We’re listening.

“Gathering a group of designers and architects together for a product development process is so valuable, because you use one another…We learned a lot, but so did they, because they were able to talk to all of us, ask us questions and get our reactions to some of the directions in which they were going…nora is a research-based company. They seem to know their clients, and they know their product…They just seem to be very receptive to input.”

Ardis Hutchins
Interior Architect
UW Health, Madison, WI

“That’s what design is. It’s collaboration. A design gets better the more it’s processed—the more development that goes into and the more thinking that goes behind it. It’s not something that says this is how we’re going to do it and it’s done. It’s cycles, and with each cycle it typically gets better. So, I think collaboration like we experienced with nora is really important to product development.”

Terri Johnson
Principal
ZGF Architects LLP
Portland, OR

“Contributing ideas was fun, interesting and collaborative. I think they valued the input we provided…They took what we said seriously, and some of the things I’ve seen subsequently seem to reflect that.”

Janet Kobylka
Senior Associate, Healthcare
HOK
Houston, TX

“We were at the plant for a full day, looking at existing products and giving them input on colors and design, picking out colors that we would use if we were designing a line…I think we impacted the design process for nora, because some of the new products they have come out with are in colors that we suggested.”

Sonya Odell
Associate Principal
BOKA Powell
Dallas, TX

“I think nora is ahead of the game, because they talk to their constituents, the people who use their flooring…We were asked to come up with texture and color ways for a new product, and then we put together what we thought would be the appropriate direction for nora to go.”

Leesa Coller
Vice President, Design Principal
HOK
St. Louis, MO

 “I think the whole design process is a very collaborative process…Hearing the perspective that comes from other people you’re working with, no matter what the problem you’re solving, is really what leads to a much richer solution…Manufacturers don’t always utilize the brain trust that they have with the design community…Having an open mind to be able to allow that discussion to go where it has to go is one of the things that I thought nora was extremely willing to do.”

Jocelyn Stroupe
Principal
Cannon Design
Chicago, IL

“nora is one of the few companies that actually asks and listens…I felt like I made a real difference to the product line, which makes you feel more connected to the product…I feel like I have something invested in it. They took my input, and then they made the product the way I wanted it…The nora people sincerely listen to what we’re talking about and do everything they can to make a product that we like to use.”

J.J. Jang
Associate
Stantect Architecture
San Francisco, CA
 

“They took the information we gave them and made noraplan degree even better than we expected…When I saw the final result, I said, ‘That red is because of fellow designer Doris Witte.’ That was her color. We each picked a color out of the box that would give us the options we needed. So, I saw Doris’ red and Sue’s blue. It was really interesting. It came down to seeing the development of the product as if you were there. You were part of it.”

Denise Roznovsky
Senior Interior Designer
HFP/Ambuske Architects, Inc.
Cleveland, OH

“In Germany, we discussed what we thought would work best and what we thought the color value changes should be—the lightest color and the darkest. Then, we went through the color wheel and pulled the colors that would work with a variety of color schemes…nora documented and photographed our conclusions…When we met again in Massachusetts, we reviewed the degree product. They showed us where they were with it, and we worked on it, filling in what we thought was missing and what we could improve upon.”

Doris Witte
Senior Interior Designer
HDR Architecture, Inc.
Omaha, NE