New Zealand owned furniture designer PLN Group has expanded into new territory this month with a new partnership in Japan.
PLN Group has signed on their newest international partner, Royal Furniture, as a licensed distributer and promoter of the popular Hush lights. This ongoing partnership gives Royal Furniture access to future acoustic lighting from the PLN portfolio.
Hush is a collection of acoustic lighting, which are designed to absorb sounds in your environment. The Hush collection makes it easier to concentrate, hear and speak in a space by softening surrounding noise distractions.
Noise is one of the key distractions workers face. Research from Atlassian suggests workers waste an average of two hours per eight-hour workday recovering from interruptions to work, while the University of California Irvine found distractions caused an increased workload, higher stress levels and frustration.
Distractions also cause businesses to lose money. In Japan, businesses lose an estimated NZD$520 billion per year due to distractions. While there are many causes of distractions including emails, social media, the internet and colleagues, noise is a significant contributor in modern workspaces. PLN invested years of research and development into developing Hush acoustic lighting as a solution to reduce noise and improve concentration.
Founder and Director of Royal Furniture, Niels Ortoft says the Hush lighting collection is set to be a top seller: “Tokyo is the most populated city in the world with more than 37 million people. This means there are more people sharing spaces, and with that an increase in noise pollution.
“The Hush lights are a perfect fit for our market, helping to absorb some of that noise and make life a little easier for our community,” explains Ortoft.
Royal Furniture has ordered their display stock for the Hush lights in the smaller size offerings, Mini and Micro, to reflect the compact real estate footprint for most commercial operations.
Director of PLN Group, Blair McKolskey says the impact of this partnership is huge: “This represents our 16th nation as a part of a wider international partnership investment agreement. This cements PLN as a leading exporter of NZ designed and manufactured goods.
“With 40 percent of our revenue coming from international sources, this puts us further down our path towards our goal of 80 percent of revenue from exports,” explains McKolskey.
Designed and made in New Zealand, Hush has steadily grown since it was initially launched in 2015. “Last year, Hush sales grew 300 percent year on year. Acoustic lighting is one of the fastest growing segments internationally. People now recognise how sound affects our productivity, health and stress levels. Getting acoustics right, especially in an office environment, is vital for everyone’s wellbeing,” explains McKolskey.
Royal Furniture is based in Tokyo, and stock a number of impressive brands including Herman Miller, Emeco and Tollix. They also stock New Zealand brands David Trubridge and Resident.