Manerba’s flexible furniture accommodates post-pandemic working
Kieron is a freelance writer and Digital Consultant who doesn't consider himself a design lover but a user of design - which to him is more than enough.
LinkedinOffice furniture brand Manerba has released a series of new designs during Milan Design Week that focus on the ever-changing needs of workspaces.
Since 1969, Manerba has been interested in how traditional values of craftsmanship and Italian style can inform a new vision of the office, focusing its research and production on realizing flexible spaces that reflect the zeitgeist.
Now in its sixth decade, the family-run company, led by sisters Elisa and Grazia Manerba, alongside their parents and founders Sergio and Federica, is turning its attention to devising new ways of working as we adjust to a new normal.
“The objective is to give life to a harmonic, special, highly customized workspace that can boost personal wellbeing and efficient work,” the company explains. Unveiled during Milan Design Week 2021, the results of these efforts range from adaptable furniture and modular storage systems to new space solutions for working from home.
Titled Amis and described by Manerba as “more than just a table”, its latest product releases include a flexible and customizable system suitable to respond to different contemporary working needs. It uses various tabletops and a screen divider to create different configurations.
“Thanks to its warm and textured materials, Amis is designed to fit perfectly into the current context in which workspaces tend to be more comfortable” says Manerba.
The brand unveiled an adaptable sofa system designed by Italian designer and Art Director of the Manerba brand, Federica Biasi. Called Kokoro, it consists of upholstered modules, tables and dividing partitions, which can be combined in various configurations and adapted to changing needs.
The company highlights the Kokoro Working Box, a compact configuration arrangement suitable for a single user.
Meanwhile, French designer Phillipe Nigro has expanded on the modular shelving unit Stem, which he designed for the brand in 2019, with an aluminium framework.
Stem is inspired by the idea of linking three simple components: columns, metal cross beams and shelves. The result is a microarchitecture with infinite possibilities defined by clean, soft and welcoming lines.
“Stem’s structure varies according to the number and heights of the uprights and shelves, joined by horizontal cross pieces in polished or painted aluminium,” says Manerba. “It can be dressed with various accessories such as open or closed boxes lacquered in many colors or with fabric-covered doors.”
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“Stem can be a low console, free-standing bookcase, partition wall, acoustic protection, drawer unit and can integrate seats from a little sofa with a backrest to a bench.”
Manerba also unveiled a flexible chair aptly called Easy. It features an elegant and minimal frame, an upholstered seat and a curved plywood backrest that embraces the user. Suitable for dining areas, meeting spaces and conference rooms, the chair is conceived to be an adaptable solution.
Available in a vast array of colours, which are the result of research into new trends, materials and surfaces, the collection plays a big role in defining and individualising office areas. It supports Elisa and Grazia’s idea of the future workplace being an even more bespoke place in the future.
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