Steelcase Partners to Relaunch West Elm Office Brand
Just days before NeoCon descends upon Chicago, Steelcase is busy back in Grand Rapids, dotting the Is and crossing the Ts on a brand-new partnership with West Elm, which calls for the office giant and the fast-growing William Sonoma lifestyle brand to collaborate on the design, manufacturing and distribution of the chain’s West Elm Workspace collection.
While details are still being finalized, Steelcase expects to rebrand the collection as Steelcase | West Elm, and make the assortment available through its extensive dealer network in the United States and Canada by year’s end. “We share an ethos of improving the physical, cognitive and emotional wellbeing of people at work,” says Allan Smith, vice president of global marketing at Steelcase.
West Elm Workspace vice president Cheryl Carpenter touts her brand’s astute understanding of consumer preferences “from lifestyle to workstyle,” adding, “We will create customer experiences that leverage our differentiated design and shared commitment to world-class innovation.”
The alliance comes three years after West Elm’s fruitful partnership with Steelcase’s Designtex brand, which extended the retailer’s reach into contract-grade textiles. It also follows the 2015 launch of West Elm Workspace, which was originally produced by InScape, a relationship that ended earlier this year.
