Explore HON’s 2025 Year in Review, showcasing top office furniture innovations, workplace design trends, and education solutions that are shaping modern spaces.
2025 was a year marked by momentum and meaningful progress. With new product launches, expanded research, reimagined showrooms, stronger dealer connections, and inspired client spaces, HON continued to push forward the ways people work, learn, and collaborate.
HON Replay brings together the stories, solutions, and milestones that made this year memorable.
Top Product Highlights of 2025
From flagship introductions to award-winning designs, our product highlights reflected a continued commitment to comfort, performance, and thoughtful detail. Each solution was shaped by real needs in workspaces and classrooms, and supported by materials, colors, and features that help environments work better for the people in them.
Introduced Etch: As a new anchor within HON’s award-winning seating portfolio, Etch introduced our first perforated shell—bringing airflow, visual lightness, and modern simplicity to flexible spaces. Designed for touchdown work, quick collaboration, learning zones, and lounge settings, Etch’s approachable scale and sculptural geometry give everyday spaces a contemporary edge. Etch was also recognized as an Interior Design Best of Year Finalist, reinforcing its design impact across applications.
Unveiled Field Trip Tables: Field Trip reimagines classroom mobility and flexibility through a student-centered approach. Designed with height configurability, a writable flip-top surface, a smooth, quiet transition mechanism, and a safe, no-pinch hinge, Field Trip allows educators to shift between group work, independent study, and whole-class instruction with ease. The palette of bold, bright, and neutral finishes helps schools express identity and support different learning styles and environments.
Celebrated Confer: Confer brings a warm, modern approach to wood guest seating with a sculpted form that blends residential comfort and commercial durability. Its soft contours and crafted angles create a welcoming silhouette, while thoughtful features, such as supportive back geometry and inviting proportions, make longer interactions more inviting. Confer was celebrated across the industry with several awards including:
A+ Architizer Special Mention
Prize Designs for Modern Furniture and Lighting Winner
Interior Design Best of Year Finalist
IDA Design Awards - Bronze Winner
Refreshed Ignition 2.0 and Nucleus with Spectrum Mesh: Spectrum Mesh brings expressive color to two essential seating lines - Ignition 2.0 and Nucleus - with breathable, performance-driven mesh options that support brand alignment and energize today’s workplaces. This expanded palette contributed to Ignition 2.0 being named the NAOPA People’s Choice Award Winner, reflecting positive customer response and the enduring versatility of HON’s seating portfolio.
Expanded SmartLink with Shell Color Enhancements: SmartLink introduced new polymer shell color enhancements that modernize learning environments with fresh and contemporary tones that coordinate seamlessly across material palettes, allowing schools to create cohesive, student-centered spaces with greater design flexibility.
Added New Paint Colors to our Height Adjustable Tables: Four new paints, Dune, Sage, Cove, and Harbor, introduced warmth and personality to Empower and Coordinate height-adjustable tables. These additions support designers seeking more unified aesthetics across desking and table applications.
Updated Flock Paint Options: The Flock guest chair and stool collections expanded to 28 paint finishes, giving designers increased flexibility to create cohesive color stories across seating and collaborative zones.
HON Summit 2025
The HON Summit 2025 brought together 68 dealer sales leaders in Muscatine for a premier, three-day event, focused on elevating sales leadership. The program centered on three critical pillars: building and motivating high-performing teams, transforming revenue into profit, and creating strong sales cultures. Attendees engaged with industry experts, academic thought leaders, and HON executives to explore cutting-edge strategies, including AI-driven sales approaches, innovative design, and smart business development tools. The Summit delivered actionable insights and meaningful connections to help leaders thrive in today’s dynamic marketplace.
HON Business Development Academy
Launched in April, the HON Business Development Academy is a fast-moving, workshop-driven learning experience designed to strengthen sales skills and build confidence. Hosted in HON showrooms across the country, the 1.5-day program blends foundational selling strategies with progressive tools including LinkedIn prospecting, digital branding, and AI prompt engineering.
Participants work through four primary learning categories and nine targeted modules, applying new techniques immediately in collaborative workshop sessions. Developed with HON dealers, sales leaders, and business development experts, the Academy delivers a consistent, scalable model created for today’s selling landscape.
HON Workspace at Chicago Design Week
The HON Workspace Chicago space showcased new workplace configurations, expanded material palettes, and immersive learning zones—each reflecting modern workstyles and evolving educational needs.
The 5 Stories Featured at HON Workspace:
- Expanding the Potential for Learning
- Collaborative Comfort
- Welcoming Office
- Responsible Choices, Responsible Space
- Planning + Product = Purpose
These stories guided the showroom experience and highlighted how HON solutions support a range of user needs, from active learning classrooms to hospitality-inspired lounges and flexible workspaces.
Education Thought Leadership
Our thought leadership work continued to influence how educators design purposeful, student-centered spaces by translating research insights into practical strategies that support engagement, well-being, and instructional flexibility.
Color in Motion Research: Color in Motion, led by Senior Workplace Advisory Manager Taylor Morgan, examines how color influences student engagement, emotional regulation, cognitive focus, and overall classroom performance. The theory outlines how specific color choices can support different learning modes and help create environments that strengthen student well-being and classroom dynamics in K–12 environments.
Creating a Purposeful School Culture: This thought leadership piece explores how schools can build intentional environments centered on culture, belonging, and behavior expectations. The guidance offers practical strategies for teachers and administrators who want to foster supportive, student-centered communities.
