Zilenzio and Note Design Studio strike a balance between privacy and participation in today’s evolving office landscape with Focus Space – a modular system that reimagines the workplace as a setting for meaningful connection
For almost every culture, a campfire holds significant meaning. It’s where stories are told, problems are solved and ideas spark into life – it’s undeniably a place for human connection. It’s this image that inspired Focus Spaces, a modular furniture system born of the ongoing collaboration between Swedish acoustic design brand Zilenzio and Stockholm-based Note Design Studio.
“We wanted to create something that felt like a modern campfire,” explains Kristoffer Fagerström, partner at Note Design Studio. “It needed to offer a place where people could gather without needing to isolate themselves in a pod or behind a screen.” The result is a modular system of softly upholstered seating and tables that can be configured in various ways – from open circles to quiet corners – adapting to the dynamic of each space and the people who use it.
Zilenzio is known for its expertise in acoustic solutions, with an impressive portfolio of products that soften sound and reduce visual distractions. After years of designing for quiet focus, however, they’ve found that the post-pandemic workplace has shifted. “People want calm, but they also want to talk, collaborate and feel something now that they are moving back into the workplace,” says Jenny Helldén, co-founder of Zilenzio. “Focus Spaces invites that connection and encourages people to speak freely without disrupting others.” Conceived as an evolution of Zilenzio’s Focus Screen series – a collection of portable panels designed to create pockets of privacy in open-plan offices, also by Note Design Studio – Focus Spaces expands the concept with an architectural typology that encourages connection rather than separation. “We’re no longer designing to shield people from their environment,” says Fagerström. “Instead, it’s about bringing people together.”
The expansive collection includes 18 seating modules and two table types, upholstered in a choice of 26 fabrics and hundreds of colour options. For all its range, however, the system remains deliberately pared back. “It’s easy to create enormous systems,” says Fagerström. “The challenge was to design the least amount of modules that offer the maximum flexibility.”
The collection’s signature ribbed vertical panels – a detail carried over from the original Focus Screens – add rhythm and tactility to the range’s visual language. “It would’ve been cheaper to leave them out, but they became part of the identity,” says Fagerström, “Zilenzio even invested in a new knitting machine to get them exactly right.”
The new collection is designed to respond to the changing workplace, which Helldén predicts will become defined by more frequent, faster meetings and more casual encounters. “Focus Spaces is really multifunctional,” says Helldén. “You can use it for breakfast, a casual conversation, a quick check-in or a moment of pause. It also fills all those awkward, underused areas in offices and transforms them into places where people actually want to be.”
Importantly, the collection was developed in close dialogue with Note Design Studio’s architecture and interiors teams to ensure that the system would function as a genuinely useful tool for interior designers. “When a company moves into a new space, the first thing they want to do is redecorate,” says Fagerström. “Focus Spaces offers a way to transform interiors without a full renovation.” The system can be adapted, reconfigured and moved with a company from one site to another, reducing waste and avoiding the cost and disruption of a full interior fit-out.
With Focus Spaces, Zilenzio and Note Design Studio have created a tool that encourages a return to the physical office. “The post-pandemic office is about creating environments that people want to come back to – not replicating the idea of sitting at home in front of the computer,” says Fagerström. “We identified what would make you want to swap your sofa for the office – and face-to-face interaction and connection is what people are craving.”
This story was originally featured in OnOffice 172, Autumn 2025. Discover similar stories by subscribing to our weekly newsletter here
