5.27.15 | New York, NY | Today, Keilhauer announces the launch of Wheels, a seven-piece collection of mobile seating and tables. Wheels is designed to support an idea lab, where the spontaneous exchange of ideas fosters creativity.

Keilhauer asked EOOS, the Austrian-based design firm, to create a mobile meeting system for environments such as start-ups and creative firms, where idea-generating is a constant and necessary part of the daily activity. EOOS took inspiration from Building 20, a structure erected on the MIT campus during WWII. Originally meant to be temporary, Building 20 became known as a “magical incubator” for the groundbreaking ideas in science and research that developed there for over half a century. It was a raw, unsophisticated space where the environment was changed and adapted to meet the requirements of the participants. Wheels would have fit perfectly there.

“We wanted to design a kind of idea lab in which the furniture would communicate a workshop atmosphere while it enhanced collaboration in an informal, idea-generating process,” Gernot Bohmann of EOOS explains. “Wheels elements vary in shapes, sizes, and heights, so the product supports changing postures and rituals or gestures as meetings evolve and morph into different entities.”

The resulting pieces in the collection—armless lounge chair, high back 2-seater bench, chaise, stool, idea divider, and two round tables—are all equipped with large casters and built with light wire structures to make the collection movable in an instant. “The Wheels collection was created for mobility,” Keilhauer President, Mike Keilhauer notes. “Rather than search for a place to collaborate when the creative energy erupts, you can bring the furniture to the meeting place, wherever that happens to be.”

Available in 30” and 47.5” diameter, the round powered table, the hub of the collection, is perhaps the most innovative piece. A cut-out in the center provides easy access to devices being charged, that sit on a shelf below, leaving the table top clear for other meeting accessories. Power is completely mobile --- the extra-long extension cord (bright orange to add a touch of whimsy) plugs into any wall outlet. The round shape of the tables provides egalitarian seating, allowing for everyone to maintain eye contact during meetings.

EOOS brought back the “magic angle” of communication with Wheels that originated in Keilhauer’s Talk furniture, introduced a few years ago. The V-shaped bench with back provides the angle designed specifically for comfortable, face-to-face communication. The chaise allows for long-term concentration and thinking in a relaxed posture, or can fit two people sitting side-by-side. The idea divider has tackable surfaces, with a podium-style shelf, a white board on one side, and is constructed to deliver acoustical properties.

Aesthetics are raw and industrial in concept, but highly resolved to appeal to all generations, and especially to those for whom technology use has always been an integral part of their lives. As Jackie Maze, VP, Sales + Marketing at Keilhauer notes, “These pieces are not just for office or studio environments. The collection would look ideal in a residential urban loft space, where the architecture has an ‘unfinished’ appearance, and is open and airy, to accommodate movable furniture.”

Performance and Sustainability

As with all Keilhauer furniture, Wheels is built from the highest quality materials, is designed and manufactured to last for many years, and is supported by Keilhauer’s standard 10-year warranty. Wheels will carry both BIFMA level® 2 (gold) and SCS Indoor Advantage Gold certification.

The products are manufactured with 100% renewable energy. 

About Keilhauer

Keilhauer offers a complete range of seating and tables to accommodate all types of meetings—from private, formal conference rooms, to lounge areas in public spaces, to casual chats around a coffee table. Designed by worldrenowned furniture designers with scrupulous attention to detail, Keilhauer products are engineered and manufactured out of its two Toronto, Ontario facilities and are built for long life with conscientious focus on environmental design principles.

About EOOS

EOOS is Gernot Bohmann, Martin Bergmann, and Harald Gründl who studied design together at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna. In 1990, they started their first collaboration and founded EOOS in 1995. They live in Vienna and work in the fields of product, furniture and architectural design. EOOS is named after one of the four sun horses of Greek mythology and stands for their programmatic approach to the field of design.

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