Swipe Right Into Tinder’s 7-Story West Hollywood Headquarters

Tinder’s new headquarters in West Hollywood, California designed by Rapt Studio could be imagined as a thoughtful response to the transformative changes that have affected the corporate workplace dynamics the last few years. The seven-story, 77,000-square-foot project, handled by the same creative consultancy responsible for developing other creative spaces for the likes of Google, Dropbox, and Vans, is imagined to reestablish the pandemic-frayed ties that bind individuals into creative collaborative teams – and by extension, between the app users they seek to support – designing a multi-level headquarters layered with a multitude of opportunities for collaboration and connection.

Rapt Studio began the project by researching existing public space typologies, from the town square to the speakeasy, that empower a progressive deepening of ties that bind workers with their work in an organic manner.

Modeled after a town square, The Commons is the largest and most expansive of the spaces, and also the entry point into Tinder’s new headquarters. The airy environment is intended to encourage casual interactions and large enough to accommodate for company-wide gatherings.

The café — or “Boost Bar” — sits on the second floor, giving employees access to the skills of an in-house barista, and in turn providing an informal space to work away from the desk.

The IT help desk is fashioned after the nostalgic memories of the neighborhood arcade.

Diffuse lighting, custom modular furniture on wheels, and walls clad in top-to-bottom whiteboards all inhabit La Galleria, a room drawing its atmosphere from the workshops and displays of an artist studio.

Floor six is dedicated to quieter activities and appropriately demarcated as The Stacks, a tranquil communal space fashioned after a library.

Deep blue hues across plush fabrics, with curvilinear walls and curtains framing windows overlooking the LA skyline give the pinnacle seventh floor a nightclub vibe. Seating arrangements are situated to encourage engagement within intimate groups – a “secret” employee getaway of sorts.

“Connection is at the heart of the Tinder brand,” says Rapt Studio CEO and Chief Creative Officer David Galullo. “To design a space that deepens connection within Tinder, we looked to the places where we typically build relationships and then mapped them onto a floor plan. The end project emphasizes how design itself can be a force of connection.”

Tinder’s new HQ shares some similarities to Rapt Studio’s previous project, The Schoolhouse, a creative office for The Google School for Leaders. Each share the goal to spur informal engagements between team members by carving out both shared and intimate spaces, and furnished to empower employees to adapt those spaces to their needs on an as-needed basis.

Flote + Opus Give a Modern Edge to Group Seating

Comfort and high design collide in Hightower’s new Flote and Opus seating collections. Both are distinct and delightful with contemporary yet timeless aesthetics and the shared feeling of being embraced.

Flote brings the support, comfort, and easy relaxation of a pool float to its sofa and lounge. The team at Hightower went through extensive prototyping during the design phase to create that just-right sit. The Flote Sofa features a generous seat that’s large enough to seat three adults comfortably, making it a great fit for a group setting, whether that’s in a commercial or residential setting. Both the Flote Sofa and Flote Lounge bring a sense of lightness to users, with their curves, extended lumbar support, and inspired details making both easy to love.

Make Flote your own with unique seam and finish options. With the choice of an oversized welt, chunky zipper, or classic double-needle stitch, the collection can be customized to suit any space on the spectrum, from traditional to trendy.

Opus is Hightower’s contemporary take on the classic club chair that’s as comfortable as it is beautiful. Minimal and versatile, its seating can provide a sense of seclusion with its small footprint. The collection includes a chair and a lounge chair, both with a metal frame and upholstered seat and back.

Both designs feature a slender frame that adds a visual lightness, and either can be utilized in a conference room or at a dining table, complementing any aesthetic while doing so. Opus allows the rest of the space’s design choices shine while providing a classic yet modern edge. Choose from numerous finish options to make this collection work in spaces of all uses and sizes.

Bring together Opus’ simple style by taking advantage of optional contrasting fabrics on the back and seat, as well as custom frame colors. Whether it’s monochrome or high contrast, this collection makes it work and looks good doing it.

To learn more about Flote or Opus seating, visit hightoweraccess.com.

The BOB Sofa System Continues Expanding Its Versatility

Blå Station is once again adding to the brand’s BOB Family – times three! BOB Solo, BOB Biz, and BOB Corner, each designed by Stefan Borselius and Thomas Bernstrand, have the ability to make the office a more versatile, worker-friendly space with their presence. Without further ado, let’s explore the details behind the designs.

