What is the Campfire Collection? Campfire is the newest line of furniture from Steelcase, the largest office furniture manufacturer in the world. This collection represents a departure for Steelcase; traditionally, they've been all about equipping large offices and meeting spaces, creating large cubicle systems and selling products by the thousands. But the new economic climate has inspired the company to begin creating furniture meant for small offices, small businesses, and collaborative environments.

Can't Meetings (and Work in General) Be More Fun?
If you've spent much time at all in the office world, then you know what it feels like to dread going to the board room, the conference area, or your boss's desk for yet another meeting. The fact is, in today's office, meetings are becoming more and more necessary to get things done, which means we're all going to attend them more and more frequently. If this makes you cringe, then read on because this pertains to you.

Since 1912, Steelcase has been studying how people work and making furniture to make that work more enjoyable and productive. Steelcase noted that meetings are an increasingly integral part of today's office. If collaboration is the name of the game - then why not make it less rigid, more relaxed, and more comfortable? Why not make it so that workers actually look forward to meeting with each other? Of course you can't make everyone happy about meetings all the time, but Steelcase is willing to try.

Why Campfire Works
The Campfire Collection is Steelcase's latest effort in combating the meeting blues. The pieces of the Campfire Collection are meant to be inviting and comfy- so whether a meeting lasts an hour or 5 minutes, it will be productive. Most of the pieces of the Campfire Collection are lightweight and mobile (even the Big Lounge - if you've got 2 people, you can move this couch), so you can mix and match them and rearrange them to accommodate whoever shows up. Most of the pieces accommodate interaction- like the Paper Table, for instance. This nifty invention has a rotating paper top option (literally - paper you can write on) that's perfect for brainstorming with your peers.

This new furniture is comfortable, simple, and warm; like a campfire get together with friends. It includes chairs, tables, desks, booth-like seating solutions and a particularly inventive round table topped with either tear away paper or special glass so it can be drawn on. Collaborative furniture is given a whole new look with the Campfire series, and we're very proud to bring these innovative products to our customers.

Where Should I Put Campfire Furniture?
Campfire is the antidote to traditional enclosed meeting rooms. Steelcase saw that the standard conference room draws too fine a line between public and private- those within the room are totally cut off from those outside, and those within the room have no privacy from each other. The solution? Put Campfire furniture in open office spaces that might currently be underutilized, where there's a grey area somewhere between a confidential meeting and a chat with your buddy. The Campfire Screen can provide some privacy without cutting your off from everyone else in the office. Of course, some situations call for more privacy, but most of the time, Campfire can provide a rendezvous point for collaboration, and it makes that collaboration enjoyable, comfortable, and productive.

The whole Campfire furniture system is meant to create little islands all over the office. In these tightly knit community areas, ideas can be exchanged and plans can be made. Collaborative work can be done, meetings held, and dreams sketched out. The needs of the new business and the emerging company are always creative and collaborative. So all of the Campfire furniture is built to engender community, closeness, and creative exchange.

One of the most simple ways to create these islands, or campfires, is with screens. Steelcase has both left and right handed Campfire Screens, which are freestanding and at right angles. The screens can be arranged together in a tight square to create a nook, or loosely arranged to create an intimate feel without closing off the space from the rest of the office. They should be combined with other pieces like the Campfire Big Lounge (an armless, colorful couch), the Campfire Big Table (a simple table whose top cascades down to the floor, creating two legs) and the Campfire Big Lamp. Each of these pieces has a personality of its own, but they all work very well together.

If you need more than one workspace, two Big Tables put back to back create an open cubicle, and a collaborative work area. With more than enough room for computers, monitors, business machinery and personal effects, they can be the nerve center of your office. Surround them with screens and you can create a kind of informal conference room, a place to hold meetings that gives the feel of seclusion to those inside of the space but doesn't feel exclusive to those outside of it. The Big Table can also serve as a reception area, a dining surface, or a display table. There are lots of seating options in the system. You can choose small, ottoman-like pads to sit on, or you can go with the Campfire Big Lounge, or any other Steelcase office chair (like the Cobi Chair).

Smart Furniture started out as a small business (and remains one in many ways) a little more than a decade ago, and we know very well the needs of growing offices and small to medium office spaces. That's why we use Campfire in our very own offices. We know you'll love it too.