New collection ‘Belong by Bisley’ creates a sanctuary wherever you are
Life may be unpredictable, but you can always count on Bisley. For over eighty years, Bisley has been quietly creating innovative products that meet the evolving needs of our working world. With a long history of designing exactly the right product for the right time, now more than ever, the workspace is ripe for reimagination.
Whether you’re at home or in the office, Belong by Bisley brings flexibility into your space – with hardworking, savvy solutions that don’t compromise on style – so you can thrive, no matter your location.
As we all adopt more flexible working patterns and adapt our working environments, Belong creates a sanctuary wherever you are, so you can focus and stay on top of your workload in comfort. When your place of work shifts from day to day, having a dependable, personal space maintains a sense of connection – wherever they’re placed and however they’re used, Belong always performs.
In early 2020 at the start of the pandemic, as office workers were told to work from home, Bisley’s CEO Richard Costin asked four of Bisley’s in-house designers to propose ideas for products that would work well in a flexible home office scenario. The result is the newly launched Belong collection, an office furniture portfolio designed with home working firmly in mind, from its fully customisable nature, to the simplicity of assembly.
“It was immediately obvious that we needed to pivot from our planned 2020 workflow and innovate, fast”, shares Costin. “We have entered a new era where our industry has to adapt to a different way of working. I asked our design team to think, if they had free rein over new products within our steel and wood factories…what would they be?
“They came back with some wonderful ideas, and the result of that is the Belong Collection. It’s times like this that we have the opportunity to thrive; our team has really worked hard and used their fantastic talents and skills to come up with something really beautiful for Bisley.”
The Belong range comprises of multiple collections, all designed by Bisley’s experienced in-house team. When your place of work shifts daily, having a dependable, personal space maintains a sense of connection.
The collection consists of several products, including Poise by Bisley which is a selection of beautiful, design-led desking, task tables, coffee tables and sideboards, with modernist silhouettes. Each piece is intended to work as either a standalone piece or in conjunction with each other. There is also Outline by Bisley, a sleek, steel-framed collection of desking and storage that has a strong, minimalist style. And finally, among others, the Hideaway Wall Desk, a space-saving, wall mounted desk that folds down to provide a practical worksurface, as well as somewhere to store your desk accessories.
“It goes without saying that 2020 has been an unusual year”, adds Chris Fowler, Director of International Projects at Bisley. “New product launches can sometimes be years in the making, but Bisley has decades of design expertise in developing office furniture solutions and we channelled all of that history, knowledge and expertise into developing and producing the Belong range in three months.
“From initial sketches and renders, our team worked closely with the factory floor to develop prototypes, which were then developed and perfected over the course of the summer. The role of our wood processing plant was an additional strength to our bow.
With Belong, we weren’t tied to any particular material – referring back to the brief from our Board, we could use our imagination and select the most suitable mix of materials for each element of the range. Being self-sufficient was a real advantage, compressing both development and supply chain timelines. Its realisation is a particularly proud moment for us as it is the first time in a long time that the full process, from inception through to launch, has been conducted by an in-house design and production team.”
The launch of the Belong range comes after a transformative year for Bisley that saw more than a 300% spike in e-commerce sales as office workers looked to quickly set up home offices. Bisley’s sales largely comprise of significant corporate contracts, including the recent completion of BBC Cymru Wales’ new Cardiff city centre HQ, for which Bisley supplied furniture solutions that accommodated the various different needs of all media departments.
“After being appointed Bisley’s CEO in February to be met with a global pandemic the very next month, it’s fair to say that this year has been something of a wild ride”, says Costin. During lockdown we evaluated our business, our selling channels, how the economy would react and how business and the working environment might change.
“From this, and in addition to our new Belong collection, we have committed to increasing our online selling capabilities and have started to work with Amazon to develop a new online function that will be implemented across the world. I strongly believe that with these tactical and strategic objectives, and most importantly, to have the Bisley people that are so talented and committed, we will go from strength to strength.”
For further information, visit bisley.com
All images courtesy of Bisley