Exploring How Color, Sustainability, and Flexible Design Shape Learning: Analysis of color, sustainable materials, and adaptable furniture reveals how purposeful design decisions influence student well-being and academic performance. The findings emphasize the value of flexible learning environments that support engagement, focus, and instructional variety.
EDspaces 2025
HON showcased two key experiences at EDspaces this year. Inside the booth, attendees explored how Color in Motion comes to life through thoughtful palettes and design strategies that support movement, attention, and student well-being. The display featured active learning zones and flexible configurations that demonstrated how color can help shape different learning modalities.
Beyond the booth, HON furnished an EDsession classroom space entirely with HON NOW solutions that will be donated to schools in need through Heart of America. The installation demonstrated how a full classroom can be created in seven to fourteen business days, underscoring the speed and confidence of HON NOW.
HON also contributed to broader education conversations through Madeleine Tigges’ EDsession, which explored how responsive learning environments can support well-being, student choice, and instructional variety.
Fabric & Finish Highlights
2025 was a meaningful year for Color, Materials, and Finishes as HON expanded choice, improved usability, and introduced more expressive and sustainable options. Our Material Trends analysis emphasized how sustainable materiality, expressive color palettes, and increased customization are shaping today’s workspaces. The research highlighted a growing desire for environments that reflect organizational values, support different workstyles, and use color to influence mood and reinforce brand identity.
Alongside this, HON’s expanded COM Program made specifying custom materials easier and more intuitive. A simplified digital experience, broader textile partner options, and clearer workflows helped designers build more personalized, brand-aligned spaces without sacrificing speed or clarity.
Other highlights this year included new partnerships across the textile industry, globally inspired color palettes drawn from vibrant cities, sustainability-focused fabric introductions, premium wool additions, and refreshed classics that reentered the collection with modern updates. We also continued to expand our paint offering with on-trend colors that support cohesive, contemporary palettes across applications. Together, these enhancements created richer, more flexible options for designers and customers.
Industry Week
As the Premier Sponsor of Industry Week, HON connected with ISG members through a high-energy, solutions-focused experience that showcased the breadth of our portfolio. Dealers explored a carefully curated mix of award-winning seating and the latest HON NOW solutions, showcasing the breadth of custom and rapid-ship offerings that support real-world customer needs.
This commitment to partnership and performance was reinforced when HON was named the ISG Members’ Choice Best Supplier for 2025, a recognition voted on entirely by ISG members who value strong programs, dependable support, and easy-to-work-with solutions.
HON NOW Expansions
HON NOW continued to evolve as a fast, dependable way to furnish entire offices with trusted, high-performing solutions. This year, we expanded the offering with both new introductions and trusted best-sellers, keeping the collection fresh and aligned to customer needs. New additions such as customizable Altern Task Seating, Etch Multi-Purpose Seating, and the long-trusted 10500 Series brought even more flexibility to the program, giving designers and facility leaders a fast, reliable way to create cohesive environments that ship in seven to fourteen business days.
From award-winning seating to private offices, collaborative spaces, and storage, HON NOW continues to deliver the quality, performance, and coordinated styling our customers can rely on.
Our Approach to Sustainability
HON advanced it's sustainability strategy with a renewed focus on responsible materials, responsible manufacturing, and responsible lifecycle decisions. These commitments reflect decades of leadership in reducing waste, increasing material transparency, and building long-lasting products that support healthier spaces. Enhancements to recycled-content textiles, low-emitting materials, and durable construction continue to guide how HON designs for the future.
HON Reimagines Chicago Presence
HON announced plans to open a major new flagship showroom in Chicago’s Fulton Market, one of the city’s most dynamic and design-focused districts. The new showroom is set to open for Fulton Market Design Days 2026 during Chicago Design Week, and will serve as an immersive destination for architects, designers, dealer partners, and customers.
The space will celebrate workplace and education solutions, materiality, and design research while offering hands-on environments where visitors can explore applications in context. This marks a strategic investment in expanding brand presence, strengthening industry relationships, and building a deeper connection within the creative community.
Client Project Highlights
The spaces we create with our customers are some of the work we are most proud of. Every project reflects a true collaboration between dealer partners, designers, educators, administrators, and facility teams, and dealer partners who share a commitment to building environments where people can do their best work and feel supported in the process. Across workplace and education environments, these projects showcase how thoughtful planning, purposeful products, and strong partnerships come together to create spaces that inspire connection, productivity, and growth.
Roosevelt Children’s Academy created a playful, movement-driven environment that supported collaboration, curiosity, and flexible learning. HON solutions helped shape zones that adapted to different teaching styles and student needs.
The Tommy Nobis Center designed a welcoming space focused on empowerment, professional growth, and skill building. HON furnishings supported training rooms, focus spaces, and social areas with comfort and durability.
Manhattan Schools introduced adaptable solutions across classrooms and shared areas to support evolving instruction. HON furniture helped teachers shift between group collaboration, hands-on learning, and individualized support throughout the day.
Southeast Polk Schools implemented durable, long-lasting solutions that supported district growth and student engagement. Flexible layouts helped create future-ready environments that adjusted to curricular needs.
San Bernardino County partnered with HON to transform workplace environments that balanced comfort, efficiency, and long-term adaptability. The space supported a variety of workflows and reflected the needs of a large and diverse community.
Here’s to What’s Ahead
Thank you to our dealers, designers, educators, partners, and customers for making 2025 a year defined by progress and shared purpose. Your insight and collaboration inspire us to create thoughtful, durable, and flexible solutions that help people work and learn better.
As we look toward 2026, we remain committed to designing environments that support connection, creativity, and well-being through spaces that make more possible.