BOB Solo gives one the ability to roam about at will, thanks to a set of wheels underneath its base. Two padded screens enclose the sides of the cubicle, leaving the seat and armrests on the interior. “BOB Solo is a room in the room, a nook for privacy,” says Borselius, who together with Bernstrand created the fully independent addition. A small table in massive oak is the ideal size for a laptop, book, and documents, while smaller shelves, coat hooks, cupholders, and a foldable steel table are also within reach when needed. And if your worry is connectivity, rest easy knowing there are no extension cables in BOB Solo’s design. Instead, a detachable power bank wirelessly charges smartphones, laptops, and the BOB Light Mini.

For those times when you need to collaborate in the office, there’s BOB Biz. A great setup for face-to-face meetings, brainstorming, and more, the padded screens help to create an enclosed space with good acoustics where work gets done. Versatile and flexible, BOB Biz can accommodate anywhere from two people up – just keep adding sections to increase the size. The padded screens are available in both open and closed designs.

BOB Corner is an important addition to the adaptable BOB sofa system because it now adds the ability to create 90-degree angle connections. It also allows for plants, tables, and more to be inserted into the system for better workability. BOB Corner is available as a square seat with backrests that will join together in the chosen direction.

To learn more about BOB Solo, BOB Biz, and BOB Corner, visit blastation.com.

3form’s 2023 Color Collection Nails Down Hard-to-Find Hues

Color is a very subjective quality in the eye of the beholder but leading materials manufacturer 3form continues to prove that it has its finger on the pulse when it comes to creating and curating colors that the design community is looking for. For its 2023 Color Collection, the brand is adding 10 new pastel hues to its permanent color system, offering new ways to brighten up commercial environments. “Color is at the core of what we do, and this collection allowed us to be more introspective about the meaning of color in our lives,” shares Ryan Smith, 3form’s Chief Creative Officer.

The new collection is inspired by the four seasons and the emotions they evoke, like the blues of a winter day and the purple tones found in spring. To begin the process of expanding its color system, the design team at 3form first laid out swatches of current colors in order to identify missing colors. They noticed an opportunity to introduce soft, subtle versions of their saturated tones and, in the end, settled on 10 new hues: Lavish, Graceland, Alta, Smolder, Honeycomb, Rhubarb, Talc, Cedarwood, Adobe, and Comet.

The colors can be applied to 3form’s Varia, Chroma, and Glass platforms that can be constructed into partitions, wall accents, reception desk wraps, ceiling features, and more for public spaces like offices, hotels, schools, hospitals, and wellness centers. The translucency of 3form’s materials brings the colors to life, especially when natural light, which gradually changes throughout the day, diffuses through.

For more information on 3form’s 2023 Color Collection, head to 3-form.com.

SPACE10’s New Headquarters Is Very Community-Centric

SPACE10 is looking a little different since we visited it last. The Copenhagen-based research and design lab recently unveiled its redesigned headquarters completed in collaboration with architecture and design studio Spacon & X. While two levels of the three-floor building will remain the same, with the basement as a fabrication laboratory/tech studio and the top floor as a workspace for the SPACE10 team, the main floor has been fully transformed into a community-centric space, even more so then before. New additions, including a public library with a take-a-book-leave-a-book system, foster an environment that’s conducive for community exchange and creative ideation.

Inspired by the concept of a newsstand, the public library with its modular racks and displays will feature 100 books, magazines, and titles for kids – all hand-selected by the SPACE10 team, as well as input from guest curators and the community. This selection will change throughout the year with new, relevant titles. A book exchange is also available where guests can simply leave a book and take a different one home. The racks, made from locally-sourced organic wood, wool, and Danish-produced aluminum, add a delightful pop of color to the white tiled space.

Our methodology has always centered on involving people in research and design processes in order to continue to diversify our perspectives and create solutions that truly matter for the many. We learned in a recent SPACE10 survey that 87% of our community follow us for ‘inspiration and new ideas’, while 59% want to be part of a ‘like-minded community.’ This felt like an opportunity to provide the community with a physical space that can be used for research, discussions, and meetups, and share books we at SPACE10 find inspiring and that are shaping our own conversations and projects. We want to foster spaces where people and ideas can meet, and what better than a library to provide serendipitous encounters and conversations on a daily basis.

