Growing focus on female-friendly office furniture design
Published on: 20-Jun-2007
More and more top furniture-makers are beginning to focus their new office furniture design on items likely to appeal to women, amid statistics showing new small business ventures are twice as likely to be female-owned than male.A number of firms, including design giants Ikea and US-based OfficeMax, are now tailoring some new furniture design ranges for women as figures show they have become more likely than ever to step on to the small business ladder, reports the Associated Press.
While female design preferences cannot be easily lumped together, that has meant a number of new direct developments in latest office furniture design, with style, size and storage all seen as design aspects that can come with women in mind.
"Women really want to personalise their space. Men are looking for more functionality," said Kim Roffey, a strategist at Kurt Salmon Associates.
As the amount of small businesses - and the roles of women within them - continues to expand, Ikea has launched a range of office furniture tailored for major female-run markets, such as hairdressers and bookstores, at its 29 US stores.
"I think we have just scratched the surface. This is one of our growth engines of the future," said Pernille Lopez, president of Ikea North America.
The study by the US Center for Women's Business Research found that there was a 42.3 per cent increase in the number of American businesses controlled by women between 1997 and 2006, compared to a 23.8 per cent lift in all private business ventures overall.
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