Taking a Seat

TAKING A SEAT

For many years, designers from all corners of the world have tried to design a new type of chair. Innovation is incredible as they strive to stand out in a market which to call saturated would be an understatement. Every month I receive at least 2 'industry magazines' which in theory relate to all aspects of our market.

To glance through you would be forgiven to think that our market exclusively involved sitting down as you see advert for chair after chair after seat after stool after chair... you get the picture. In fact I often play a game where I try to get through the entire magazine (often 150+ pages) trying to spot a chair free spread!

'FX Magazine - The Business of Design' 

is a perfect example of an industry specific publication which my uncle (also in the furniture business) would call a 'chair mag'. In fact it was him that brought this phenomenon to my attention. 

That having been said, it's great to see what designers can come up with when forced to innovate. I suppose you could liken it to the music industry where some believe that it has 'all been done before' but every now and again you still get unique anthemic tracks which endure. When you get a fresh bright eyed young designer not constrained by conformity they design a completely new sitting down experience which quirky corporations decide would be perfect for their receptions. 

The Future of Sitting Down

You could think that in a few years we won't even recognise what it is to sit down any more, but ever since Ingvar Kamprad screwed the legs of his coffee table and invented IKEA, modern design has flourished and chair after chair after stool after chair have been created like there were a world shortage of places to sit. There's no sign that that will stop any time soon, and I guess old styles will simply get recycled just like bad pop records.

Recently we caved and thought that a funky chair would add a little variation to our otherwise highly utilitarian range of chairs. Primarily we supply chairs and stools for drawing boards which really have to be the epitome of practical, but as we discovered we can have our cake and eat it.

Someone out there has designed a space age chair with ergonomic and environmental credentials to sink a battle ship of pandas whilst still letting you actually sit down. Watch this:

Apparently this video wasn't even staged, this is actually what happens which you sit on a HAG Capisco drafting chair, but possibly you have to be ginger or wearing a wig. 

Vestment Press | Church Storage Chests

Keep your vestments in perfect condition

Did you know that Orchard plan chests can be found in church vestries. Who would of believed it?

Deep solid drawers and a fully enclosed design provides a great environment for safely storing vestments, choir dresses and other church attire.

The large work top provides the perfect preparation and inspection area for garment.

Designed for your church.

As we manufacture these in the UK, we can make them to meet your specifications. Required drawer numbers, drawer depths, work top height or wood finish may be specified to best match existing church furnishings.

All our storage chests are made to last and built to withstand some of the most demanding educational environments. Metal handles and a fully welded steel plinth ensure longevity.

WOODEN PLAN CHESTS

METAL PLAN CHESTS

Orchard Light Tables

Light Tables & Light Boxes from Orchard

In your standard run-of-the-mill site office or drawing office, you have many things in common; Professionals doing their best to deal with reams of large A0, A1 and A2 paper. Storing it, filing it, archiving it, retrieving it and, above all, looking at it. 

At Orchard, we have worked closely with the front line professionals for over 25 years - people who deal with these paper management challenges daily. We have used this to continuously improve and develop our products to better meet the real demands placed on them in the workplace.

We Know What You Need

We know what you require from a light box or light table. From on site contractors to architects, designers and photographers. We provide the very best range of lighting equipment to let you get on with scrutinising, finishing, tracing and reviewing plans or images. 

Consistent light distribution and accurate colour reproduction comes as standard on all our light boxes, giving you a backlit table you can rely on, and as a manufacturer we can modify any of our light tables or light boxes to meet specific requirements.

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Orchard New Website

Every 18 months or so we like to give our website a good old facelift, but this year we decided to pull out the stops and completely revamp it from the ground up. 

We were focused on providing a better user experience - giving people the information they wanted right when they wanted it. With such a diverse product range of drawing equipment, paper storage systems and light boxes the challenge of producing all the extra content was immense. 

