'Stop! Collaborate and Listen'
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Contemporary workplaces are always looking for designs that will enhance their agility and capacity to collaborate with colleagues or clients. And the best way to achieve this is by collaborating with us in the A+D sector; with those companies that make it their business to know all the latest products and innovations in office solutions.

However, in turn, it’s just as important for us to learn from our clients – to find out exactly what the key issues in the workplace are today and more specifically for them. We need to make it our mission to learn as much as we can about how our clients’ businesses operate and how our products can work, adapt and evolve to improve their comfort and agility and promote creative collisions. 

As the world continues to become a smaller place and improved technology means better connectivity, collaboration no longer means just face to face communication either. More and more, we are collaborating with clients over skype, conference call or online. Add to this the growing trend towards co-working, and our workstations don’t just need to accommodate the varied ways in which we collaborate, they need to adapt to completely different users.

At P4, ours is a business with people - the end user of its products - as its focus. We pride ourself on not just selling furniture but ‘earning’ customer partnerships by delivering superior collaborative experiences; inspiring and supporting their clients’ creative visions and offering flexible design with bespoke pieces whenever necessary.

However, we couldn’t do this without such strong brand partnerships, one of which particularly stands out when it comes to collaboration; that brand is True: a young Italian company, which capitalises on its youthful, focussed energy to grow rapidly and offer new collections every year, getting feedback in real time from the market and international press. They are continually evolving and keeping abreast of new technologies to enable them to offer some of the most technically advanced, high performing and flexible furniture in the commercial sector. With the rise of agile working, this adaptability, which defines both their approach and their products, is vital.

True recognises that no two people or places are the same and, to this end, strongly believe in customisation and bespoke product development. Thus every product in its range is available in numerous variations to meet the differing needs of designers and end users. What’s more, the brand continually works with an array of designers, architects and interior decorators to allow for a high degree of cross-pollination and innovation. 

By recognising the twinned importance of collaboration - that business owners need to collaborate with the A+D sector to promote collaboration within their own businesses – we create a much more efficient model for evolving both our designs and our clients’ businesses. The world will only continue to become more connected and more flexible, so we need to work together to create environments that allow us to work together. 

It's a deft example of contemporary design-thinking that is encapsulated best by two of their signature pieces:

Arca

In the world of blended design typologies – ottomans that also double as storage, desking systems that unfold into expansive boardroom tables, lockers that look like sculpture walls – True has carved out a position for itself as an especial innovator of seating. Arca is one such example of the ultra-versatile applications to which seating can leave a strong impression on its end-user. Whether proudly in situ in lounge areas, breakout zones or waiting areas, the Arca High or Lounge with their big-hug backrests invite us to sit back and recline into a high degree of comfort. Available in a range of different back and arm options, all of various sizes and upholstery, and a myriad of tech integration (from opportunities to connect writing tablets, or swivel arms for more sizeable laptops), Arca has forged a new frontier for intelligent design: sitting in one of the pieces while you wait, you're no longer simply just killing time. Used in more formal workplace settings – meeting rooms, collaborative zones or even workstations – Arca's strong tech integration opportunities invites 'smart' end-users to 'connect' into an equally 'smart'  new mode of working: one which provides and fits the tools to the body, rather than the body to the tools. 

Oracle

Also from the design brains of True comes Oracle: a collection of modular seating elements purpose-driven to meet the demands of the contemporary, agile workspace ... and all the micro-spaces such a workplace will require! Whether throughout meeting rooms, collaboration zones, receptions or spaces for reflection and retreat, Oracle attempts at all times to be more than just a simple collection of sofas. Rather, Oracle provides seating as experience. Meeting pods for small teams foster collaboration and intimacy – a sharing economy of knowledge and expertise that allows top-tier talent to get together, learn and evolve as both individuals and teams. Meanwhile, sofa elements co-operate with desks, counters and workstations, inviting workers to embrace modularity and customise their work sites to their specific and changing needs. In any, or in fact all applications, True wants to work for you.