Anyone who has had the pleasure (read: sarcasm) of visiting our original Stamford Lovesac offices on Canal Street could never accuse us of being frivolous. That Lovesac HQ was a space meant for 20, that held about 50 of us in the end. Having holed up in our first Stamford Lovesac office since 2007, our recent move to downtown Stamford was long overdue.
To celebrate, let’s just say we tipped our hat to one of our favorite cult classic films, “Office Space,” and “took care of ” any equipment that we loved to hate in my backyard.
This incredibly dedicated Lovesac crew deserves only the best and they’ve put up with a lot as we’ve built this together from scraps. As a furniture and design brand, we did our best to consciously create a space that would be not only Lovesac-comfortable, but inspiring, and uplifting.
As a growing company that bootstrapped its way into existence, we did it for a fraction of the cost for offices of the same capabilities. And as masochists we endeavored to do much of it ourselves. We designed and built every seat, every the table, all of the AV systems, and ultimately created a very non-traditional office plan all with our in-house talent.
We’d love to know what you think about our concept, so please “reply” and let us know what you think in the comments below!
The Landing Pad: This comfy spot will change each season along with our stores. Take a seat–we’ll be right with you! Floor-to-ceiling seasonal high-rez graphic, Supersac, Sactionals, on-season paint and even fully merchandised store-shelves. (Truth is, this entry makes a great place to go get some work done, or even have a team meeting). Welcome to Lovesac!
Customer Love: Call us. Live-chat us. Invite us to come out and help you re-cover your Sactionals if necessary-this is the team whose only goal is to become your new best friend.
Fabric Library: The Lovesac Customer Love crew will gladly send you any requested samples from our massive Lovesac cover fabric swatch library with hundreds to choose from. They’ll even help you design your room!
Changing the Workplace Game: Humans have worked from proper desks for thousands of years. Laptops and mobile phones have only been with us for a few of those. Realizing that we often get more done at home, working from a laptop on a couch, than we do at the office for the new Lovesac HQ we chose to challenge the entire notion of how we work-let’s live and work on the couch!
Sactionals Workstations: These are the same Sactionals Base Pieces we sell but they are clamped to a tall Side in back, for privacy, and custom wingback Sides to aid in noise reduction (no–you can’t buy them yet). They’re all washable and changeable covers, and just like we offer to our customers, everyone at Lovesac chooses their own custom fabric combination as an expression of their own individuality.
The Functional Coffee Table: The coffee-table-desk aligns perfectly with the height of our custom wingback Sactionals Sides for stability in multiple working positions. Each has a locking file-drawer, removable pencil trays and convenient power supply with multiple cord pass-through cavities-another Lovesac original design.
The Great Room: Coffee bars at the window double as standing desks. Our counter-high 12′ long table was a real joy to get into the building, and is another Lovesac original design, with massive tuck-under benches making it as much of a standing big-project table as a place to eat for a crew of ten. And what great room is complete without Sactionals and a furry Moviesac to escape to. This office encourages you to leave your “spot,” go mobile, work by the window, on a Sac, in a quiet nook, or in a group. Change your seat, change your perspective.
Mission Control: Twice a week everyone at HQ gathers for a mid-day “rally” where we meet new faces, recognize outsized effort, collaborate and coordinate. The DJ table spins real vinyl from our growing collection, and is complete with open Spotify and Pandora accounts on the iPad for all to change as they like. The Nintendo Wii, karaoke capabilities and the 10′ pull-down screen behind it facilitates any kind of meeting, party, screening or impromptu dance-off that needs to happen.
The War Room: Comfort is king at Lovesac, but Lovesac offices need to also be extremely functional. Glass boards are incredibly useful and far more durable than typical whiteboards–but also way more expensive. Here’s a good hack: Find a local glass shop and order 1/4″ tempered glass with drilled holes for stainless steel “standoffs.” = Sexy looking glass boards at a fraction of the cost!
The Panic Room: Not only is each room cleverly named to make calling meetings there fun, but each is functionally designed to be both comfy, productive, and most of all: usable! Too many offices have complicated AV systems that require IT to come over every time you want to hold a meeting. Each of our rooms has a bluetooth soundbar, playable right from your phone or computer. We worked hard to find the best soundbar under £100 so we could afford to put one in every room. And each flatscreen includes a wireless USB device that allows any laptop to zap its screen and sound right to the big screen and sounder–no wires necessary. We even went so far as to put a remote control caddy in every room so those pesky remotes wouldn’t end up lost–and useless. Good design is in the details.
The Vault: Nobody at Lovesac HQ has an office. From the CEO on down, we all have our spot on the floor, but we also all have access to a dozen rooms, large to tiny, where we can take a call, hold a meeting, or just go shut the door and do some work.
Grand Central: Lovesac’s version of a board room. Most of our big meetings (even board meetings) happen here. Have a seat and get comfy!
Can I just live here?: No–but if you visit Lovesac HQ on any given weeknight, you’re likely to find a few people lingering long after hours tapping the keg, throwing some darts, or playing a little Mario Kart. Its all in the details.
The Floor: We’ve all got our spot and we all move around a lot. Moving around, trading spaces, and getting out of your comfort zone (only to get into another) encourages interaction and collaboration.
The Studio: This is where all of our product designers, graphic designers, architects, industrial designers, UX designers, web designers, copywriters, visual merchandisers and anyone else with a creative bone collaborate to create the future of furniture.
The Library: Take a book. Leave a book. Borrow a book. We have stacks of many of our “required readings” here and we all have a desire to improve.
Sign in: Everyone who visits Lovesac HQ must sign in on our massive brand canvas. Take a minute to color-in the Lovesac logo using nothing but black pens. It may take years–but this is the brand we are building together.
Magnet fetish: Someday we’ll have a whole wall of these. Bring us one! Add to the collection. Represent.
A living history: Get your face on the wall of Sac’rs! Anyone at Lovesac can send an email to that electronic frame on the wall and add to our living history, in real time!
The Values: Rather than just writing words on the wall we try to live them. All of our Lovesac core values are embedded into this “Where’s Waldo” inspired graphic. Can you find them all?
The Culture: Every company has a culture, but many evolve by default. We’re trying our best to build a culture by design–not by default at the new Lovesac HQ–and it all starts with our values. You’ll find them on every door.
The vibe: Lovesac is more than foam and fabric. Lovesac is a lifestyle. We cannot expect to have a happy friendly vibe in our stores, or even on our website, if we don’t have it in our office. I believe that customers can just smell authenticity. I believe that culture needs to leak out of the seams and penetrate all areas of the company, our products, and our people. That starts here. It’s up to us to keep the vibe alive.
And the cherry on top: Plenty of beverages available to pour over the 170 pounds of chewable, crunchable, nugget ice that our in-house ice machine is able to crank out every day. I love it so much I take some home in a plastic bag at night. Game changer.
I hope you enjoyed our tour of the new Lovesac HQ. You are welcome to come visit us–share a treat at the bar, challenge someone to a game of darts, run the DJ table, or simply add to our ridiculous collection of refrigerator magnets. But before you go, don’t forget to color in the collaborative logo, sign your name to prove you were here, and wish us well. Where we’re going, we need all the help and support we can get. #BigThingsInStore #Lovesac
— Shawny
PRESS / ARTICLES ABOUT THE NEW LOVESAC HQ:
http://m.stamfordadvocate.com/business/article/Lovesac-kicks-back-in-new-HQ-5976611.php
Gallery of Lovesac HQ and our launch party. Wish you were here!
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