Our Story
Our journey began shortly after the lockdowns from the pandemic.
Prior to the pandemic, some firms had work-from-home employees. When office shutdowns began and almost everyone was working from home, we started thinking about how to get people back to the office again.
For a while, it seemed invigorating to work from home. Then both employees and employers began to have second thoughts. For some tasks, working from home was a success. For others, the loss of camaraderie, interaction, and group-think reduced effectiveness.
It was quickly obvious the pandemic was accelerating change in what we value about our workplace. Safety, health and well-being, privacy, teamwork … all these issues were receiving renewed scrutiny.
Then we came to understand something we did not expect … we could design furniture powered with batteries and NOT with 120V wiring. This meant we could incorporate features for mobility, easy installation, easy reconfiguration, and adapt to buildings that lack electrical infrastructure.
Work habits will never be the same
August Berres, a furniture maker from Bavaria, emigrated to the United States in 1852, settling in Northwest Missouri in 1866. He was proud of his work and marked all his pieces with an “AB” by carving his initials or using a branding iron.
He primarily built furniture using solid walnut. Certain pieces included carved wooden drawer pulls, carved table bases, and mirrors. He was systematic in his approach to designing furniture and used many interchangeable components. The breadth of his abilities extended to caskets and he also served as an undertaker. (We’re probably not going to do that)
We stylized the “AB” image to create our logo.
Like August Berres, we want to show pride in our work. We decided to adopt his practice and put our logo on the furniture too..
We chose a name from the past for the future
Our Respond! products are made in West Michigan, the epicenter of the office furniture manufacturing industry in the USA. We use a professional contract manufacturing partner that understands the quality and delivery expectations for commercial office furniture.
Our supply chain is primarily local to West Michigan. Several second-tier and third-tier suppliers serve others in the industry. The selection of suppliers and design of our supply chain is crafted to incorporate the best technology, best quality, best cost, and most responsive partners in the industry.
