This years Orgatec is about culture@work and visionary concepts for a new working culture. Officerepublic is interested in how participants in the Orgatec describe the culture in their own company and their vision on the workplace of the future. To clarify this vision, we asked five questions to more than 400 participating office furniture manufacturers. We publish the answers we receive in a series on OfficeRepublic: “Culture @”. This article is about Culture@Arper with the companies CEO Claudio Feltrin
#1 – Culture is sometimes defined as all that man produces in material and immaterial sense. The culture of a people, or a group of people, includes its beliefs, values and customs. If we look at your company, how do you describe the current culture in your company?
Arper was founded in 1989 as a family-run business. Over the course of the years we have grown very rapidly: from furniture manufacturers, today we are a brand with an international spread.
We are guided by an integrative, human-centered approach that has accompanied the growth of our turnover and employees: the latter have gone from a handful to several hundred in a few years.
Today, we are more than 250, all over the world.
At Arper we naturally tend to put people in the centre. This behaviour comes from our open and welcoming approach, as it is witnessed by our many projects based on promoting talent. We encourage everyone to contribute with their skills to our company’s growth and well-balanced development, whether they specialize in research and development, sales, human resources or finance. We challenge one another to think in a creative way, to discuss our views, to investigate, to aim for improvement – alone and together. A challenge that is led by our corporate values, developed consistently with brand identity and shared with all our stakeholders.
Moreover, we take pride in promoting initiatives that favour and enhance the cultural heritage we can identify with and where we can share our values. We believe that investing in art and culture allows us to support a common good and at the same time enrich our awareness and vision.
This way of thinking and working applies to anything Arper does.
#2 – What changes do you see taking place in the culture within companies in the coming years? Which external and internal developments will affect our ‘work culture’?
The ethics of responsibility, the sense of duty, the attention to individuals are all fundamental values that have characterized business organizations in the last decade. In particular, the worker’s well-being and their comfort in the workplace have been given great importance. Technological progress has been essential in this regard, making it possible to create comfortable and versatile environments for increasingly flexible, creative and responsive use.
However, after years of increased focus on technological development, today we are beginning to desire to rediscover the things that make us human, and connect with the human experience. The artistic, emotive, artisan. Our care, community, and empathy. I therefore believe that the key to our future global culture doesn’t lie in our technological ability—it lies in the power of our humanity. And it all starts with education.
The more complex the world becomes, the more creative we need to be to meet its challenges—in both the workplace and in education.
The spaces where education takes place will increasingly influence the way we learn and the results that outcomes with it, but above all, they will influence our “work culture”.
#3 – What developments can we expect from your company in the coming years?
We have revisited our offices and working spaces to create a modular and flexible environment, thus following this concept we are now reconceiving the areas we dedicate to training so that they can better meet the different needs related to learning and education.
Classrooms need to accommodate diverse moments throughout the day: focused, independent learning activities like reading or writing; small group gatherings like collaborations, group projects, and discussions; and large instructional needs like lectures and demonstrations. Therefore, classroom furniture needs to be easy to recombine, with greater flexibility— mirroring the workspaces that students will soon be a part of.
Under these premises we will approach the future of the design.
#4 – Do we already see some of that development on the coming Orgatec, and what will be the eye-catcher of your trade show presentation?
Arper will present its new collections and a selection of iconic products in an area of 330 sqm (pavilion 10.2, booth J-19/K-18), designed by the architecture studio MAIO, in collaboration with Jeannette Altherr (designer and creative director) and Leandro Favaloro (stylist).
The various settings composing the booth will put on stage “Lifelong Learning”, the exhibition concept through which Arper will introduce its vision about the work environment at Orgatec. An innovative prospective that puts learning at the centre of the design system.
Among the new collections will be Cila Go, designed by Lievore Altherr: a collection composed by a stool, a chair and an armchair designed for learning and training contexts and contract uses.
Cila Go offers new aesthetic possibilities for the Learning Sector while providing the functionality needed for this specific context—mobility for group collaboration, quiet space for independent work, accessories for technology-enabled learning and for the ever-expanding concept of the classroom.
Further new products will be presented at the Arper booth. New collections that reflect our holistic and softtech approach.
#5 – Where can you be found on the Orgatec?
Pavilion 10.2, booth J-19/K-18