HBF together with visionary Swedish architect Henrik Schulz will offer new additions to the Scandinavian-inspired seating series: the Mod Collection. HBF’s best-selling lounge collection to date, Mod epitomizes plannable, refined interior possibilities for contemporary spaces. Conceived with a humanistic approach, the collection comprises handsomely designed contract seating solutions that look and feel “at home” in public spaces while allowing for various scalable seating arrangements for both lounge and work applications. Further offering a modern approach to both work and downtime, the new Mod Highback and new height options from Mod Work will launch on September 8, 2022.
Keeping the comfort of Work From Home (WFH) in mind, the Mod Highback showcases a dynamic duality for ideal relaxation and active productivity that goes “beyond the desk.” With three options, Mod Highback Lounge Chair, Mod Highback Two-Seater Sofa, an Mod Highback Three-Seater Sofa, the collection is designed to minimize distractions and encourage focused work, delivering a privacy-lounge experience that integrates seamlessly into the Mod series and any open-plan space. Offering a sense of both visual and acoustic privacy, its refined materials and architectural form provide users with a respite from the modern workplace that looks and feels right at home in contract, hospitality, and public spaces.
Meanwhile, Mod Work offers new height options to experience a new standard in comfortable collaboration and communication, pairing perfectly with laptop tables and low occasional tables. The entire Mod Collection can now be configured for a tailored work experience at the "relaxed" 16" standard or the more "engaged" 18½" seat height. These two different leg heights offer unparalleled comfort by allowing users to adapt their workspace to fit their unique needs, allowing them to enjoy formal or informal gatherings with flexibility and comfort.
Engineered with serviceability, interchangeability, and long-term maintenance in mind, all of Mod’s seat, back, and arm cushions are crafted for circularity and can be removed from the Mod panel assembly independently to be replaced, repaired, or refreshed. For additional flexibility, any particular unit within Mod can be equipped with power underneath the seat - adjacent to the leg, inset slightly for convenience - without distracting from the beauty of each piece.
As the great ‘Return to Office’ continues to confound organizations that seek to bolster company culture in real life with a pre-pandemic playbook, HBF offers a solution to empower designers to deliver high-quality, commute-worthy work landscapes with its new Mod designs. Tapping into a design strategy rooted in the concept of ‘New Hospitality for Work’, HBF layers vibrant, amenities-driven product applications onto today’s fluid workplaces. With the Mod Work and Mod Highback offering healthful ergonomics, flexibility, and choice at their core, the new designs help foster purposeful encounters and communication exchanges among colleagues.
“From the start, Mod was designed for use in all spaces, including contract, commercial, and residential,” says Adrian Parra, HBF’s new Creative Director. “So the collection was well-suited for the post-pandemic environment, and it only made sense to expand and offer new and multifunctional designs, blurring the lines between the hospitality, office, and home.”
“The workplace has changed a lot, especially after the pandemic, and it has to be more attractive than before,” says Schulz. “People are not comfortable in cubicles anymore. They want to feel at home and at the same time be a part of a group. There must be a reason for people to get back to work, companies will have to fight harder in the future to attract new employees and office design is one way of doing just that. That is why we created a flexible piece that works in any space.”
Mod is available in a wide range of hospitality-inspired, high-performance HBF Textiles, including bleach-cleanable woven textiles, performance-coated fabrics, and luxurious full-grain leathers. The leg components are available in various finishes (Solar Black, White, Gray, and Polished Chrome) and come equipped with a leveling glide that allows for ¾” inches of adjustment to accommodate unlevel floor conditions.