by Brianna Crandall — July 17, 2017 — Kimball Office, a design-driven brand unit of Kimball International, announced the launch of the Narrate open-plan panel system collection and several other new products at its Chicago showroom across from the Merchandise Mart last month. Kimball Office is a well-known eco-conscious and forward-focused furniture maker that blends state-of-the-art technology with a rich heritage of craft to better optimize workplace performance and enable customers to craft a truly authentic brand experience.
Narrate open-plan panel system collection
The innovative Narrate collection expands the company’s open-plan product offering. While panel systems serve many purposes, Narrate is a design-centric furniture offering that provides customers with a wide range of workplace functionality options as well as aesthetic choices to address today’s need for flexible and responsive workspaces.
With a crisp, clean aesthetic, Narrate offers a wide range of complementary components and products; its end panel system can be outfitted with customized graphics, mixed materials, layered panels, seamed panels and more.
Narrate was thoughtfully designed and developed to allow designers and specifiers to effortlessly create custom work areas and tailor configurations for clients with design in mind.
Wendy Murray, director of Marketing for Kimball Office, stated:
Our Narrate collection inspires designers and end-users to have a completely different visual respect for the panel system. While panel systems serve a variety of functions, and are still very popular in today’s work environments, they are usually very similar in style and offer little in the terms of design appeal. Narrate changes all of that.
Narrate, said to epitomize the future of adaptable design, has a crisp, clean aesthetic and provides designers a flexible open-plan furniture offering. With a more relevant approach to the traditional panel system, one of the collection’s key features is the ability to customize end panels.
Narrate is designed to be an integral component to the open-workstation design layout, using end panels to make a statement, insert a variety of materials, or punctuate specific work zones. Narrate’s end panel system can be outfitted with customized graphics, mixed materials, layered panels, seamed panels and more.
The collection also allows designers to incorporate “shelters” to create visual interest or acoustical separation, or to encourage private thinking areas. The Narrate collection integrates other iconic Kimball Office collections including the Traxx collection.
Additional key features of the Narrate Collection include:
- Kimball Office’s Traxx system can be used with Narrate to allow infinite placement of thin horizontal support brackets for off-module placement of furniture, which the company notes is important in the open plan.
- Stackable frames and transition posts allow the panel height to be changed without having to dismantle the system for ease of re-configurability.
- One- and two-high stackable frames can span multiple panels allowing glass tiles to extend over multiple frames, resulting in a new perspective of the traditional panel system.
- Option to embed a monitor behind back-painted glass tile for a clean, functional aesthetic.
- Incorporate static or height-adjustable desks with stationary or mobile storage.
- Technology is conveniently and efficiently integrated throughout the entire collection.
- Full tiles to the floor (with electrical capabilities on inside) are also a viable option.
Visit Kimball’s Narrate product page to see photos of the various configurations possible, or the company’s Chicago 2017 page to view the other product introductions.
