TREND WATCH – CORPORATE GOES BOHO
by Lynn Coit
Boho is back. Five years ago, this statement would have applied to a millennial’s apartment or maybe a trendy hotel, but you would have been hard pressed to find it applied to a corporate office. And yet, here we are! Check out this gorgeous palette for a project we just completed for Adswerve, a marketing technology company, for their new offices at 999 18th St. in downtown Denver. Some definite bohemian influences, no?
So how did we get here?
Trends in hospitality and residential design have been finding their way into office design for several years now. Here’s why:
- Our expectations for the work environment have changed.
As technology has enabled us to work virtually anywhere, it’s only natural we all want our workplace to feel as comfortable as our home office. From the perspective of employers, enticing workers to elect to come into the office and collaborate instead of telecommuting means giving them a space that makes them want to come to work. As a result, we’ve seen the birth of the “resimercial” spaces that offer many of the comforts of home – cozy furniture, high-end residential-style kitchens and showers – popping up in office design. - Employers are recognizing workplace design as a competitive differentiator.
As the economy has grown, competition for top talent is fierce, particularly here in Colorado where our unemployment is below the national average at just 3.5 percent as of March 2019. Historically, trends in design tend to trickle more slowly into the workplace, but in an environment where standing out is a key strategy in attraction and retention, corporate clients are more eager to push the envelope to appeal to experience-minded millennials who are looking for more from their office environment than a place to work – they’re looking for a sense of place. And with millennials set to make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce by 2020, these preferences matter now more than ever.
Why Boho?
Right now in the design world, we’re seeing a focus on trends that influenced the aesthetic of the ‘70s. From retro logos, to colors and silhouettes in fashion, to interior design.
The multi-dimensional, highly textured and richly colored nature of a Boho-influenced design can wordlessly convey a fun, relaxed sensibility that appeals to a broad range of employees.
That doesn’t mean we’re bringing out the orange shag carpets and lava lamps. As with any trend, it’s important to interpret it with a fresh eye and a strong sense of your company’s brand, culture and goals.
A Modern Take
When creating Adswerve’s space, for example, we wanted to ensure it felt professional, but also a bit playful, with a Boho vibe that reflected their culture and brand personality.
The design we landed on served to soften the standard ‘tech company’ aesthetic and reinforce the uniqueness of Adswerve’s culture. Weaving together bright colors and ‘worn’-looking textures (rough sawn, reclaimed wood and cork board walls), we used a neutral base to ground the scheme.
Stay tuned for more photos of Adswerve’s space! We can’t wait to show you the finished product.
