Got Wood?

The stodgy mahogany desk and casegoods were the ultimate status symbol back in the opulent '80s. Now that the office environment has weathered the dot-com boom, bust, and back again, the means of how we work has changed, as has the size and shape of our furnishings. While woods are still popular, casegoods have evolved from bulky, masculine furniture to sleeker, more eco-friendly pieces with mixed materials, smaller footprints, and better storage options and functionality.

The refined aesthetic of wood casegoods will not dissipate—nor will the association of high-end solid wood with status. As such, manufacturers are challenged to consider environmentally friendly options, such as the use of FSC-certified wood and rapidly renewable resources. Creating GREENGUARD-certified casegoods is practically a must these days, and big-name casegoods manufacturers—such as Bernhardt and Geiger, to name a couple—are obliging. Geiger produced a GREENGUARD-certified version of its Tablet series, while Nucraft's new Nikos collection meets LEED-CI requirements for recycled content, rapidly renewable materials, FSC-certified wood, and low-emitting materials.

While we've not yet achieved the state of a paperless society, we are in a transitional period where improved technology has diminished the need for storage, which now can be accommodated through open shelving in overhead formation or stacked units, allowing for more flexibility in casegoods. Manufacturers willing to be bold, stray from tradition a bit, and mix up material options open up limitless possibilities. Combining wood with glass, metal, stone, laminates, marble, or Corian expands the palette exponentially, as does mixing finishes of glossy and matte or translucent and opaque. We're even seeing more unusual material applications, such as rice-paper encased in acrylic and leather-wrapped panels. Tuohy offers a stitched faux-leather accent panel for its Geneva casegoods, and its Uffizi collection's magnetized wood and glass panels allow users to post notes and photos on a surface that looks more high-end than the typical tackable board.

Harden Contract's Quin Collection exudes fine elegance with its detailed joinery and solid wood construction. In a new take on traditional casegoods, its worksurface also adjusts from 26 to 31 inches, making it not only pleasing to the eye but also to the rest of the body, as it is ergonomically correct for nine out of 10 U.S. body types.

In the future the way we work will continue to inform the design of our office furniture. Materials will become more lightweight and components more modular, but wood will not lose its appeal altogether, as the high-end solid wood aesthetic is so instilled in our collective cultural mindset.