Teneo Storage Furniture

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Product Story

We call it "storage furniture" because Teneo works like storage and looks like furniture. It manages the objects that fuel team creativity, but it also helps you engage easily with others and with the space you inhabit. In their harmony with each other and their environments, Teneo pieces are meant not only to be an active part of work life, but to be seen. They provide storage everywhere - in group, community, and project spaces and in workstations for individuals.

Furniture that Works with You

The wide variety of Teneo pieces invites you to connect, gather, meet, present, and host, while Teneo holds and displays a whole range of objects associated with work and life. All products have the same design elements and work the same way, so that interaction with Teneo is intuitive.

Structural and Design Integrity

The basic structural Teneo element is the ring. Anodized aluminum, which lends a timeless look and makes for a lightweight but strong structure that can stand on glides or casters. Works just about anywhere; its design integrity doesn't dominate the aesthetic.

Each ring is a single piece, providing strength with the tightest radius possible for rounded corners, helping break the rectilinear archetype of storage. Four ring sizes (24, 34, 60, and 70 inches high) let you scale the product to the appropriate height and degree of enclosure.

Mix, Match, Unify

Teneo's systemic approach opens the door to creating a large, diverse array of adaptable and multifunctional products. The Teneo rings and cladding are assembled in lots of combinations. Carts and cabinets. Towers and lecterns. Islands and easels. Presentation units, wall units, individual storage, and surfaces. Teneo is a platform for more products with even more applications.
While each product is unique, they all share distinctive features - including the sweeping curves of door and drawer fronts - for a unified aesthetic and consistent function.

Teneo can be bold or quiet. Sophisticated or casual. And many expressions in between. You can give it the character you want to complement your interior design and architecture with color and material choices customized to your project.

The Beauty of Being Organized

Teneo pieces were designed to be used in the open and seen from all angles. The purposeful application of materials maintains visual continuity across a range of interiors and architecture, which can create a calming effect in an environment.
The colors coordinate with our foundation palette for systems - a timeless selection of neutrals combined with bright accent colors for pulls and cladding. Also available are intriguing cladding textures and gloss levels. Different finish qualities can be combined for a layered effect.
For example, a felt cladding overlay literally gives Teneo a different feel?a dense and soft surface that can carry color. Cork cladding overlay creates a surface that's unexpected and rich, like a veneer. A laser-cut pattern or perforations can be added to cladding for a distinctive touch. And color and materials can be changed for a new look in the future.

Earth-friendly

Teneo components are made of up to 43% recycled materials and are up to 99% recyclable at the end of their useful life. Teneo products adhere to the McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC) Cradle to Cradle Design Protocol. It is certified to MBDC Cradle to Cradle Silver. Teneo is GREENGUARD certified and can contribute to LEED certification.

"The starting point of Teneo," say designers Ayse Birsel and Bibi Seck, "was challenging the storage archetype and saying, 'Well, why can't we do this any other way?'" They answered their question by looking at storage from an entirely new perspective.
After examining storage needs in today's complex workplaces, they concluded that the traditional storage archetype - the metal box - represented a good but limited solution. So they deconstructed a metal box to identify its elements - what holds it upright; how it organizes, contains, and secures its contents; and what provides enclosure.
To reconstruct storage into something more versatile, Birsel and Seck broke it down into three distinct parts: structure, utility, and cladding. The structure - the ring - is the same for all pieces; utility could be shelves, drawers, and doors; and the cladding - the skin - could be any number of materials, from metal and veneer to cork and felt.

When they reassembled the elements, they took a systemic approach. The structure, utility, and cladding elements can be combined in many ways to create numerous products that put the user at the heart of the design.