I'm sitting on Sly, working on Duane. Manny is nearby, Wally is in the window.
Duane, I hear, is "a team player, always ready for action." Duane is also a table. Resin workstation, divided in the center with a number of sockets and ports for USB devices, iPods and iPhones. Manny is a round ottoman with a built-in power hub, surrounded by smaller ottomans for seating. Wally is a portable, scalable, reusable signage unit. And Sly is a chair.
These pieces of furniture from
Sparkeology sit in our new office. Our first week up and running, this issue is the first to be completed in the space. Thanks to the benevolence of Sparkeology and a little paint work courtesy of Rapid Growth publisher Jeff Hill, it's starting to look like home.
Sparkeology is a good example of what happens when companies collaborate. Worden, sister companies
Via Design and
Viable and graphic design firm
Square One all have a hand in the product line, from design to manufacturing, to branding and marketing.
What began as an idea to make a new line of furniture for library spaces transformed into a new product line and brand entirely.
Robin Lane, VP of Marketing and Sales at Holland-based library furniture maker Worden, says Sparkeology came to fruition quickly.
"We talked with Square One about how Worden wanted to focus on the A&D community," she says. "We really needed to talk about a whole new brand and a whole new way to approach collaborative-type spaces."
Taking an idea in December of 2009, the companies were able to develop eight Sparkeology products, complete with full branding and marketing materials, in just seven months -- in time for the commercial furniture mega-convention that is Chicago's NeoCon. Their 2010 showing was so successful, they were able to get a bigger space in 2011 and have already commandeered double 2011's space for NeoCon 2012.
"Overall, Sparkeology was such a fast launch that we almost had to take a little bit of time after NeoCon (2010) to catch our breath," Lane says. "We came away (from NeoCon) with some really good contacts not only from a customer standpoint, but from a distribution standpoint as well."
What makes Sparkeology stand out is a number of things. For one thing, it's simple and easy to use. The minimalist nature of the furniture is clean, bright and approachable.
Val Schmieder of Viable/Via Design says the original concept was "to design something that was a little more contemporary and playful" than your average library furniture. The result has been pieces that have a wide variety of applications, both commercial and residential.
"The actual design inspiration started with keeping it really simple," Schmieder says. "Keep it minimal and scaled down -- not the big, heavy stuff. We took a minimalist approach and a very different look at material, which was what led us to use the resin tops. We were also very conscientious, in the design process, of sustainable materials."
The pieces were made to be modular, yet also stand-alone. The mix and match nature of the pieces, plus the variety of shapes, sizes and heights, offers customers the ability to craft their ideal workspace. The 2011 pieces are perfect compliments to the original products revealed in 2010. And with simplicity, there's a practicality that lends to quality.
For example, Schmieder cites her background in institutional product design as leading her to make deliberate design choices. She says with upholstered furniture, the concern is that the bottom closest to the floor quickly becomes ragged from shoes and vacuum cleaners. Sparkeology's upholstered products are up off the ground on legs, held by a metal flange. "It's a small detail," she says, "but the impact of how it makes that piece non-destructible in a commercial setting is the most important part of why we added that detail."
Viable has existed since 1989 focusing on interior design, with Via Product Design starting up three years ago. A decade into the business, they took on an architect as a partner, expanding services into architectural design and started designing furniture eight years ago. Schmieder's business partner and brother, Scott Sikkema, comes from an electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and product development background.
The combination of the two of them means they're not just handing "Worden a design that looks pretty," Sikkema says. "We help them do the real product development and help with sourcing materials and other fabricators. From concept to market, that really makes the commercialization process go more smoothly for Worden."
Having branding and marketing involved from the beginning also helped add to the cohesiveness of the project, Sikkema says. The Sparkeology logo, a bold asterisk, appears in several of the Sparkeology pieces. In the coat rack, Stella, as the prongs, etched into the metal and in the tabletops as the foundation that holds the table together.
Over at Square One Design, Lin Ver Meulen, Lisa Dingman and Andrew Milauckas were dedicated to creating a new company and identity that could address a new market. The whole idea, Ver Meulen says, was a spark… hence the name. The word "approachability" comes up when talking about branding ideas.
"(Sparkeology) is a really great group of people who are so approachable," Ver Meulen says. "It was taking who they were and giving it a brand that fit and some energy and a way of communicating that was very direct. Friendly, fun, uncomplicated -- someone we want to work with."
Certain staples of the Sparkeology brand identity are noticeable right off the bat. The hot pink, the chalkboard motif, the simplicity of the asterisk logo. It didn't take long for the attendees of NeoCon 2011 to recognize Sparkeology. We were stopped more than once, lugging press materials in our Sparkeology tote bags, by someone who recognized the logo. It could have helped that "cupcake" was the most Tweeted word at NeoCon. Sparkeology's booth on the eighth floor was a visual standout, but also offered small cupcakes. This correlated with a new piece of furniture, the cupcake chair. Their booth seemed always crowded with people making their mark on the large chalkboard and looking over the pieces.
"I think the pink and the chalkboard is a dramatic look that is memorable," Milauckas says. "When you're small and new and want to be noticed and remembered, you have to do that."
Sparkeology was named one of the top six exhibitors at NeoCon 2011, along with furniture giants like Steelcase and Davis -- exhibitors with permanent showrooms.
"It's partially the product," Milauckas says, "and a strong brand that is constantly pushing messages out in multiple directions."
As Sparkeology heads into its third year, Lane says their primary focus is developing new product.
"The pace that we've developed this is pretty unreal… and we still have more to go," Lane says. "Our intent is just to be a fun, simple, easy to work with company that really pulls together a lot of community resources in our area and to take that talent and the solutions that those companies can provide out to the marketplace."
Worden currently employs 93 people, including production, with three now dedicated solely to Sparkeology. An online store is in the works.
In the interim, if you're curious about the furniture, feel free to stop by and look in the windows at our new office space at 11 Jefferson. We're still getting settled in, but we think of ourselves as approachable too. We'll be open for mingling following our July 27
Speaker Series Event "Urban Canvas." The event begins at 6:30 p.m. at the UICA's new location at 2 W. Fulton St. We'll be talking about street art and performance with a panel of artists and event planners. Then we're inviting people to come over here to see where the magic happens and consume some refreshments -- and meet Duane, Sly, Manny and Wally.
J. Bennett Rylah is the Managing Editor of Rapid Growth Media.Photographs of Sparkeology at Neocon 2011 by
Brian Kelly -All Rights Reserved