The Business of Furnitureis the go-to source for keeping you informed about everything that is happening in the industry.
You Asked and We Listened: Now published Friday evenings, BoF contains a complete review of all the latest and breaking industry news for the week, special feature editorials, along with the latest product introductions and industry events - keeping you informed of all the industry happenings.
From trends that affect your bottom line, to new products, to stories that will help you run a better, more informed company.
Business of Furniture - August 29, 2026
- ASK STEPHEN - "If AI Can Find the Chair, Do We Still Need a Salesperson?" - Stephen Viscusi - Finding the chair and selling the chair, however, are still two different things. AI can compare 20 chairs, change the upholstery, put the winner beautifully into a rendering and probably explain why it is perfect for the project - and better than some of the product brochures I have seen. Eventually somebody still has to sit in it.
- Allseating Unveils L1® Guest Chair - New Guest Seating Brings Ergonomic Comfort, Versatile Customization, and a Cohesive Design Language to Modern Commercial Interiors
- PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT: Class Is In Session: DeskMakers Launches Education Collection with Orbit Mobile Storage and ERA Teacher's Desk - The contract furniture manufacturer's first line built specifically for learning environments debuts with modular classroom storage and a teacher's workstation designed for rooms that change by the hour. Schools have specified DeskMakers furniture for years, but the Education Collection marks the first time the company has developed a line around how classrooms actually work.
- Rethinking the Task Chair: Why Movement, Fit and Usability Matter More Than a Five-Minute Sit Test - The evolution of task seating is ultimately less about adding more features and more about making ergonomic performance easier to access. The issue is particularly relevant as organizations rethink the workplace and invest in environments designed to support employee comfort, productivity and wellbeing.
- 3form Unveils Pearlescent, a Luminous New Varia Interlayer - New Textile Interlayer Brings Shifting Color, Soft Shimmer, and Dynamic Interaction with Light to Architectural Surfaces | "Pearlescent is really about creating an experience with light and color that changes as you move through a space."
- AROUND THE INDUSTRY - How Office Design Can Mitigate Gen Z's Workplace Challenges / BIFMA Launches President & CEO Search as Deirdre Jimenez Announces Retirement / 3D Cloud Releases 3D Commerce Index for Q2 2026 / Strategic Decommissioning Keeps 60 Million Pounds of Office Furniture Out of Landfills / NanaWall's Latest Sound-Rated Folding Glass Wall Systems for Interiors / Tarkett Introduces New Terrazzo-Inspired Johnsonite® Rubber Tile Collection / Introducing Blu Dot Fall 2026: Seven New Designs, Expanded Favorites, and New Colors and Fabrics
- Kimball International Launches Four New Metal Storage Series - The addition of four new metal storage solutions expands its offering with a renewed focus on flexibility, durability, and long-term value. These new products will help organizations create spaces that support productivity and adapt to changing needs.
- Allsteel Elevates Office Materiality with Zero-Waste Knit Innovation - Levra Harnesses the Power of Upcycled Marine Litter for Material Innovation and All-Day Comfort | All Levra full task chair models are carbon neutral, utilizing offsets from forestation projects to address carbon emissions associated with their life cycle.
- UPFRONT: Tayco Strengthens Commitment to Quality and Environmental Performance with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 Certifications - Together, the certifications reflect Tayco's continued commitment to environmentally responsible manufacturing, operational excellence and continuous improvement across its organization. The 9001 recertification and achievement of 14001 speak to Tayco's commitment to environmental stewardship and quality while providing the ultimate Customer Experience.
- HBF Textiles Presents the Third Edition of The Designer Edit Series, Cultivated: Stewardship through Design. - Existing across four chapters, the series showcases cherished HBF Textiles patterns with new introductions, exploring how color, materials, and craftsmanship allow great design to endure long after its introduction. Creative Direction and styling are led by Joseph Namyst, Creative Director at Davis Furniture. Paired with materials from Davis Furniture and objects from Namyst's personal collection, Cultivated fosters connection between textiles, furniture, and artifacts, showing how thoughtful curation can make familiar designs resonate.
