PRATT TEAM DESIGNS WEST ELM COLLECTION
The Pratt Collection displayed at a west elm store
Modern home furnishings retailer west elm and Pratt have launched the Pratt Home Office collection, an eco-friendly office collection created in collaboration with the Pratt Design Incubator for Sustainable Innovation. The centerpiece of the collection is a simple and highly functional desk made with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood. The collection also includes a chair, file unit, wall shelf and accessories set, and table lamp.
The collaboration between west elm and Pratt Institute, both Brooklyn-based organizations, began as a friendly competition between two groups of Pratt industrial design students. They were challenged to create a line of office furniture for west elm that embodied the brand’s mandate to “live a little greener every day.”
The design brief required the Pratt designers to develop a desk, chair, and lamp using sustainably grown and harvested wood, or recycled wood materials. The designers were also charged with using other eco-friendly materials and processes, such as non-toxic glues and water-based stains. In addition, the desk lamp had to use energy-efficient Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology.
Both teams presented their proposals to the west elm design group and continued to work with the company in an apprentice-type relationship.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to introduce the Pratt Home Office collection as our latest west elm collaboration,” said Paulo Kos (M.I.D. ’02), director of furniture design at west elm and lead designer for the Pratt collaboration. “As a Pratt graduate myself, I am especially excited to see that the Pratt designers were innovative in their process and design, and the final result truly embodies our brand principles. The collection is well-designed, affordable, and sustainable.”
"The students had literally just taken off their caps and gowns," said Debera Johnson, director of The Pratt Design Incubator for Sustainable Innovation. “We brought them together to work on the west elm project as they were making the transition from student to professional. It was a remarkable collaboration, and the results really show how Pratt has prepared them for their careers.”
The Pratt Office collection is available in west elm stores, on westelm.com and in the west elm catalog. The Pratt design team included Alex Binsted (B.I.D. ’09), Gregory Buntain (B.I.D. ’08), Sally Ann Corn (B.I.D. ’09), Evan Dublin (B.I.D. ’09), Sara Ebert (B.I.D. ’09), Rachel Feeser (B.I.D. ’09), Zachary Feltoon (B.I.D. ’08), Joseph Kent (B.I.D. ’09), Brian Persico (B.I.D. ’09), Jason Pfaeffle (B.I.D. ’09), Vanessa Robinson (M.I.D. ’10), Grace Souky (M.I.D. ’09), and David Wright (B.I.D. ’08).
The collaboration received coverage in The New York Times, the July issue of Interior Design magazine as well as on the blogs Apartment Therapy, Tree Hugger, and Core77.
Photo by Diana Pau
Gateway Editors
Reader Comments (11)
Thank you for sharing ur post,so nice
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a big help on saving our environment. utilizing materials that come from nature is big help on the global warming issue.
Thanks for sharing! Very nice interior design! An eco-friendly and recycled materials used to build the store. I think it is well-designed store.
director of furniture design at west elm and lead designer for the Pratt collaboration??
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Cool post very informative I just found your blog and read through a few posts although this is my first comment, I’ll be including it in my favorites and visit again for sure.
The Pratt home office collection is very nice. I've been looking to remodel my office ever since I found out that I'll be moving. Seeing your desks and office furtinature has been helpful for me to decide on what I want my new office to look like.
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Warren Trollis
This is really a well designed store and I like the simplicity of the furniture. As always sometimes less is more - nice work. Thanks for sharing this great picture.
Great post