The new 2010 catalogue...

We're really pleased to announce the new 2010 catalogue - for the first time it's been produced 'in house' and (we think) looks great! It features all of our most popular products - but not all of them - which have been chosen by our customers over the last year or so!

In addition to an 84 page A5 full colour printed catalogue (ask us for a copy if you haven't got one!) we have also launched the online version, with flip pages. This saves resources and helps keep costs and prices down. It also saves the environment too - whilst giving instant access to the catalogue too!

The prices shown are the list prices i.e. we will discount these prices for you - it's just really to give you an idea of the approximate price ranges. We do items which are higher and lower prices than what is shown, but these are the most popular as chosen by our customers.

Give us a call and we can guide you through the process and make sure you get the best options and the best prices.

The snow....

Oh joy of joys - the snow stops play again!

It's that time of year when we get a few flakes of snow, and the whole of the UK stops. Okay - so the temperatures last night were down to -17 degrees, so fairly cold.

However, if you think it's difficult to get your car off your driveway - you should try getting HGV's, rear wheel drive vans and pallet trucks to work in the snow! Our own vehicles and the factory trucks have been having enormous problems. They are barely even able to leave the yards - with one manufacturer even using blow torches to try and defrost the wheels enough to even turn.

Of course it's not just the vehicles - staff travel issues have meant that production falls behind, scheduled deliveries are missed and have to be rescheduled. This has an enormous impact on everything, and whilst we are working very hard to minimise the impact on our customers - it's going to be hard. Whenever there is a flurry of snow, we brace ourselves for a few complaints. We do wish we could control the weather - and it's affects on our suppliers and distribution chain - but we can't. We can and do work very hard to run things as smoothly as possible - but in many ways our hands are tied.

We would ask our customers to be patient and bear with us - nobody wants unnecessary delays, as it's no good for anyone. Let's just hope the sun comes back soon.....

New MOKA range of executive furniture launched....

MOKA range of executive desking launched with Verve Workspace!

Verve Workspace are proud to announce that we have partnered with a European factory to bring you the MOKA range. The executive desk range is available in a very stylish Wenge, or Dark Walnut MFC finish. With 'floating tops' (when the top is suspended on aluminium rods to give the effect of being floating), silver detailing the range looks much more expensive than it is.

In addition to the bow front desks and rectangular desks - there are also meeting room tables and storage to match. The bow front desks start from just £267 + VAT, and a 2000mm long barrel shaped boardroom table from less than £400 + VAT.

The August shutdown..

In the office furniture industry - at this time of year at least - there is one phrase that can make a big difference to a project lead time. "Summer shutdown".

For the month of August - pretty much all the factories in Italy, Spain, France and mainland Europe close for the annual shutdown. The machines are cleaned and serviced, the systems revised and stock levels checked. To be fair - it's a pretty good idea. Whilst us Brits are sloggin our guts out in the August heat - the rest of Europe downs tools and goes on holiday!

This does affect the industry here in the UK though. If you are ordering furniture from an Italian factory and the lead time goes into August - you can basically add 3-4 weeks to the normal lead time. For example if the normal office furniture lead time is 4 weeks, and you order in mid July - you probably won't get the furniture until mid September.

There are ways round this in some ways - if you are dealing with a genuine furniture expert, they will advise you of the issue at the very beginning. They could use a UK factory, or make sure you know when the order needs to be in to get the last despatch before closedown. A day, or even a few hours can make the difference to getting that executive desk, or glass boardroom table when you need it.

That said, the Italians in particular make some amazing contemporary office furniture - and it is often well worth the wait!

Speak to Verve Workspace for some timely advice and friendly expertise. Our website is at www.verveworkspace.co.uk .

The importance of being honest with your office furniture suppliers!

