Our revamped Divide collection makes it more affordable than ever to create flexible partition walls in open plan spaces. With three options; Birch, Whiteboard and Kanban, there’s something for everyone!

Originally designed in early 2015 by Josh Worley, who at the time was a new member of the Opendesk team, the Divide collection was a response to a lack of useful, mobile partition walls available for design and tech-savvy startups. It seemed there were many cheap and cheerful options on the market (the sort that would last six months if you were lucky). However, jump above the £800 mark and while there were some better quality products, they lacked design aesthetic. We wanted to introduce a solution that would bring useful functionality to everyday working scenarios, at an affordable price, that looked great too.

We no longer think of work as a desk, office cubicle or study. Technologies allow us to be more mobile and organisations empower us to work in ways that suit individuals, not organisations themselves. As a result, workplaces are becoming more flexible, catering to the needs of many rather than the preferences of one. What was a meeting room yesterday, needs to be a hot-desking suite today, and a canteen tomorrow. The Divide collection allows open plan workplaces to keep up with the changing needs of its users, creating temporary spaces with functional perks.

Much more than dividing walls on wheels, each Divide has its own unique feature. Starting with the entry level Birch product, this affordable Divide is perfect for breaking up spaces with a natural look and feel. The plain board provides ample room to pin up posters, working documents or sketches.

The Whiteboard is our most popular Divide and can be used to create partition walls or feature in meetings as a stand-alone piece. Made from high-quality dry wipe laminated Birch plywood, this Divide can be doodled on all day long.

Kanban is the flagship Divide product and is particularly popular in technology companies for its play on Kanban style workflows. Also made from high-quality dry wipe laminated Birch plywood, Kanban comes with all the perks of the Divide Whiteboard plus added functionality.

Kanban is a method for visualising the flow of work in order to balance demand with available resources. Work tasks are visualised in a structured, grid-like format to give participants a view of progress from start to finish. Kanban style workflows provide a visual process management system which aids decision-making in what, when and how much to produce. Originally inspired by the Lean manufacturing process employed by Toyota, Kanban style workflow management is now common in software development and is beginning to appear in other sectors from design and architecture to charity and government. Typically managed through apps like Trello and Jira, it’s unusual to see analogue versions of this increasingly digital style of workflow management.

The Divide Kanban provides a physical version of the grid-like structure commonly found in Trello or Jira. Tiles signifying different tasks can be moved around the board in any manner the user wishes. Because the Divide Kanban is made from dry-wipe laminated Birch plywood, any project can be managed with a whiteboard marker by drawing up a framework and tasks. It can then be wiped clean when complete!

You can pick and mix different Divides to change up functionality as they can be joined together using a neat connection slot at the base. They’re great on their own as useful tools for meetings or combined together to create large partition walls in open plan spaces. From quiet corners for meetings to open areas for collaboration- the Divides have got you covered!

We caught up with Product designer Josh Worley to learn more about the Divide:

“Originally, the Divides were designed to be made from one to two sheets of material depending on which of the three options a customer picked. Now, we’ve managed to fit each of the three products onto one sheet of 8’x4’ material. We’ve also reduced the number of parts and simplified the assembly process resulting in cost savings that can be passed onto customers. It’s all been possible thanks to extensive feedback from users and Opendesk’s network of makers, all of whom have provided useful suggestions that have been realised in this latest design revamp!”

Photography by Peter Guenzel and Joanna Wlaźlak
Video and animation by Josh Worley