Office Furniture Company Heartwork to Open Manhattan Showroom

Heartwork—founded in 2012—seeks to provide vibrant, stylish furnishings, but without sacrificing the functionality.

Heartwork New York showroom
Heartwork’s new Manhattan showroom, displaying the company’s storage solutions; the Sawhorse desk collection, one of its signature offerings. Courtesy Heartwork

“The design of a space is the fastest way to create a culture,” says Heartwork founder and CEO Karen John. If anyone knows a thing or two about office culture and furniture, it’s John, who worked in product development and merchandising before she founded Heartwork in 2012.

During a stint in the technology sector, John had noticed that most office spaces were drab, awash in a sea of black, gray, and beige tones. When she set out to form her own company, she wanted to provide vibrant, stylish furnishings, but without sacrificing the functionality necessary in the work arena, where space is often at a premium and employees are required to multitask. It didn’t take long for companies as diverse as Fortune 500 giants and start-ups to respond to John’s bold vision.

“There’s a growing appreciation and awareness of design in the workplace,” she notes. “Now you have an opportunity to be thoughtful with color, and when you mix materials and colors it gets interesting.” Heartwork’s signature material is steel, and its filing cabinets, mobile pedestals, and lockers are manufactured in the United States. While materials such as wood and plastic are often used for shelving or storage containers, John says that metal offers unmatched quality. “Steel has durability and longevity. Steel is strong; it’s a symbol of work.”


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This formula of embracing creativity and inspiring others to do the same has led to continued growth for the company. Heartwork has expanded so steadily, it’s opening a 2,200-square-foot showroom in Manhattan’s NoMad in October.

After helping so many others shape their ideal spaces, John was happy to do the same for her 15-member staff. “It’s exciting to be creating this space for our own team,” she says. Not only will Heartwork’s clients be able to view existing products or select custom options, but the showroom will also serve as a lab for testing and refining new pieces. For John, the key to continued success is staying one step ahead of trends in office interiors but also analyzing shifts in employees’ habits. “We look at the new ways of working and figure out how we have to design for that.”

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