Jonathan Nilsson, Chief Executive at Green Furniture Concept, discusses transforming passenger experiences in transport hubs.
The demands for unique places, positive environments and sustainable design are becoming more and more important when it comes to transport hubs. Leading the way in creating positive experiences is placemaking furniture specialists Green Furniture Concept.
For the last 14 years the company has brought new, innovative ideas when it comes to seating in railway stations – installing green, winding, seamless seating pursuing sustainability at all levels.
“We are creating places together with facility managers and stations to make something unique that goes way beyond the function to just rest passengers,” said Jonathan Nilsson, Chief Executive Officer for over eight years.
“We are adding new dimensions to waiting areas with nature at their heart. I like to think our seamless winding benches as coral reefs or natural occurring ridges which beside their function as a resting place are naturally influencing people’s flow by gentling directing them.”
From a local start in Sweden, Green Furniture Concept is now well and truly global with a passion that sustainability should add identity, flexibility and function – green that makes better.
You can find its furniture in London Victoria and London Bridge stations, as well as further afield in German, France, Morocco, Austria and Italy. Although bespoke, each also has the same outcome of helping to increase retail spend and passenger satisfaction.
“Although we can’t control what the experience for everyone is at railway stations, we can do our best to improve the environment and create a space which can help with health and wellbeing,” said Jonathan, who has been CEO since May 2013.
“We are creating spaces that draw people in, make people feel good with our placemaking design bringing nature inside – so-called biophilic design. An oasis to recharge.
“Working with station managers we are using materials, colours, patterns and shapes inspired by nature. We are seeing this is creating a more relaxed atmosphere, increasing passenger satisfaction and hopefully taking a bit of the stress out of what are commonly seen as stressful locations.”
Flexible winding, seamless benches and soft acoustic lamps from Green Furniture Concept can be found in places like Stockholm Central Station, Montreal Airport and Topanga. Seamless means more room for more people when needed – with benches from the company seating 30-50 per cent more people than conventional public seating on a given surface.
Added to that and the flexible winding designs means benches can take any creative formation, following the building and leading the flow of people.
“As we look to bring back people to railway stations there is a new way of thinking to make it happen, looking to add new dimensions to stations,” said Jonathan. “At Green Furniture Concept we are very close to nature and we let nature inspire us and we are trying to get nature into our waiting areas.
“The seating we introduced at London Victoria Station had a big impact on passenger satisfaction increased from 23 per cent to more than 80 per cent – that from just changing the seating.
“Creating a less stressful environment is also leading to people wanting to spend longer in railway stations which is leading to an increase in retail spend.”
The reputation and the demand in Green Furniture Concept continue to grow, with railway station contracts in Austria and Switzerland amongst several in the months and years ahead.
“You won’t buy an ugly t-shirt because it is organic, so we’re not finding people asking whether what we do is sustainable or not,” said Jonathan. “It is and is a big part of what we do, but people are choosing us because we give our customers the best furniture solutions with added value for them and their customers – the passengers.
“Looking to the future and we want to continue creating experiences and enhancing passengers’ experiences when they visit a railway station and doing this with nature at its heart.
“We want to continue to work with facility managers to create wonderful environments that make them happy and give them something more than what they expected.
“We want to work for those who demand the highest quality in the world, to have the most demanding customers, because if we can serve them well, we can serve everybody else well as well.”
Visit https://greenfc.com/ for more details.
Photo credit: Green Furniture Concept
