Steelcase Enters Into Marketing and Distribution Relationship

Blu Dot Products Now Available Through Steelcase Dealer Network

Grand Rapids, Mich., October 19, 2016 – Steelcase today announced a marketing and distribution relationship with Blu Dot, a Minneapolis-based designer and maker of modern home furnishings, lighting and accessories. Steelcase will now be able to provide customers with a complementary offering from Blu Dot through its distribution network. This relationship is part of the ongoing commitment by Steelcase to deliver enhanced value and convenience to its customers and dealers.

The core of Steelcase business is to help organizations create great work experiences through understanding worker behavior and creating places to help people think better, feel better and be healthier. Working with Blu Dot expands the company’s breadth in an important and growing category, adding another layer to its ability to service customer needs.

“We see an interesting cultural movement, as organizations want to create inspiring places unique to their culture and brand,” said Allan Smith, vice president, global marketing, Steelcase. “We want to make that easier for them, and providing Blu Dot products through our distribution network immediately gives our customers access to a broad range of modern lounge, table, lighting and accessory offerings complementary to our own products.”

Founded in 1997, Blu Dot offers a wide array of modern home furnishings including accessories like rugs and lighting.

“Since our founding, we have been committed to creating good, well-priced, modern designs for broader audiences. In the past few years, we have experienced enormous growth in the office segment as companies use our wide collection to personalize their spaces. With Steelcase, we’re able to reach their entire dealer network with convenient tools, ordering platforms and logistics that will make specifying Blu Dot even easier. We couldn’t be more excited about this new relationship,” said John Christakos, Blu Dot CEO.

Steelcase will make the full Blu Dot product line available through the Steelcase Dealer Network. Dealers will order from Blu Dot and products will ship with Steelcase orders. The process will be managed through the Steelcase order entry and transportation network. Steelcase dealers can begin to order Blu Dot products immediately.


About Steelcase Inc.
For over 100 years, Steelcase Inc. has helped create great experiences for the world’s leading organizations, across industries. We demonstrate this through our family of brands – including Steelcase®, Coalesse®, Designtex®, PolyVision® and Turnstone®. Together, they offer a comprehensive portfolio of architecture, furniture and technology products and services designed to unlock human promise and support social, economic and environmental sustainability. We are globally accessible through a network of channels, including over 800 dealer locations. Steelcase is a global, industry-leading and publicly traded company with fiscal 2016 revenue of $3.1 billion.

About Blu Dot
Blu Dot was founded in 1997 by three designers, John Christakos, Maurice Blanks and Charlie Lazor. As they were furnishing their first homes, the things they liked they couldn’t afford and the things they could afford they didn’t like – and so, Blu Dot was born. Blu Dot’s collection spans multiple categories of home and office furnishings and is sold online and through Blu Dot stores in the U.S. and internationally. Their work has won numerous design awards and has been exhibited in prominent museums such as the Centre Pompidou, Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, The Walker Art Center and MoMA. The company is privately held and is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN.


Contact

Katie Woodruff
616-915-8505
katie.woodruff@steelcase.com