– Kevin Curran, Spatial Design & Partnerships at SPACE10

Next to the library is a kiosk where visitors can check out and purchase local drinks and snacks while they enjoy the space. Guests can also buy a souvenir from a curated selection of design objects including stationery, homewares, toys, books, and SPACE10 merchandise.

The rest of the space will function as usual. A program of events, always free to attend, will continue to highlight new guests and cultivate a space for discussion, conversation, and inspiration. The gallery area will host two exhibitions a year, with this year’s The Ideal City 2040 installation currently on view through spring 2023. Around the floor, various seating options, from window stools to reading nooks, allow guests to relax, enjoy a coffee, work, study, or check out the books from the featured library.

Photos by Seth Nicolas unless otherwise noted.

The Passport Work Table Brings Flexibility to Offices at Home + Beyond

Height-adjustable tables are hardly anything new. These days, they’re found beyond contract spaces in many home offices and lauded for their flexibility in providing variety and comfort to those needing to maximize their productivity. However, they are sometimes a bit of an eyesore, require access to power or feel to cumbersome to adjust manually, and they often take up a lot of space. Herman Miller’s latest offering, the Passport Work Table, takes away these pain points and adds in much needed flexibility and adjustability for those looking to level up their productivity, whether at home or in the office.

If Goldilocks were to test today’s office desk solutions, she would say that the Passport Work Table was “just right” in terms of footprint and space. The surface is large enough for your essentials (laptop, notebook, a drink of choice). Any larger and you start to impede on the flexibility of the table to fit in small spaces or the mobility of it to maneuver around the home, the latter aided by the single-column base and lightweight construction. Accessories like bag hooks and privacy screens can be added if those types of needs are necessary in a specific office (or section of the office) but they don’t increase the table’s footprint.

While there are times a larger work surface is needed, there are perhaps even more occasions when a user just needs to carve out a small space that can be easily put away afterwards (like in a home) or pulled up for an impromptu meeting (like at the workplace). The Passport Work Tables’s small size is, indeed, its biggest flex for today’s hybrid work environments.

Passport is available in two sizes: one with a height adjustment range of 12” with a 22×16″ work surface, the other with a height adjustment range of 18” and a 27×20” work surface. At a starting price of $600, Passport also offers a wide range of finishes, colors, and additional customization through accessories which help to create the perfect work desk for any office style.

For more information on the Passport Work Table, visit hermanmiller.com.

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These Transparent Vases Seem To Stretch + Disappear Into Nothing

Artist and Chief Designer of Desz Office, Bo Zhang just made us do a double take with his latest series. The Stretch Color collection looks like an optical illusion but is a set of three fully functioning vases. The designer’s “obsession with the color of the reconstruction space” led to the fantastical design. By using a gradation of colors and the shape of a curve, Zhang achieves the idea of objects being stretched to the point of disappearing.

Depending on your perspective, the vases seem to switch between 2D and 3D. The gradients go from deep to light to colorless transparency while the contour trains your eye to follow the effect of the illusion.

Stretch Color was awarded Best of Year 2022 by Interior Design Magazine.

To learn more about Stretch Color vases, visit deszoffice.com.

A Modern Polish Office Design Inspired by a Silicone Spatula

When it came time to design their new office in Poznań, Poland, FORMSON hired Polish design studio SPACELAB, led by architect Agnieszka Deptuła. The main source of the design’s inspiration came about on a visit to the company’s headquarters where they spotted bins of silicone spatulas that FORMSON manufactures. Seeing the identically shaped kitchen utensils all together gave them the idea of mounting thousands of them on different walls as three-dimensional advertisements using their own products.

FORMSON, known for their colorful kitchen equipment, carried the same vibe into their office space with the use of PANTONE colors. While the entry and staircase leading to the office is monochrome, vibrant colors greet guests as soon as they step inside.

At front and center is a vibrant structure in PANTONE 2117C with a red ‘Hello’ behind a sea of matching spatulas jutting out from the wall.

The purple-blue hue shows up throughout the office, interspersed with black and white stripes, and electric PANTONE Living Coral 15-1646.

