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Creativity and Collaboration
7 guiding principles and design dynamics for a new era of beautiful commercial spaces
Allain de Botton once famously wrote that “it is architecture’s task to stand as an eloquent reminder of our full potential.” Poetically capturing the possibilities of our relationship with internal spaces, he identified the importance and the power of our interior surroundings to energise, elevate, soothe or deplete us.
And while the world might have changed the way we connect to interiors, blurring the thresholds of professional and domestic environments, the importance of its impact on us remains the same. This change has triggered a shift in commercial interior experts to design with a deeper focus on flexibility and wellbeing.
With work and life patterns becoming more fluid, what we need from professional spaces has evolved to become less clear cut. We yearn for the comforts of domesticity to be translated into the realms of hospitality; with offices, hotels and restaurants needing to offer less singularity in their function and embrace the multiplicity in which we operate. We’ve swapped conventional meeting rooms for the informality of coffee shops, we choose to work remotely from welcoming hotel lobbies, members’ clubs have become permanent offices and open plan life now needs to flex to accommodate collaborative expansiveness and moments of quiet concentration. These are only a few examples of how our industry has evolved – less needs more and more needs less.
Navigating these changes can be creatively challenging, but also liberating. As we release ourselves from the constraints and formality of single use spaces, we welcome a more interesting design dynamic, with its modern language of flexibility, pleasure and comfort. To support you in embracing this design evolution, we have created seven simple guiding principles for interior designers and contract furniture manufacturers to collaborate, opening up the conversation and offering new points of view.
1. What does your space need?
Interior design shouldn’t aim to make us feel one particular way. Instead, it should allow us to connect with ourselves and each other. We work closely with our clients to understand the practicalities of their spaces – bringing together the perfect mix of pieces that support and nurture the flexibility of its users’ needs. Open plan offices can foster community, collaboration and openness, but they must also provide workers with more intimate, quieter moments to retreat and concentrate. Understanding our clients’ briefs on a more conscientious level allows us to support them in the selection of collections that embrace flexibility, sharing advice on everything from functionality to finishes.
2. How can we embrace the flow?
We have recently noticed a shift in lobby design, as our clients create casual yet luxurious, entrances that not only envelop arriving guests, but also offer informal spaces for work and meetings. This duality of needs demands a creative use of space, fixtures and furnishings to accommodate visitor transience and dwell times whilst also creating a visual language that celebrates the location’s spirit. Lobbies are no longer simple entrances, they are a space in their own right.
With our experience and a collaborative relationship, we work with clients to offer guidance on the best collections, pieces and upholstery finishes to support the project’s potential. We recently supported design studio SpaceInvader in creating a relaxed and welcoming entrance lobby for Novella, luxury contemporary apartments in a landmark building in Salford Manchester.
Inspired by the natural landscape surrounding Novella’s modern neighbourhood, we developed a complimentary palette with soft, blush pinks and elegant neutrals to upholster welcoming sofas from our Brompton range and our graceful Boston armchairs. A combination of stylish seating solutions that accommodate a variety of visits, helping create a design-conscious entrance for a vibrant development.
“A mix of pieces from our collections bring modernity and flexibility to the Novella’s lobby
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3. Use nature to provide a nurturing space
There are countless studies supporting the connection between emotional and physical wellbeing and natural materials, with research showing that the use of wood in projects considerably lowers cortisol levels in our bodies. Every piece of furniture manufactured at Morgan is created using FSC Certified European wood that can be adapted to individual projects, with beautiful finishes in Beech, Ash, Oak and Walnut customisable and available to order in high volume.
With the independence and flexibility to manufacture every client order in our factory in Hampshire, we not only have total control over the wood we use, we can also ensure the least waste possible on every project. We believe every piece we create or high volume order we manufacture should sit in harmony with the interior world it was designed for and the natural world, which created it.
4. Speak in volumes
Renowned interior designer Andrew Trotter noticed an interesting shift in hospitality design post pandemic: “People don’t want big anymore. They want to be looked after.” This creates a delicate balancing act in commercial spaces, as our clients explore new and interesting ways to create intimacy while delivering the volume of furniture needed to fulfil practical needs.
Our partnership with SHH Architecture & Interior Design furnishing Wimbledon’s Courtside Restaurant, Champions Room and Player’s Lounge demonstrates how we collaborate with clients to create a consistent visual narrative across spaces with different emotional and physical needs on a large scale. By mixing collections that deliver traditional, understated elegance with pieces that are more modern in design and upholstery, we confidently delivered volume and style to a quintessentially British destination.With the capacity to manufacture every piece once our clients have placed an order, we have complete control over every detail, design quality and delivery quantity, whatever the project scale.
5. Create contemporary spaces with an eye on the future
LEAN manufacturing and sustainability are not only our guiding principles, they are what make Morgan different. From sketch to delivery, sapling to seat we believe in being close to our furniture’s life cycle. When we collaborate with our clients to create a space, we understand the need for aesthetic flexibility and future proofing. Which is why we offer a repair and renew service for all our seating, helping prolong the life of every piece, by repairing or reupholstering according to customers’ needs. This commitment to longevity is woven into every part of our business from design to delivery. Much like our relationship with our suppliers, we believe in creating long standing collaborative connections with our clients, future proofing design that lives beyond our products.
6. Make it personal
Hospitality briefs no longer feel like institutional design. With the need to make commercial spaces more comfortable, relaxed and multifunctional, there must be a certain therapeutic angle to design, in which furniture and wellbeing work in harmony to create interiors that are soothing and special. Restaurants can be restful, light filled sanctuaries or maximalist cocoons of colour – our role is to enable our clients to create the space that answers the brief without limitations. Our furniture collections and extensive upholstery library have the flexibility to celebrate the bold beauty of maximalism or the quiet elegance of minimalism, with contemporary pieces that bring every projects’ personality to life.
“Restaurant collaborations that cater for the palate and the soul, whether you are looking for a visually rich feast or a more pared back approach.
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7. Materiality matters
An interesting use of materiality has the power to elevate a space. By offering a variety of wood finishes and fabrics, we give our clients the tools to bring a deeper level of tactility and visual interest, beyond the functional. Collections such as Barricane, with its beautiful and delicate cane backing or Kaya’s graphic slatted support and loose upholstery bring a different dimension to design, enabling our clients to play with light and negative spaces in a more interesting way.
So to recap, 7 simple guidelines
- Connect with the flexibility of users’ furniture needs
- Consider the flow of transience
- Use wood and natural materials to promote and improve wellbeing
- Consider an interesting mix of styles to bring visual interest to a big volume order
- Future proof your project
- Celebrate your project’s personality
- Be creative with materials
We hope we have inspired you and opened up new ways of thinking about, planning and designing commercial spaces. With over 30 years experience and complete control over every detail of our manufacturing process, we are constantly adapting to the exciting, ever changing landscape of hospitality design, creating furniture that supports our clients and our environment.
If you are planning a new project, we would love to collaborate with you. Contact our design-led sales team or visit our showroom for inspiration.