We hope that you like the results as the new Orchard website is by far the most comprehensive insight into what we do and a great ambassador for the Orchard brand (which from an in-house production you'd hope so!)

CHECK OUT TheBigOrchard.com

Make sure you'll following us on all the usual channels too for all the latest chat:

www.facebook.com/TheBigOrchard
www.youtube.com/TheBigOrchard
www.twitter.com/TheBigOrchard

Wakefield Up In Flames

Wakefield's time to shine

It was our turn to shine earlier today as the torch passed right through the heart of the city, to a mass of spectators and well-wishers. In true Yorkshire style they did not disappoint, as the torch was met with rapturous applause and cheer. 


It really is amazing how such a diverse community as Wakefield can all get together really share in the experience. Designed to be a homage to athleticism and community spirit the torch bearers are all chosen for being true ambassadors to their area. 

Gayna Goalby (left) is a teacher at Westborough high school and has done amazing work for disabled and underprivelaged children in the area. She was charged with carrying the flame over the stunning (triumph to architecture) Hepworth Gallery footbridge, where it was met by Karen Townsend. Karen is a plastic surgery nurse who helped many of the survivors of the Bradford City Staduim fire in 1985.

Although this is the third time that London has hosted the Olympics, the fact is that we would be very lucky to see it again in our lifetimes. With so many up and coming developing countries, we could see future games held in some very interesting places indeed. With any luck, The Big Orchard will have a hand in supplying the Legacy Companies for those too!


The whole experience seemed to be over in a flash, with carnival style buses preceding the bearers themselves. To catch a glimpse of the torch, if only for a moment, really brings it home - we are all a part of these Games even if the focus will mainly be on London. I can't wait for the games to get under way - shame about the football, but what a summer for England.

Wakefield Art Culture

WAKEFIELD CULTURE 

(historically an oxymoron)

Don't get me wrong, Wakefield has always been nice enough; sat in the heart of Yorkshire, surrounded by mining towns and countryside. Despite all that, it has always been the case that when someone asks where I'm from, I say 'Leeds'. Not just because most of the country knows where Leeds is, but because Wakefield has always been in its shadow, with nothing particularly to put it on the map.

However, in recent years the 'generic northern town (actually a city)' brush it has been tarnished with, has started to be shaken. The Hepworth Gallery, built in tribute to the world famous sculptor Barbra Hepworth, has made art and design enthusiasts all over the country stand up and take notice, with impressive foot-fall since it was opened over a year ago.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

In turn the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (just outside Wakefield) has also seen renewed interest. The Park has always been well renowned for showcasing the county's best modern sculptors with inside and outside exhibitions. Championing Hepworth pieces has always been natural for the YSP, with a large collection of it's own.

At Orchard, we have been lucky. Situated where we are, if it wasn't for a few trees and a Homebase, we would be able to see the Hepworth in all it's glory from our office window.

Why not tie your visit to the Hepworth in with a quick coffee at Orchard. 

We can talk you through and demo any of our drawing boards, paper storage systems, light boxes or retail display equipment. We'll let you park here with only a 5 minute stroll down to the Hepworth! Perfect for a cultured day out in Wakefield .... near Leeds.

LED Light Tables - The Future is bright

Light Tables and LED Light Boxes

Design constraints always exist with light tables, but maybe the outlook is a little different. Typically the technology to create a large back-lit light table has always revolved around standard florescent tubes which provide the intensity and colour requirements for detailed design and plan review work.

ORCHARD have now developed the perfect LED light box solution which allows professional light boxes to be manufactured in almost any size or shape. A0, A1, A2 and A3 light boxes are obviously match the standard paper sizes for most design, art or photography applications, but our LED system allows our designers to think outside the box when developing a new light table - make the light area large enough to meet requirement, but why stop there?

The modern design studio is always looking to impress clients and create an inspirational environment for its employees. These types of breakthrough designs where practical viewing equipment is combined with stylish, designed and refined furniture provide the best of both worlds.

