Haworth: Manufacturing flexible and sustainable workspaces

Sakuru, Haworth Australia’s height-adjustable workstation, is one of the first products of its kind to be designed and constructed by a major global office furniture supplier and to receive the ‘Australian Made’ accreditation and registration.

The company designs, manufactures and supplies commercial furniture worldwide as a member of the Haworth Inc group of companies. Operating in North America, Europe and Asia since 1948, Haworth expanded their operations to Australia in 1995 and have grown to represent the brand locally.

“We wanted to utilise Australia’s expert design and manufacturing industry capabilities to create a product that could be manufactured and customised to every specific client specification,” explained Haworth’s Australia’s Managing Director, Cory Cvetkovic.

“Manufacturing in Australia also means less waiting time between design iterations, as we can complete everything right in our backyard. That means we can respond directly and quickly to local market demands—this is a product designed by Australians for Australians.”

Sakuru is the result of a 3-year collaborative journey with leading Australian designer, Gavin Harris and Haworth’s Co-Create team led by John Stamoulos. The brief was to design a product focusing on flexibility and sustainability. The workstation and table platform solves the ever-evolving demands of pivoting workplace floorplans, through its ‘kit of parts’ philosophy.

“To create a simple ‘platform’ to cater to the needs of all office major work-settings from the same structural components was the aim,” explained Mr Harris. “We envisioned it would support individual, group, linear, radiating, meeting and collaborative workstyles. It uses one kit of parts while delivering easily retrofitted and cost-effective height-adjustability for greater employee wellbeing.”

Haworth Australia believes supporting local designers and manufacturers is even more critical in a post-COVID environment than ever.

Mr Cvetkovic said, “If consumers and businesses buy Australian Made it will help local businesses get back on their feet and return revenue to the local market. It also allows suppliers to deliver a quality product within a shorter time frame.”

Sakuru is the first Haworth product to feature the Australian Made logo.  Mr Cvetkovic sees accreditation as a steppingstone for potential future exports.

“We believe the marketing and publicity that comes with the Australian Made logo can bring an added dimension to Sakuru’s success,” Mr Cvetkovic said.

Success has already been realised in a recent client workspace fit-out. In creating a flexible, agile workspace solution, was an installation of over 630 height adjustable executive workstations, collaborative and standard meeting tables was delivered all using the same kit of parts.

Sakuru has been shortlisted for the 2020 INDE awards in the ‘object’ category, as well as in the ‘furniture and lighting’ category, in the 2020 Good Design Australia Awards.

To learn more about Haworth’s Sakuru range, please click here.

Sakuru - Australia Made from Haworth Inc. on Vimeo.