will continue to seek timeless design with practical application.
Since the beginning of 20th century, product designers struggled to achieve perfect harmony between elegant design and technology integration. Lynda Chesser and Bill Schacht, a husband and wife team found this balance when they designed Hello. Like yin and yang in Chinese philosophy, when they combine, it makes a more powerful whole with masculine strength and practicality and feminine attention to design aesthetics.
Bill approached the technical issues which make the Hello so functional while Lynda assured a timeless design. The couple has no fancy design philosophy, but their works were collected by the world’s leading office furniture firms such as Haworth, Steelcase and Herman Miller. Surprisingly, they love to design furniture for mass production, because for them, the purpose of their design is to balance the world of wants and the world of needs.
Their first cooperation with Haworth started in 1990, when Haworth purchased Mueller Furniture Company where they served after graduation. Haworth took a look at what they were designing and encouraged them to keep on going; Chesser and Schacht have been designing for Haworth ever since.
After creating a few case goods for Haworth as Composites, Tempo, Forenze and Vancouver, both sides came over the idea of designing a sofa range that could go easily in any architectural space. With only a simple requirement, Chesser and Schacht kept in mind that inspiration should come from all the criteria required in the workplace today and this drove their solution-based design.
Hello, like a universal language of greeting, was then conceived as stationary lounge chairs in a lobby or wood guest chairs in an executive office or mobile seating in any teaming space or the mini mobile that adds an irresistible element of fun to your workplace. They worked closely with Haworth engineer team to ensure every detail to be executed into mass production.
Once it was introduced in year 2002, Hello, instantly pleased the global A&D community as well as their end users. Due to high demand and to reach a wider range of consumers with more pleasant prices and better lead time, Haworth AP team decided to bring the well-received series two years later into Shanghai. Here, we inherited almost all models except for the wood guest chairs.
Over the years, Haworth AP-made Hello was selected by numerous projects to help them making statement such as Microsoft, NSN, ICBC and Cisco. But for most of the time, this practical product was preferred simply because it’s sturdy, looks nice, and does its job!
Fashion fade, but enduring design will remain eternal. Haworth and their design partners Chesser and Schacht will continue to seek timeless design with practical application.