From minimalist to extravagant, Orchard can develop the right light table for the requirement.

Combining design with design constraints

The winning formula for retail design

I was wondering only last week if there was actually a winning formula for retail design. A visually appealing and versatile retail space which does the best selling job on your products. Is there a recipe?

• 1 heaped tablespoon of layout algorithms
• 5 oz. of artistic flair
• 1 pinch of current modern trend

Mix it all together is some fancy water front design studio in central London, et voila.

The key clearly lies in getting the right architect and designer who can really communicate and inspire over your brand image, but that's not the end of it.

Countless studies into people flow, what makes an appealing store front and how to take your customers on a visual journey across your threshold, all contribute to the final design. You can't decide you need more shelves, put some up (that you got cheap from a repossession auction) then think, "I know, some blue lights under these shelves would look great". Creating what I like to call Frankenstein's monster - the complete lack of a comprehensive design plan.

Clearly, it is not practical for every retailer to invest thousands in brand image and shop fitting, especially in the current economic climate. You have to make the most of what you spend in terms of versatility and longevity and quite often you end up going with the 'safe bet' multi-purpose shelving and plastic lean back sign holders. But that doesn't have to be bland if you you keep these rules in the back of your mind:

1. Keep it simple but bold

If you are going to put a sign somewhere, make sure your customers see it, read it and appreciate the relevance. You can do very effectively with acrylic display blocks which provide versatile, modern and clean displays. They are double sided and can be used in portrait or landscape.

2. Don't play all your cards at once

Maintain some mystery about what's in your shop, especially from the outside. With their screens all aligned so they're not facing outside, it makes passers by wonder 'what are they looking at?' which draws people inside. You can apply the same logic by not overcrowding your shop window and giving hints as to the more interesting things inside. 

3. High contrast

Interior contrast refers to much more than just colour and shade. Large or small, smooth or sharp, flat or textured, messy (organic) or refined. All these things can bring a shop to life. 

Remember, you only get a small window of opportunity to wow your customers so there's no point making your shop look the same from every direction. This actually can be a god send in terms of making your shop look amazing as well as being a practical environment to showcase your products (which, lets be honest, is the whole point). 

You can get away with having a 'bland' wall full of square, uniform shelving if you contrast it with something organic and curved - a stand out centerpiece which draws customers in. If you've ever been in Hollister shop, you'll know what I mean: Light and dark, hard minimal shelving against soft colourful clothes, not to mention the amazing fragrance of their aftershaves which fills the air inside.

4. Serious about your brand

Even if you don't want your customers to think you take yourself too seriously that doesn't mean you can't be serious about your brand. A good approach is to always try to punch above your weight. Spend money on things that don't cost the earth but that are associated with larger companies. Voice-overs on your shop radio, Italian display stands and branded notice holders are a good way increase perception of your brand which can have a huge impact on repeat business.

The Posterfix Revolution

Innovation in an unlikely place.

With the display solution marketplace flooded with all kinds of products, you wouldn't expect anything truly new for wall mounting signs, posters or any other document. Posterfix seem to have broken this rule by innovating such an elegant and practical solution it really leaves you wondering why you would ever use anything else!

Posterfix At Orchard

A SIMPLE ELEGANT SOLUTION

With simplicity at its heart, Posterfix makes displaying A5 / A4 / A3 / A2 / A1 / A0 posters in landscape or portrait so straightforward, neat and professional that almost any public, retail or corporate environment would benefit. Posterfix can be mounted on walls or windows in a matter of seconds with no need for sticky tape, staples, blue-tac or glue - its self adhesive strips secure it firmly to almost any flat clean surface but can be removed and even relocated at any time!

CLEAR TO SEE

Posterfix works great on windows as it allows you to create a double sided display with integrated branding which can be seen from either side. The perfect professional display solution for:

- RESTAURANTS

- ESTATE AGENTS

- TRAVEL AGENTS

- SUPERMARKET

- HIGH STREET RETAILERS

INFORMATION POINTS

The possibilities with Posterfix are almost endless, but they really do come into their own in commercial environments where changeable  information needs displaying clearly and concisely. Posterfix can produce the complete information points - fully branded Posterfix notice boards without the drawing pins, sticky tape or staples!

