Scandinavian remote work design

Kabinett Alexander Lervik

Fokus Mikko Laakkonen

Alexander Lervik

Kabinett is a bench and a desk

At first glance, Kabinett looks like a regular cabinet or bench but it has built-in features that allow it to be transformed into an entirely different piece of furniture. The innovation lies in its function. You get a worktable that can be raised and lowered from a piece of furniture that doesn’t look like a table.

Solutions for different computer users

Kabinett can be placed in a space in many ways: It can be a type of sideboard, placed against the
wall of a room or it can be placed, for example, behind a sofa in the middle of the room.

There are three different versions of Kabinett:
Kabinett Basic, with a height-adjustable worktop.
Kabinett Laptop, where the height-adjustable worktop has a storage space with a lid, to store a
laptop after work. There is also holes in the cover for wires.
Kabinett Screenlift, with a height-adjustable worktop, has a cover that can be removed after which
the display can be raised to the same level as the worktop.

Kabinett is 120 cm wide, 45 cm deep and 68cm high.

Kabinett comes with a natural oak or white stain ash veneer.

Aesthetically pleasing and ergonomic

“Working from home is not just a temporary solution and therefore the goal has been to develop a piece of furniture that blends in with the rest of the room. You should be able to sit and work in the most attractive place in the home, in front of a window or in the middle of the living room,” Alexander Lervik.

Mikko Laakkonen

Home office in disguise

Fokus looks like a traditional cabinet but hidden inside it is a height-adjustable work surface and storage space for a computer, printer and other materials needed to do the job.

One or two screens? No problem.

Fokus is made in two different widths. The 100 cm wide piece has enough space for one larger
screen and a detached keyboard and there is still room for papers and other work-related materials.

The 150 cm wide Fokus easily holds two separate screens.

Fokus is 120 cm high and 45 cm deep. It comes with a natural oak or white stain ash veneer.

Out of sight, out of mind

“When the job is done, its doors can be easily closed, to hide everything away. This makes it easier to focus on the essentials and draw the line between work and leisure. Your commute home has never been shorter than just closing the Fokus doors.” Mikko Laakkonen.

Adea Smartwork launch event

At the launch of Adea Smartwork on November 26, 2020, designer Alexander Lervik, researcher Lena Lid-Falkman from Stockholm School Economics, and Sonya Simmonds, director of Workplace, Design & Build Global Workplace Services at Spotify, will discuss teleworking, its impact on management, work and the opportunities it offers to employees. The event is moderated by Hanna Nova Beatrice.

About Adea Smartwork

Adea Smartwork is Adea’s new business line, which aims to improve people’s daily lives one piece of furniture at a time. Adea Smartwork, as the name implies, focuses on improving the work environment, especially in homes, hotels and other typical telework locations.

The idea for Adea Smartwork products originated with a discussion over a cup of coffee in November 2019.

Adea’s CEO Esa Mäkitalo and designer Mikko Laakkonen discussed how the world would change with telework becoming increasingly popular in the future. At that point there was not much furniture on the market designed for homes, which could meet current ergonomic requirements and was designed with homey cosiness in mind. Neither of them had any idea how fast the world would change and how fast telework would increase during the spring of 2020.

“Remote working was already increasing before Covid-19 pandemic began. We believe that this is a change in people’s behaviour that is here to stay. Even companies are now encouraging their employees to work from home, but there is a major need for better furniture adapted to working remotely that is ergonomic and fits into a home environment.” Esa Mäkitalo, CEO Adea

Working remotely, a new normal?

According to a report from Novus (September 2020), to study what office workers think about the working environment at home, nine out of ten respondents say that they want to continue to work remotely at least one day a week. Seventy per cent of the respondents say that they have enjoyed working from home. On the other hand, nearly 30 per cent of the respondents have had problems with back, shoulder and neck pain – problems they had not previously experienced. Therefore, it is important to take care of good work ergonomics also in remote work.