News room

ITOKI CORPORATION (CEO: Yoshiro Hirai) and Interoffice Corporation (CEO: Hideyuki Ume) have launched a collaborative brand "i+" (eye plus) produced and designed by Naoki Terada (architect/designer), known for "Terada Mokei" and "15.0% Ice Cream Spoon", which will go on sale in mid-January 2016. Prior to its release, it won the 2015 Good Design Award and was selected as one of the Best 100.

"i+" is a new collaborative brand that transcends corporate boundaries and was born from collaboration between ITOKI, a domestic manufacturer with a proven track record in producing office furniture, and Interoffice, which has imported a large amount of high-quality office furniture from overseas.

Itoki has a wide range of manufacturing lines, from study desks to office furniture such as desks, chairs, and cabinets, and has built up a strong track record over the past 125 years. Meanwhile, Interoffice has been importing high-quality office furniture from Europe, mainly Switzerland, and designing the spaces that house it. In addition, both companies have supported the creation of comfortable environments that surround people, such as homes, offices, schools, museums, and other public spaces.

With the concept of "creating a new market," the two companies began developing a new brand with the aim of transforming the entire office space into a sophisticated one, based on the idea of "office accessories" that enhance peripheral items that tend to be overlooked, rather than central office items such as desks, tables, and chairs.

The first three products are a whiteboard, a telephone stand, and a coat stand. All of them are made of 19.1mm diameter steel pipes as the basic material, and while they have been thoroughly stripped of all unnecessary parts, they are finished with chrome plating, and are designed to be suitable for a variety of office scenes, combining functionality and design without compromising on a sense of luxury. The main target is creative workers who are highly conscious of space and are not satisfied with previous office accessories. The sales target for the first year is expected to be 100 million yen for the three items, and after that, the product lineup will be expanded to expand sales.

The producer and designer of "i+" is architect and designer Naoki Terada. He designs and plans a wide range of spaces, from architecture to products, including the product brand "Terada Mokei" and the design of the ice cream spoon "15.0%" sold by the casting manufacturer Takata Lemnos. He proposes designs that evoke feelings of joy and abundance, and that make you smile when you make eye contact with someone. He currently serves as the director and general manager of the Interoffice Design Division.

The "i+" brand launch and new product presentation will be held at Tsutaya Daikanyama T-site Garden Gallery from January 20th (Wed) to 21st (Thu), 2016. In addition to the new product presentation, there will be exhibitions and events with a variety of guests.
Additionally, we plan to release partitions, side stack tables, floor lamps and other items as part of the second wave of products.

[ITOKI CORPORATION Company Profile]
Founded in Osaka in 1890 (Meiji 23), as Itoki Shoten, with the aim of spreading the inventions and patents of the time to the world, the company has progressed alongside the history of offices in Japan. In the Showa era, the company expanded its business to include the manufacture and sale of office furniture and office space design.
In recent years, we have been providing a variety of services in creating office environments, from proposing high-quality office environments that bring out the intellectual creativity of workers to maintenance and management using facility management.We also provide comfortable, functional, safe and secure environmental spaces in areas such as security, logistics facilities, research facilities and stores.

Founded: December 1890
Established: April 1950
Head office: 1-4-12 Imafuku Higashi, Joto-ku, Osaka 536-0002
Tokyo Head Office: 3-2-10 Irifune, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0042
Representative: Yoshiro Hirai, President and CEO
URL: www.itoki.jp
Business description: Office-related business, office building materials-related business, facility equipment-related business, home furniture-related business, etc.

[Inter Office Co., Ltd. Company Profile]
In 1983, we were founded as a joint venture company, Haller Japan, after encountering the USM Haller system. After that, we met with Vitra, which released the "Persona", "Figura" and "Imago" series of office chairs designed by Mario Bellini, which had a great impact on the world of office furniture, and started our company under the name Interoffice. With a policy of proposing international-level office environments, we have been working as a front-runner to increase the number of companies that agree with the importance of offices one by one. With the philosophy of "sensitively responding to changes in work styles and proposing optimal office environments, and always with beautiful designs," we support the creation of functional and comfortable spaces that are in line with the times.

Founded: November 1975
Established: April 1983
Head Office: Forum Building, 2-24-11 Minamiaoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0062
Representative: Hideyuki Ume, President and CEO
URL: www.interoffice.co.jp
Business description: Import, export and sale of European office furniture. Space design proposals.

ITOKI CORPORATION
Customer Service Center Tel: 0120-164-177
Web:  iplus-furniture.jp

株式会社インターオフィス
i+（アイプラス）プレス　担当：八ツ橋　Tel: 03-5771-7633　Fax: 03-5771-7637　
E-mail: press＠interoffice.co.jp
Web: iplus-furniture.jp
〒107-0062　東京都港区南青山2-24-11 フォーラムビルディング