The Future of Drawing Equipment

When I get chatting to someone in a Pub and the question of "What do you do for a living?" crops up, there is always a set sequence of events.

Firstly I tell them I work for a drawing board manufacturer. They either say "What? Pieces of wood?" or, if they are a little more worldly-wise "Drawing Boards? I didn't think people still used drawing boards?". I then proceed to tell them that both students and professional designers / architects all do indeed still use drawing boards and even though computers undoubtedly have their place, you still can't beat pencil and paper for getting ideas down.

So I was in the Cross Keys in Leeds last Wednesday night (Burns night) and there was a young lad working on his laptop at the bar. I couldn't see what was on his screen, but as I was ordering drinks I couldn't help notice his sketch book as he drew exotic and fancy profiles of buildings and interior layouts.

I couldn't help myself. "What are you working on?" at which point I noticed that sleep probably hadn't been on his agenda for quite some time. He was a third year architectural student called Tom studying in Leeds and was glad to show me his project; a rather striking building he was designing for his current assignment. He showed me his recent portfolio of sketches in his book - hundreds of lovingly drawn ideas from the basic to the sublime. Sketched, re-sketched, coloured and crossed out, this book represented the inner workings of his mind over the last year. On his screen was the half finished model with every detail from his sketch faithfully reproduced in wire frame.

"And what is it you do for a living?" he asked, sipping from his extra, extra black coffee.
"Ever heard of 'Orchard'?" I asked with a wry smile. He looked puzzled for a moment then suddenly remembering the name "we use Orchard drawing tables at Uni".
"That's us. We make them only a few miles away" I told him.
"No way? You actually make that stuff?"

It turns out his entire department is kitted out with Orchard drawing equipment and he uses it every day. What's more he loves using it and finds something very 'romantic' about drawing on paper. The cold hard machine that was his laptop was just a tool to him, a way of saving his ideas in 1's and 0's. His real love, his creativity, could only be released through paper and pencil and that was the reason he loved architecture.

Three years in to a seven year course he admitted that it is a long hard slog, but well worth the rewards at the end of it. To find yourself designing something which will actually get built. Knowing that you are in a position to create a visual impact on millions who see, live and work inside your creations for years to come.

He told me about the responsibility ahead of him. Medicine takes 5 years but you can only ever kill one person at once. Architecture takes so much longer because one mistake could have catastrophic consequences. I could see he was keen to get back to his work so with that I wished him well and left him to it.

I have to admit. Although I am a creative, I don't really know how to get the most out of a drawing board. Not like how Tom could at any rate. We make them, sell them then make some more knowing that the product is perfect for the job but not being able to do the 'job' ourselves.

We are organic beings, as much as we claim to know and understand computers they will always stifle basic creativity to some extent and so I see a bright future for the humble drawing board as the trusty companion for architects like Tom, designers and artists the world over.

Retail Display Sense

Having the space to spread your products far and wide can quite often produce excellent results in the retail world. Creating an airy sense of space and freedom. Making your customers feel less likely to get cornered by an employee.

In most shops however, this luxury of space is often at a premium. Having good retail display stands help to ensure you don't clutter your shop unnecessarily - displaying products in a clean, clear and efficient way can make all the difference when you are short on floor space. Magazine display towers and display racking with Italian styling and practical design is a good place to start. Check out http://awards.designweek.co.uk for some great inspiration.

Keeping your office in shape

When it comes to plan filing choosing the right option can quite often be a minefield. Do you need horizontal paper storage or vertical paper storage? Do you need a lockable plan chest or a plan hanger stand? Metal or wooden? Bright and colourful or brown and beige straight from the 80's?

