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A new Internet company hopes to introduce mass customization to a segment
of the market long resistant to change.
By Ken Shulman
June 2002
DNA is a populist idea: an effort to bring high-quality made-to-order
office furniture to people who could never before obtain or afford it,
and then give them a voice in how that furniture is assembled and
customized. A joint venture between designer Richard Holbrook and
contract-furniture manufacturer Teknion, DNA fuses fine modular design
with a novel 3-D Internet tool that allows potential buyers to inspect,
configure, and order their office systems online. The program made its
online and showroom debut in March.
"Our mission is to allow dealers to say yes to the home-office
worker and the small business office," says Holbrook, an
award-winning designer best known for the Ambi Workchair and the Levity
Collection, both of which he created for Herman Miller Inc. "These
are the people who can truly benefit from these products--and who until
now the industry really hasn't been able to help."
DNA operates out of the same Pasadena offices as Holbrook's Round Three
design company. Potential clients visit the Web site
(www.tekniondna.com), where an easy-to-use 3-D design tool lets them
experiment with various combinations of workstation components and
arrive at the most viable and attractive solution. Created for the
home-office worker--and for the burgeoning ranks of telecommuters and
small start-up offices--DNA affords small- and medium-size offices the
same levels of service, customization, and design that the
contract-furniture industry previously reserved for Fortune 500 clients.
"Buying office furniture is a long, unwieldy process," Holbrook
says. "It just doesn't mesh with the reality of small business.
Part of the inspiration for this came out of my own frustration. As my
business grew and evolved, I saw that even I--with all my connections in
the business--couldn't get the right furniture, or get it right
away."
There was another frustration that motivated Holbrook in his desire for
something new. The Levity Collection, which was lauded by both industry
and end users, never attained the volume of sales that Holbrook had
hoped for. The designer was unhappy with Herman Miller's approach to the
manufacture, pricing, and promotion of the collection. "We lost a
lot of blood on that program," he says. "I'm still convinced
that it's a great product. But it didn't get into the hands of people
who should have benefited from it. And now it will simply disappear,
which is a crisis for a designer. Most of my thought after the failure
with Levity was aimed at finding a way to avoid the same experience in
the future."
Holbrook's conclusion was simple. He wanted to design good furniture for
the SOHO--small-office, home-office--market, a sector too long ignored by
the industry. To provide speedy customized service--and also to contain
costs--he wanted to shift the customization and ordering processes to
the Web. It was an ambitious and somewhat daunting plan. Long recognized
as one of the industry's most prolific and successful designers--Holbrook
has won NeoCon golds for the Ambi Workchair (1995) and the Levity
Collection (1998)
--the 42-year-old designer had little experience in management or
branding. But he did receive some good advice from his attorney and
business advisor, Michael Shannon, now chief operating officer of DNA.
"I suggested that instead of trying to build a new brand he extend
the capacity of an already established one," Shannon says.
"You find a valuable company with a good public image, and you take
that company and brand where they are not taking themselves."
Holbrook and Shannon's search for a strategic partner took them to
NeoCon in June 2000, where they discovered Teknion. Headquartered in
Toronto, Canada, Teknion is a mid- to high-end contract office furniture
company with 3,800 employees and 400 dealerships worldwide. The pair
immediately liked what they saw. "Teknion had done such a masterful
job of crafting its own brand image," Holbrook recalls. "They
raised themselves off the street and up to the top tier of the industry.
They captured Silicon Valley when everyone else was asleep. They're
focused, fast, and nimble--and not as risk averse as other
companies."
In October Holbrook and Shannon met with Teknion representatives to
discuss a possible collaboration. The following February they presented
their idea to Teknion's executive committee; one month later they signed
a joint-venture agreement. "Some of our U.S. people called me and
said I had to talk to Richard," says David Feldberg, president and
CEO of Teknion. "It was a bit unusual, to meet and decide to work
together in such a short time. But we'd already been talking about
entering the SOHO market. And with Richard's idea and talent as a
designer, it seemed that we'd found our chance."
Now barely one year after that accord, DNA's Web site is up and running,
and its products are available for inspection at 20 Teknion distributors
nationwide--a number that will grow. Built out of high-quality plastic,
steel, aluminum, and wood, DNA's preconfigured workstations retail for
between $900 and $1,800. Holbrook's chairs are ergonomic, and his desks
are available with built-in power-access cable management. The desks,
workstations, and rolling storage carts can be configured to suit specific
space and task needs. "Our furniture is decidedly modern,"
says Holbrook, who one month before the company launch already had
received more orders than he could fulfill. "It's built for
technology optimists. You have to be able to go online to experience
it."
Developed by Digital Evolution, a Santa Monica software company
specializing in e-commerce infrastructure and application, the DNA
Internet tool provides an instantaneous environment for potential buyers
to experiment with the furniture. Requiring only Macromedia's Shockwave,
the tool can be used by virtually any computer platform. The software
system has features that let users specify components, composition,
colors, and finishes. The DNA Assistant allows office managers or
executives to set price and style limits for employees building their
own office systems. "This tool represents a very innovative yet
practical step in the evolution of how office furniture is sourced and
built," says Eric Pulier, CEO of Digital Evolution, whose clients
are mostly Fortune 500 companies. "Holbrook intuitively understands
the experience and the needs of his customer."
By shifting the buying process from the showroom to the computer,
Holbrook and his partners are also redefining--and perhaps limiting--the
role of the dealer. Yet Teknion's dealers are enthusiastic about the DNA
line and about the online component. "Everybody has a Web site, and
there are lots of sites where you can buy things," says Bob
Blomstrom, CEO of Workplace Interiors, an office-furniture distributor
with five locations that represents Teknion. "But this is the first
one with a viable tool that combines presentation, planning, and
purchasing. If customers want to see what this stuff looks and feels
like, they can come in here. If they want help finding the best
configuration, we can help them. Or they can do everything themselves. I
believe this is the way the world is heading--not just our industry, but
a lot of industries."
In the business for more than 20 years, Blomstrom believes DNA is
perfectly tailored for a small but growing SOHO niche, and that its
appeal will broaden once the brand becomes better known. "You
probably aren't going to sell this to Sun Microsystems for their
corporate headquarters," he says. "But there is an excellent
chance you could put a deal together with a company like that for their
at-home people."
For Holbrook, DNA represents a new foray--with greater potential rewards
but also greater risks and responsibilities. Once limited to pure
design, Holbrook now surveys an entire production cycle that spans from
the Alias Pro Engineer Studio in Pasadena where the DNA furniture is
designed through the Gardena warehouse where it is assembled and loaded
onto delivery trucks. It's an unusual departure for an established
designer who could have continued to play it safe. "Winning awards
is not what it's about," Holbrook says. "What it's about is
getting your products to the people who can really use them."
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