- Wolf-Gordon Debuts achimwi: "To Tell a Story" - 2026 Installment of Wolf-Gordon Curatorial Projects Explores Lenape Heritage, Storytelling, and Visual Sovereignty
- Canfield Interiors Celebrates 50 Years of Commercial Furniture Excellence in Sioux Falls - Golden anniversary showroom celebration honoring legacy, leadership, and decades of partnerships. The milestone event highlights a successful multi-generational transition. The leadership torch has officially passed from founder Larry Canfield to his son, Aaron, who now leads the second-generation family business into its next chapter of growth.
- PLACES - Alexander Spencer Offices – Melbourne | Adjacent to the reception, a sophisticated 16 person boardroom extends the New York loft aesthetic, creating an impressive and cohesive flow.
- INDUSTRY PULSE & FIRST LOOKS - Scandinavian Spaces Launches CET Extension / New Design Nerds Anonymous Episode Explores What Leaders Get Wrong About Gen Z / Solomon Coyle Earns 2026 Brandon Hall Group Silver HCM Excellence Award for Its Sales Leadership Program / Ted Moudis Associates Celebrates 25 Years of Workplace Design Leadership in Chicago / DIFFA and Sewciety NYC to Host Threads for Impact — A One-Night-Only Event Championing Creative Reuse and Social Change
- New In Classifieds - Your Next Career Move May Be Closer Than You Think | The Viscusi Group is recruiting accomplished sales professionals and leaders for opportunities with leading, commercial furniture and interiors manufacturers across the U.S. You don't need to be actively "looking," to consider an exceptional opportunity. The best career moves are often explored before a change becomes necessary. Read more on page 90.
- New In Classifieds - Independent Reps Wanted | Ergonomic Comfort Design is an established ergonomic seating company with a strong base of business in Southern California for over 32 years. Known for high quality, high performance ergonomics, exceptional service and competitive pricing, we are expanding our presence in Northern California and the west coast. Read more on page 90.
- So Much More Every Week - Industry Moments, Industry Portfolio, Industry Events, Industry Classifieds & Careers
Business of Furniture - August 22, 2026
- ASK STEPHEN - "Your Employee Quit Without Two Weeks' Notice? Maybe You're a Bad Boss." - Stephen Viscusi - Corporate America has somehow turned two weeks' notice from a courtesy into a morality test, and it isn't one. Know what you signed, understand any contractual obligations you have and behave professionally on the way out, but please stop acting as though Moses came down from the mountain carrying a resignation policy.
- LD Seating Expands Its Modular Seating With Two New Systems Offering Flexible Configurations - Alongside the launch of Pod and Nido Bench, LD Seating has also introduced a new version of its online configurator for modular seating. Designed to make planning faster and more intuitive, the upgraded configurator gives users more ways to create and visualize seating configurations of any scale.
- PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT: Kirei Expands Its Acoustic Portfolio with Four New Woven Image Panels - The New Collection Pairs Dimensional Surfaces with Sound Absorption, Offering Designers New Ways to Shape Commercial Interiors Designed by Woven Image and distributed by Kirei, the four panels (Column, Curtain, Nalu, and Umi) span two design directions: dramatic 3D-formed profiles and subtle textures inspired by the movement of water, giving designers room to match acoustic performance to fit the mood of any space.
- Beyond Sustainability: Why Material Transparency Is the Next Frontier of Healthy Design - How the built environment can move beyond sustainability to create spaces that actively restore human and environmental health. The history of materials such as Scheele's Green, and later asbestos, demonstrates a recurring challenge for the design industry: materials can be celebrated for their performance, affordability or aesthetic qualities long before their broader consequences are fully understood.
- More Than a Reissue: Bentley's In Concert Is a New Take on Legacy & Creative Possibility - In Concert is about expanding what's possible with products designers already know and love. It is a collection shaped by collaboration, informed by specification, and designed for the way creative teams work today. Inspired by the real-world conversations happening every day between Bentley's sales team and the designers they collaborate with, In Concert takes a fresh approach to reissuing legacy flooring.