SPACELAB made use of another product made by FORMSON – perforated trivets – hung on the walls in the conference room. Used in a repeat pattern, the item becomes part of a dramatic backdrop that would never lead one to think they’re anything but a wall covering.

The colorful bathrooms are given the same playful treatment with the PANTONE colors continuing on along with white square tiles and black grout.

Photos by MOIZ.

The Les Mille et Une Nuits Workplace Collection Turns Matisse 3D

The task of translating a masterful painting into three-dimensional objects is no small feat, as Guillaume Delvigne can likely tell you. Created for Maison Matisse, the French designer reimagined Henri Matisse’s 1950 painting “Les Mille et Une Nuits” into a collection by the same name for today’s workspaces. These are the first office accessories being offered by the brand, and they are functional, versatile, and expressive. Les Mille et Une Nuits, the collection, made its debut in Paris at Maison & Objet, January 18-23, 2023.

“It was really important for me that the results were not rigid, because that would not have been in the spirit of Matisse, and to instead create movement and make the collection dynamic,” says Delvigne.

He borrowed the essence of Matisse’s painting, particularly the original scissor-cut shapes and bold fields of color, to design the office collection. Using blocks of sliced cork, a very sustainable material, stools, trays, shelves, and more, soon took their forms. Veritable 3D objects of the artist’s paper-cuts!

To learn more about the Les Mille et Une Nuits collection, visit maison-matisse.com.

Wire Grids Visually Break up the Open Layout of This Flatiron Office

Brooklyn- and San Francisco-based interdisciplinary design studio Office of Tangible Space recently completed the global headquarter office of ScienceIO, a healthcare AI platform that transforms medical text into data that can help improve patient care. The new interiors are bright, airy, and inviting, thanks to its material palette of oak, stone, and lime wash. Several distinctive features, including custom white wire grid room dividers and custom furnishings, set the office parts from similar project types.

While there’s no shortage of natural light in this office, OTS created custom standing desks that feature a curved armature that holds a pendant lamp. This allows the desk to be raised or lowered without affecting the height or rewiring of the lamp in case the desk needs to be moved. This hybrid desk typology frees the user from the restraints of typical desk solutions and offers flexibility and mobility while working.

The wire room dividers help to designate zones within the open layout of the office without completely blocking off the rooms, while also adding spatial and visual interest in a minimalistic way.

A variety of minimalist pendant fixtures can be found throughout the office. Some add a bold impact with their size or color, others fade from the ceiling as to avoid drawing the eyes up towards the convoluted maze of piping and duct vents.

Lush greenery and wood furnishings add natural textures and tones to the mostly white office. In the conference room, a calming accent wall painted in a grassy lime wash repeats the zen-like theme.

Project Team of Michael Yarinsky, Kelley Perumbeti, Zoë Mowat.
Photos by Charlie Schuck.

A 1940s Pink Villa Becomes New Home for Luca Nichetto’s Studio

Over the course of a year, designer Luca Nichetto renovated a 1940s pink villa to become his new studio in Stockholm, Sweden. No signs are on display – it looks like a regular house to the average passerby – but the locals now know of it as the Pink Villa. While its pink exterior definitely piques curiosity, it’s the interior that really draws you in.

The renovation and refurbishment of the home began in 2021, along with the interior design, which was done in house. From the sofas to the chairs to the lighting to the plant holders, most of the furnishings throughout were designed by Luca himself.

In the living room, the royal blue Arflex Banah sofa pops with two additional chairs and a bold yellow Float table from La Chance.

Downstairs, pale pink walls set the tone and give nod to the home’s exterior.

A meeting room resides on the ground floor with black Robo Chairs from Offecct. Colorful pieces of glass are displayed throughout adding more color and visual interest.

Upstairs there is Luca’s personal office and additional workspaces for the rest of Nichetto’s team, along with more of his designs, including the Mjölk Réunion lamp (above) and the blue/gray Nico armchair from Bernhardt Design (below).

On weekdays, the Pink Villa is used as Nichetto Studio’s offices and then on weekends the family uses it as a vacation home in the country. An old garage has transformed into a guest room, named the Chalet, with its own living room, bedroom, and bathroom complete with a Swedish sauna.

The new studio is just a seven minute walk to the water and a green area, Branterna, is just a minute away, making it a peaceful place to work or visit.

Photos by Max Rommel.