Whether you are building a successful business or have already achieved that position for your organization, you understand the rationale behind demonstrating your success. You must have a brand that exudes confidence. You also need to make sure your office furniture carries out that image. Office furniture can be viewed as the shoes of first impressions. What are your shoes saying? It doesn't matter how else you dress things up and how you try to portray yourself, if your furniture is cheap, scratched, appears out of date or overly used and forgot about it. Let's polish things up with three brands of upscale you should know about.

Why Expensive Office Furniture Matters

You may not know much about cherry, mahogany or birch, but you likely do know why you should have quality office furniture.

  1. First impressions matter. Dress to impress your office space to make a first impression that will serve your company well. If you actually think that can be done through shopping Craiglist for used metal desks and file drawers...ahhh... no.

  2. Improves productivity. Sounds crazy right? But there is furniture that improves ergonomics and efficiency and that can actually improve productivity in your office space. Now that's something worth investing in.

  3. Improves morale. Quality office furniture improves the self-esteem of employees and that translates into better morale. Better morale often translates into better productivity. Better productivity often turns into an excellent return on investment. So the lesson is improved morale = better ROI.

  4. Builds your brand. Quality office furniture builds your brand and demonstrates the qualities you deem are important. It can also diminish your brand if you go cheap in this area.

Qualities of Modern Quality Office Furniture

Office furniture has moved beyond straightforward desks and secretary chairs. Today's office furniture must have qualities that previous generations often ignored.

  1. It should be versatile. Workspace today must be versatile and inclusive. It should be able to reconfigure and adapt to varying circumstances. It should feel flexible.

  2. It should accommodate communication. Sharing ideas and communication is more important than ever. Modern, expensive furniture should encourage cooperation and engagement.

  3. It should reek of stability. OK, not a lot of people use the word “reek” anymore but your office furniture should communicate, without question, stability. Your customers and employees should view you as rock solid, and quality office furniture will help deliver that message.

The Big Three

There are plenty of office furniture makers out there producing affordable office furniture. Not interested. We are selecting the top three most expensive.

  1. Urban Office. This is an UK-based office furniture company that is relatively new, being founded in 2005. Urban Office offers office furniture that moves with workplace trends, From modular seating, storage, and working areas this office furniture works well for companies that may be space-limited or want to create spontaneous work areas on the fly. This is a brand that can help you take wide open spaces and create more personalized spaced.

  2. Kristalia. Want to be the next Google, Microsoft or LinkedIn? Choose the company they chose to help furnish co-operative workspace. If you want European designed office space that doesn't come from Sweden, check Kristalia out.

  3. Herman Miller. There is a reason that your office furniture should be “cool” especially if you are in a tech-oriented business. Herman Miller combines modern art with practicality in office furniture but it is far from cheap. If you want cheap there is a Swedish, put-it-together-yourself option. Herman Miller is not that.

Orlando will never be the Riviera. Volkswagen will never be Porsche. Cheap office furniture will never provide the value of the above brand names of office furniture. Choose wisely.