Despite the dreams of most architects to impose the perfect paperless office on us all, the reality is that most offices cannot escape it. Certainly large format plans and blueprints need to exist in a drawing office and so also need storing safely and neatly.

Most drawing offices tend to go down the route of plan holder systems as jobs can be grouped together into a single plan hanger. This is doubly useful for site offices where plans are readily needed on a building site.

Orchard Mirrors the Fashion World

Mirroring Fashion


As far as the world of fashion is concerned, if drawing boards do have their place then its only in the design studio. Last summer something extraordinary happened as drawing boards and fashion were brought together for a world class display of male suits in Somerset house in London.

Esquire Magazine led the drive to showcase 18 of the finest garments the worlds leading fashion houses and designers had to offer. Teamed up with major artist the goal was to create an artistic vision which demonstrated superb styling with an exquisite attention to detail. Each vision was then presented in full splendor next to a fully mirrored Orchard drawing board with polished chrome stand.

Granted, not all of the suits on display were practical, but the designers were able to let their artistic juices flow and catch the eye of the worlds media as the opening night was star studded with the likes of Graham Norton, Bonnie Wright & George Lamb.

Keeping the wheels turning

The British Grad Prix is one of the most iconic events on the F1 racing calendar. The historic track is brilliant for drivers and with most teams based in the UK it's also the 'home' Grand Prix for many of the teams.

With the huge logistical challenge in setting up the UK Grand Prix at Silverstone, its a small wonder the whole country doesn't grind to a halt in order to make it happen. 12 teams, each with an army of people and equipment all of which need on site catering and facilities. The world's media descend on Silverstone with a vengeance combined with a crowd expected to exceed 400,000 over the course of the race weekend.

The cleaning and catering effort in itself is epic let alone all the fixtures, fitting and equipment required to make the Grand Prix machine run smoothly. The only way you can be assured of a seamless race weekend is if people have the information they need the moment they need it. This is no more apparent than in the world of TV media and race commentary.

For instance take these presentation pedestals designed to get information to the commentators without interrupting them. Not only do they look the part in the glitzy world of F1 but they are highly practical.

Display stands like these and many others used all around the Silverstone site provide a vital way to get information across in the most effective way. From sponsor billboards to leaflet holders for menus, promotional material or free maps.

Optimising your potential to have a blue sky water cooler moment

Space Saving Solutions

Getting the most out of your work space can be challenging at the best of times. Even with a tidy work ethic the combined efforts of you and your colleagues can sometimes lay waste to your office.

Eliminating this problem entirely is certainly an achievement but to do it in style is another thing altogether.



Since Stark made his orange juicer and Kamprad screwed the leg off his table and called it IKEA, designers have been working hard at their drawing board to make your office a pleasant place to be.

The 'paperless office' thing has always been the holy grail but realistically humanity can't cope with it just yet. Paper storage and plan filing solutions exist in their droves allowing you to efficiently organise your paper sensibly.

Educational environments suffer from the same problems. Design studios and art rooms use copious amounts of paper all of which needs organising and filing. Space is often also at a premium so having multipurpose furniture can really help to get the most out of the work space.

Reversible desks are a great space saving solution for schools and colleges. Providing a normal school desk but featuring an integrated desk top drawing board for graphic and design work.

Predicting your customers.

Being one step in front of your customers - knowing what they want before they know it themselves has to be the holy grail of retailing.

Systems have been developed which gather the information which when used correctly can second guess your customer and make the most out of  a shopping opportunity.

Store cards build comprehensive picture of shopping habit. When coupled with face recognition software customers can be targeted with tailored adverts and promotions in harmony with past purchases. For some time now online adverts have been using this technique - bespoke adverts based on sites previously visited.

Although there is an obvious Big-Brother-Is-Watching issue with techniques like this, most people don't particularly like advertising. If they must be advertised at then making the adds relevant is surely a good thing for both the customer and retailer.

