Furniture giant MillerKnoll eyes Asia as growth engine

WHEN Herman Miller bought over fellow American office furniture company, Knoll, in a US$1.8 billion deal to form MillerKnoll in 2021, it created the world’s largest and most influential collective of modern design brands.

The combined portfolio of 14 brands under the two former rivals boasts iconic designs from celebrated names including Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson, Bill Stumpf, Florence Knoll, Eero Saarinen, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Marcel Breuer and Marc Newson.

But with a business largely focused on the office and contract sector, MillerKnoll faced challenges to the top line posed by varying return-to-office rates after the pandemic. Higher borrowing costs, geopolitical concerns and a lagging US housing market were also blamed for a drop in sales. Revenue for its recent third quarter ended Mar 2, 2024, fell 11.4 per cent to US$872.3 million, below forecasts.

Still, Ben Groom, president of its international contract business, points to the quarter’s 8.3 per cent year-on-year order growth in its international contract and specialty unit as being “very strong” for the industry.

Groom and Kartik Shethia, MillerKnoll’s managing director for Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa, were in town earlier this week to officially launch an 8,000-square-foot dealer showroom dedicated to MillerKnoll brands at Marina Square.

Groom says the behemoth is doubling down on its international markets, where it is seeing “really strong” gross margins, and where many leading indicators are also showing “great potential”.

These include architecture billings, which is a leading economic indicator of demand for commercial and industrial construction activity, confidence among chief executives as well as anticipations of interest rate cuts that will help the industry.

Specifically, Asia remains the growth engine of the business, with the Middle East in particular doing extremely well, closely followed by India. Japan, despite its weak currency, and South Korea, too, have remained resilient and good hunting grounds, says Shethia.

He is also expecting a “decent recovery” in China and South-east Asia. “And once China recovers, Australia bounces back, too,” says Shethia. “On the whole, in the last three, four years, probably this has been the most optimistic we’ve been.”

SEE ALSO

Watch where you work: How workplace design can bring people back to the office

Hitting the big time: How this Singaporean came to design for luxury furniture brands B&B Italia and Herman Miller

Guided by a sense of responsibility: renowned architect Piero Lissoni on the art of design

Since the merger of the two brands, the decision has been to keep the identities of both Herman Miller and Knoll distinct. The group also owns other notable brands, including Design Within Reach, Colebrook Bosson Saunders, DatesWeiser, Edelman Leather, Holly Hunt, Hay, Maharam, and Muuto.

And while many designers dream of creating products under MillerKnoll’s stable of brands, Shethia says there are five tenets that both new and its own designers have to adhere to. These are ergonomics, aesthetics, sustainability, durability (its products are generally covered by a 12-year warranty, including parts and labour) and technology.

MillerKnoll’s catalogue of design classics notwithstanding, there are a few notable designers and products that Groom and Shethia believe are poised to leave a particularly strong mark.

One is Studio 7.5, a Berlin-based company whose Cosm chair for Herman Miller is self-adjusting – instantly responding to the user’s body, movement and posture to provide balance and support.

Another is Herman Miller’s award-winning Embody chair, which Shethia says is proven to improve health by lowering the user’s heart rate. Its seat and back feature a dynamic matrix of pixels that reduces seated pressure and stimulates blood and oxygen circulation. Its back also adapts to the user’s movements to provide constant support to the lower back.

These features have helped new iterations of Embody take off in the gaming space, where a relaxed heart rate improves focus and reaction speed.

Shethia is also a big fan of NaughtOne’s Morse table system, which won gold last year in the prestigious NeoCon award for new products in the commercial design industry. The desk solution is easy to install, offers flexible configurations and can manage additional tools – all in a simple and light profile.

Of course, there are also new products launched at the recently concluded Milan Design Week. Generating the most buzz is the Perron Pillo sofa for Knoll by Willo Perron – a playful and “very comfortable” modular sofa that looks like a stack of oversized pillows.