The Hindu Business Line : Haworth creativity centre opens in Pune

Pune, March 28 Haworth Pune Creativity Centre (HPCC), which would provide a collaborative, creative and knowledge based environment, has opened its doors for innovative and sustainable workplace design solutions.

The centre is located at the Ishanya Mall, the design centre and speciality mall. Talking to presspersons, Mr Frank Rexach, Vice-President and General Manager, Haworth Asia Pacific and Mr Richard Haworth, the Global Chairman of Haworth Inc, said the HPCC would act as an interactive laboratory that would study and recommend solutions and develop tools to showcase how workspace, coupled with organisational culture, play a role in facilitating creativity and productivity for local and global companies in India.

Mr Richard noted that the HPCC would provide ideas and solutions to the clients to meet their evolving needs. The objective is to apply knowledge and cultivate local learning in workspace solutions. He noted that HPCC is the second centre in Asia Pacific — the first being in Shanghai — and is the fourth in the world. The centre would work with the Shanghai Creativity centre, he said.

The HPCC, a 5,500 sq ft facility, would serve as the focal point for Haworth’s India Ideation team, house the IIID (Institute of Indian Interior Designers) and would also have meeting areas and a brainstorming room to stimulate creativity.

Sourcing hub

Mr Frank, commenting on the Pune facility, noted that it would become a sourcing hub for its business in West Asia and Africa and would cater to the Brazilian market as well. The centre will source components which could be deployed anywhere and has set up a global procurement team, he said. Mr Vyanna Reddiar, Managing Director, Haworth India, said the company would be expanding its portfolio to include system furniture such as office panels, and modular office spaces into its fold. The company currently has its presence in the seating market with a couple of products and has launched ‘Sage’, another seating product.

Sale trail

Commenting on its performance, he said the company, which set up its manufacturing facility in Pune in 2006, has so far sold around 38,000 chairs and is targeting around 48,000 this year.

Of the 55,000 sq ft, only 25 per cent was being utilised for manufacturing and the rest would be used when the furniture portfolio was added. The new products are expected to be commercially available by the third quarter of the current calendar year (September-December), he added.

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