An office outfitter is branching out from furniture as businesses explore how workplaces can support physical and mental wellbeing.
Flomotion Studio in Norwich, which supplies sit-stand desks and adjustable chairs and stools, is developing other products to make workplaces more 'active' and pleasant to be in – including soundproofing and bringing nature into the office.
The Heigham Street firm is run by Floyd Sayers, who has a background in graphic design, and partner Bev Grice.
Launched in 2016, the firm is projected to have doubled turnover in its second year to between £60,000 and £80,000 and is currently sourcing its biggest order of desks yet for a production company employing 40 people.
While Mr Sayers and Ms Grice feel the market for sit-stand desks is growing, they have wider ambitions for the business – in promoting new office design features from napping stations and artwork to acoustic adjustments.
Flomotion already offers workshops to customers on posture and breathing with a yoga instructor, to 'lead them down the path' to greater awareness of what their workplaces offer to staff.
Mr Sayers said: 'The next chapter in our development is what else affects how we work in an office and how we feel. In most of the offices I have been into and worked in no thought has been given to this.'
The couple are advocates of biophilic design, which focuses on bringing more of the natural world into an office through plants, water features and natural light. Mr Sayers says this trend is already attracting interest in domestic and work environments – including their own office, where they have installed a wall-mounted planter.
Exercise devices to use at work, from wobble boards and resistance bands to trampolines and treadmills, are another area of interest. The firm is considering investing in a small fleet of exercise bikes to give to customers for free trials.
It is also in talks with a London-based software designer about a programme employing 'nudge therapy' to remind office workers to keep themselves physically primed at work – for example to stretch, walk around and keep hydrated.
Mr Sayers said: 'We want to show people some ideas they can incorporate into their space cheaply. Either we give them the information to do it themselves or we help them, to design a workplace with health and wellbeing at its core.'
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