It’s the question that everyone hates to be asked – or more importantly hates to answer – “What is your budget?”. When the sales person on the other end of the line asks you this it’s not always a bad thing. The immediate reaction from many people is to assume that the person asking is being mercenary and the question is designed to deign if you are worth talking to, or if you are a cheapskate. True, there are people that ask for that reason – and you are better off hanging up there and then – but for the most part it’s a genuine question. We all have a fear that if we say £500 is the budget – that the sales person will make the item be £499 (when 60 seconds before it was £399). Or that you will be losing out on your bargaining chip if you answer honestly. Equally sometimes we have no idea what the budget is, or needs to be! How often have you purchased a multifunction colour laser, multiple paper supply, self lubricating, portable printer? Not often anyway – so how the hell am I supposed to know what the budget is? But sometimes you need to understand why they are asking. If you imagine that a good independent office furniture supplier would have perhaps 150 ranges to choose from – and with an individual desk ranging from £60 to £5,000, you can see why they ask the question. They need to know what ‘ball park’ you need them to be in – although this may be answered by the other questions that a good sales person should be asking at the same time. The key with building a good relationship with a supplier is communication. And like life in general you can’t start a meaningful relationship based on a lie – or an untruth at least. If you really want to get what you want, then you realistically need to know what you need. If you are open and frank with a supplier and give them an opportunity to find what you need then the odds on you getting what you want are that much higher. It sounds like a very obvious statement, but how many times do we say we want something ‘stylish, good quality and contemporary’ when what we really mean is ‘cheap’. If you had asked for a glass desk for £200 instead of asking for a ‘good quality, stylish glass desk on a sensible budget’ then you wouldn’t have been offered the various solutions for £600 that your supplier has just come back to you with. You end up feeling that he hasn’t been listening, and he feels that you are wasting his time. He could have saved your time and his with a frank conversation in the beginning. He would have concentrated his efforts on showing you glass desks at between £150 and £300 – and likely would have come up with the goods! Perfect.Of course you need to find a supplier that matches your own values in business – and it’s rarely the ones that boast about being the very cheapest. If you want a supplier that offers good value, good service, and professionalism then you need to look for certain things. An informative website that focuses on product rather than price is a good start. A friendly and helpful response to a telephone call is another. An ability to listen is probably the key to a good business supplier – but an ability to speak is a vital ability on your behalf as the customer. As Bob Hoskins in that awful BT advert in the 80’s said “It’s good to talk”

Office secrets desk idea - a new concept in personal storage

The new 'Office Secrets' range is an entirely new concept in personal storage. Using familiar sliding top technology to provide hidden drawers allows the possibility of 'losing' the traditional pedestal. Ideal for contemporary interiors where minimalism is the order of the day.

Office Secret desking combines minimalist design with a form to adapt perfectly to managerial and operative environments. The sliding, lockable top reveals a furtive storage compartment with close to hand access of electrical sockets and space to store personal objects under lock and key. Office Secret is an extensive and complete system for todays office. The restrained appearance is optimised by four extruded aluminium legs that are adjustable in height up to 10cm. Access to technology is immediate thanks to the desktop power conduits integrated into the workstations, and a wide range of panels help staff concentration and order shared environments.

New Panda friendly veneer finish for executive furniture

Environmentally friendly Bamboo veneers launched by one of our most popular manufacturers of receptions, boardroom tables, and executive desks make a lot of sense.

We have recently introduced two Bamboo veneer finishes to provide an environmentally attractive alternative to timber veneer. Bamboo is not a tree but a species of fast-growing grass: you can harvest up to a third of the bamboo stems in a plantation without affecting the size of the forest, and regular harvesting actually stimulates growth. Bamboo also generates up to 35% more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees, and is the fastest-growing canopy for the regreening of degraded areas.

These factors, allied to its delicate and distinctive appearance, make bamboo an environmentally, and visually attractive choice. Its great durability ensures it is also very practical.

We are offering bamboo as a finish option on all our Sven veneered office furniture, in two shades: Natural and Caramel. The caramel colour is achieved by pressure steaming - no chemicals or colouring are used.

The bamboo used to create our veneers is Moso bamboo, commonly called giant bamboo (or more precisely, ‘Phyllostachys Pubescens'). This grows naturally in vast primeval forests and also in managed plantations. Bamboo is the fastest growing plant on earth. The Moso bamboo species needs 5 years to grow to adult height and to be hard enough to be processed. Within a few months new shoots will have already grown to a height of 12 to 15 metres. Giant bamboo can grow at 30-50cm per day during the growing season, and reach a final height of up to 30 metres, with a stem diameter of up to 35cm or more. A sixty foot tree cut for timber takes 60 years to replace. A sixty foot bamboo cut for market takes 59 days to replace.

In addition to generating much more oxygen than equivalent tree cover, bamboo is also an excellent carbon store. A study by Jules Janssen of the Technical University Eindhoven in the Netherlands, in 2000 states that bamboo, planted in large groves, can store four times the carbon dioxide of a stand of trees of similar size.

Harvesting Moso bamboo does not cause problems for pandas (which eat bamboo shoots). Both the giant and small pandas live in the central mountain ranges of central China. Pandas go to places where the lower species of bamboo are easily accessible. The high Moso bamboo has no leaf growth on the first 5 metres of the stem and is therefore not a source of food for the panda.

Everyone's happy!