Remember the days of bulky cubicles, desktop computers, stacks of paper, and filing cabinets everywhere? Or oversized conference tables and heavy workstations that weren’t going anywhere? It’s safe to say the workplace has come a long way.
As NBS and Steelcase celebrate 50 years of partnership, we’re taking a little trip down memory lane to look back at five Steelcase innovations that helped shape the way we work. And while the office looks a lot different than it did decades ago, Steelcase proves that great design never goes out of style.
“The workplace has changed dramatically over the last 50 years, but the best innovations are those that adapt alongside people,” stated David Cooper, Vice President, Product Portfolio and Development at Steelcase. “Lasting innovation is built through ongoing collaboration with customers and dealer partners who help us understand how work continues to evolve. By translating those insights into solutions that help individuals and teams do their best work, Steelcase creates products that remain relevant for decades and continue to shape workplaces across generations.”
Designed for change. Built to evolve.
It’s 1998. The internet is becoming a staple in the workplace, technology is transforming how we work, and no one knows quite what the office of the future will look like. Enter Answer, a modular panel system designed to grow, shift, and adapt as organizations evolve. With a legacy of continuous innovation and product enhancements, Answer was created to stand the test of time.
Comfort that moves with you.
We lean, reach, shift, recline, and occasionally catch ourselves slouching. So why should we have to adapt to our chairs instead of the other way around? As Steelcase’s best-selling office chair, Leap changed the game with its innovative LiveBack technology and Natural Glide System, designed to support the body’s natural movement. More than two decades later, we’re still moving, and Leap is still moving with us.
Making room for focus in the open plan.
As open offices grew in popularity, collaboration became easier than ever. But finding a place to focus? Not so much. Brody WorkLounge addressed this challenge by creating a personal zone with ergonomic support, visual privacy, lighting, and a work surface, all without needing four walls. Designed to support both the brain and the body (hence the name), Brody brought a new level of comfort and cognitive focus to the workplace. It gave people something we still value today: the freedom to choose how and where they work best.
Created for teams on the move.
Work used to be pretty predictable: all meetings happened in the same conference room, and individual work took place at your desk. But by 2019, teams needed spaces that could easily shift from casual brainstorming to formal presentations to independent work, often all in the same day. The Steelcase Flex Collection answered with mobile tables, screens, whiteboards, and more, empowering teams to rearrange their space as quickly as their needs changed. And with the rise of hybrid and agile work, that flexibility became even more valuable.
Bringing people together, even when they’re miles apart.
Remember when virtual meetings went from occasional to everyday? Suddenly, traditional conference tables weren’t cutting it, especially when half the team was joining remotely. Ocular reimagined the meeting experience with thoughtfully curved tables designed to improve camera visibility, eye contact, and connection between in-person and remote participants. Today, the collection continues to evolve with new shapes, sizes, and technology-enabled solutions, because everyone deserves a seat at the table, whether they’re in the room or not.
From Leap’s responsive ergonomics to Flex’s dynamic team environments, all of these solutions share a common purpose: creating better experiences for people at work. Over the past 50 years, the workplace has changed dramatically, and so have the solutions designed to support it. Through our longstanding partnership, NBS and Steelcase have helped organizations navigate these changes, rethink what’s possible, and create spaces that adapt to the people who use them.
The way we work will never stop evolving. Shouldn’t our workplaces evolve with us? Contact us to explore what’s next for your space.