To make the most out of a retail display, eye tracking software has been developed to actually monitor where a customer fixes their gaze and how they visually interact with display stands and adverts.

Visual Stunner

Shine on

The big lights of Vegas are one of the many tried and tested mechanisms which draw crowds in droves.

Replicating this in your own restaurant of bar may be a little impractical but you can certainly go some way towards packing a visual punch for the all important first impression. After all it can make the difference between fine wines being poured in your bar or the next bar, so why not.




Back-lit menu boards provide great interaction with potential customers; catching their attention and drawing them in with vivid colors and approachable information display stands.

Italian design ensures they also look great in daylight. The easy-open acrylic frame makes it simple to swap the artwork and as LED back-lit display frames run on low voltage it makes them both efficient and safe.

The price of acrylic on the day .. smells fishy.

You've got to hand it to the far east; they know how to hike the price of acrylic.

For future reference you throw 3D televisions at the west faster than your average ninja hurls a shuriken, and Bob's your uncle - you get the uncontrollable desire to start melting any spare acrylic down into ingots and lock them away in a fire proof safe.

Oddly enough the 3D screens are not made from normal acrylic. They do, however, require huge amounts of the raw chemical used in acrylic manufacturing which has caused the world acrylic price to spike. This has placed unprecedented pressure on the companies in the acrylic display market as their customers expect the highest quality and the best price.

There are options, magnetic acrylic display blocks could become poly carbonate display blocks. Poly carbonate has very similar properties to acrylic - it comes in sheets and can be heat bent. The sudden shift to P/C could then effect the price of that too and then we'll be trying to use ice (which could work well in the frozen food industry).

Enlighten me please.

There are some super slim light panels around, but when it comes down to how good they are, application is everything. Generally speaking there are two different types of light box:

LED light boxes
LED's provide the light. You can get both back lit and side / edge lit light boxes. The main advantage of this type of light box is that whiteness of the light can be regulated by the specification of tube you fit into them. Typically 5500k is classed as colour corrected which means that if you are trying to reproduce specific colour shades / tones, the light from the tubes will not distort what you can measure.


LED lit also produce a greater intensity of light which penetrates through paper up to 450gsm. It makes them the only sensible choice for designers or artist who are  looking for a tracing light box and really scrutinise the details in their work.




LED lit light boxes 
If you are looking to display artwork on an illuminated light panel then LED will be much more suitable. Designed for high efficiency and constant use they are a great way to catch the eye of a potential customer. However, without the light intensity of the tube lit light boxes, your artwork needs producing on a clear film / acetate.

There are LED light panels on the market which have been designed for simple tracing work, but if you don't have the right tool for the job it can leave you wanting.

Although there are slim light boxes available for design work, if you go too thin you end up with something which can only really be used for display purposes. Designers really benefit from the colour corrected light; something which you don't get from LED light panels so be wary when choosing a light box - make sure it's fit for purpose.

Euro Shop Exhibition Dusseldorf

One key event on the display systems calendar was earlier this year at the Euroshop Trade Fair in Dusseldorf, Germany. Companies from all over the world came together to show off their innovations and concepts in the world of product placement.

If you were prepared to walk around all the 20+ halls which make up Messe, you could find a display system for pretty much any application.

Orchard were over there for 3 days helping out the lads at Tecnostyl who had a prime spot display stand right in the entrance to one of the main halls.

Quite a noticeable proportion of the weird and wonderful creations people had devised involved 3D in one form or another.

Depth perspective when presenting products on screen or virtually seems to be the in-thing; providing a novelty factor which draws a crowd if nothing else. I guess the whole point is to get people looking at your product, 3D makes that almost too easy.

Failing 3D, good old fashioned illumination is always a crowd-pleaser. LED poster displays were pretty much everywhere and you had to admit they were effective - guiding your eyes and telling a story at the same time.

Even though none were like the artistic light boxes used for photography or tracing they still pack a visual punch with colourful printed acetate graphics.