- AROUND THE INDUSTRY - Unika Vaev Expands Ecoustic® Versa Offering in Collaboration with Instyle / Ultrafabrics Releases New Research Examining Upholstery’s Role in Seating Comfort / Wolf-Gordon Reintroduces Four Iconic Patterns / United Fabrics Delivers What’s Fresh with Farmers Market / ARTDOM Riyadh 2026 Launches Design Map Saudi Arabia — A Curated Guide to the Kingdom’s Most Outstanding Design Destinations / Did You Know? Ergonomics Is More Than Comfort
- More from Ask Stephen... Made There. Sold Here. Europe Makes Extraordinary Furniture. So What Does RH Know That Europe Doesn't? - I have been fortunate enough to visit factories throughout Italy, Scandinavia, Germany, England and France, and some of what I have seen is extraordinary. I have walked the factory floors, met the craftspeople and watched the attention that goes into these products. There is a culture of craftsmanship surrounding many of these companies that is almost impossible to reproduce.
- Nevers Launches Voltear: Large Executive Mobile Flip Tables Built to Transform Flexible Spaces - The Voltear series takes its name from the Spanish word voltear, meaning “to turn, to flip, to transform.” That concept is at the heart of the collection. Despite their substantial size, the tables are designed to move, nest, flip, and store with ease.
- UPFRONT: Green Hides Presents Stardust - Hair-on-Hide, Made to Shine. Each hide begins with premium natural hair-on-hide and then undergoes an advanced foil-transfer process that applies a delicate metallic dusting across its surface.
- Architecture & Design Film Festival Opens Its 2026/2027 Season in New York City at MoMA With Groundbreaking Films About Design Legacy, Reinvention, and What Comes Next - 2026/2027 Season Expands to Detroit as ADFF Marks 18 Years With Its Largest-Ever Global Lineup - The festival will open with the world premiere of MUNDO FRÁGIL at MoMA. Filmmakers Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine spent a week with Chilean architect Smiljan Radić, traveling across his country to explore what he thinks is important.
- Chicago Workplace Firms Turn Surplus Office Furniture Into Community Impact - Wurkwel Ventures' "Creating a Better Tomorrow" Initiative Supports Big Shoulders Fund Office Transformation / Office Furniture Center-Chicago donates a full floor of office furniture while MAC Relocations provides installation services to help support Big Shoulders Fund's new workspace.
- PLACES - Flowork Coworking Office – Dubai | Some projects are special because of what you build. Others are special because of who you build them for and also because they challenge you to think differently when design and engineering go hand in hand.
- INDUSTRY PULSE & FIRST LOOKS - Renson North America Announces Brandon Lucas as Southeast Regional Sales Director / Western New York's Largest Interior Design Trade Show Returns / Commercial Furniture Transport Selected as HNI Preferred Installer Network Partner for New York Metro
- New In Classifieds - Your Next Career Move May Be Closer Than You Think | The Viscusi Group is recruiting accomplished sales professionals and leaders for opportunities with leading, commercial furniture and interiors manufacturers across the U.S. You don't need to be actively "looking," to consider an exceptional opportunity. The best career moves are often explored before a change becomes necessary. Read more on page 87.
- New In Classifieds - Independent Reps Wanted | Ergonomic Comfort Design is an established ergonomic seating company with a strong base of business in Southern California for over 32 years. Known for high quality, high performance ergonomics, exceptional service and competitive pricing, we are expanding our presence in Northern California and the west coast. Read more on page 86.
- New In Classifieds - President - Cincinnati, Ohio | Centennial is partnering with Loth, Inc. who is seeking a visionary, enterprise‑minded President to lead a diversified portfolio of companies, including two multi‑location commercial furniture dealerships, a related service company and an ATM installation company. This executive will shape strategy, elevate operational excellence, strengthen culture, and drive long‑term enterprise value across all business units. The President provides strategic leadership, operational oversight, and cultural direction—ensuring each company thrives in its market while leveraging shared systems, leadership standards, financial discipline, and enterprise‑wide initiatives. Please click on the link to learn more and apply: President Role. Read more on page 86.
- So Much More Every Week - Industry Moments, Industry Portfolio, Industry Events, Industry Classifieds & Careers
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