Making the office a place where people really want to be can prove challenging for many employers in today's hybrid-working landscape. Creating a physical environment where they feel stimulated, will thrive, feel mentally positive and consistently productive can go a long way to achieving this.

In our blog 5 WAYS IN WHICH FLOORING CAN IMPROVE WORKPLACE WELL-BEING we referenced how naturalistic, or ‘biophilic’ inspired workplace interiors help calm the senses and promote positive mental health in employees. Exploring this idea further, in this blog we consider what this means for today’s workplace interiors and how the latest development in floor coverings can help you achieve biophilic bliss.

Attracting workers back into the office environment has been a challenge for many businesses since the pandemic. For those that have succeeded, ensuring employees continue to feel motivated, fulfilled and want to stay presents a whole new challenge.

Between sleeping, commuting and working, it’s easy to see how we spend an average of 90% of our time indoors. Thanks to the pandemic, we’re also now much more aware of the impact that air quality can have on our health, particularly in the workplace. For companies, the importance of good air quality for employees’ comfort and well-being should not be underestimated. While we explore this further on in this blog, let’s first understand what we mean by 'poor indoor air quality' and how careful interior specification of floor coverings in particular can help.

Workplace well-being is now an integral part of many corporate agendas. While a business’s culture and operational practices are crucial to ensuring employees feel safe, healthy and supported, the physical space in which they work can also play an incredibly important role. While well-being initiatives often focus on improving engagement between employees, what about engagement with the environment in which they work?

Milliken has strong roots in the North West with its European carpet tile manufacturing and design facility being based in Wigan, Lancashire, where all of their flooring collections for Europe, India and Africa are made. Now it’s even easier for interior designers and architects to learn more about Milliken’s floor covering innovations as Milliken become one of the newest partners to join Material Source Studio, a world class product and materials hub. The Material Source Studio is situated in the Grade II listed Hanover Building in NOMA, Manchester. 

Reading time: 5 mins

I have experienced the interior environment in Higher Education (HE) as a designer, senior lecturer, parent of students and latterly as a postgraduate student. This has provided me with a range of perspectives from marvelling at my son’s en-suite bathroom (and noticing the cost) to wincing as students cut card on new studio tables. 

In today’s blog, we feature Decor Floor Hungary, and Tirza spoke with us about the company, their favourite collections, an exciting project, and what’s most important to their customers.

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Reading Time : 3 mins

100 days of lock-down, we find ourselves living under the microscope. Our lives have shrunk, and we have had to adapt to a new way of life, tucked away in the safety of our homes. Customer Experience Manager, Mental First Aider and Yoga Professional, Urva Soni who is based full time in our London showroom shares her personal experiences, as she returns to work, in Clerkenwell London.

Today we are shining the spotlight on AQINA, our partner in Poland, and Marcin spoke with us about working with Milliken, how a strong product portfolio really helps win projects and about some recent exciting projects.