Rayanne Rzepka - ROIDESIGN

Vos Glass Moves into New Offices and Fabrication Plant

by Rayanne Rzepka | Jan 26, 2023 | Interior Design, Retail Design, Workplace Design

Vos Glass started making plans in 2020 to build a new headquarters that would allow them to grow their business, expand their showroom, and improve their fabrication and distribution center.

Our previous relationships with Vos Glass, as a designer and customer, and with the architect Ken Watkin of Architectural Concepts, made for a smooth integration to interior design. We worked directly with John Turner, President of Vos Glass, and Dennis Moomey, Prefabrication Leader. Dennis was also the construction manager for this project.

The design criteria for this project could be summarized as clean, contemporary, flexible, inspiring, and within the Vos Glass Brand.

The finished product delivered these criteria with some notable features:

Polished concrete floors throughout.
Very well-lit spaces.
Tall ceilings.
Showcasing glass everywhere. Their office area is on display for customers to see a variety of glass installations.
Mindful use of Vos Glass’ brand red color in paint, carpet, and acoustical baffles.

r.o.i. Design visited Vos Glass shortly after they moved in and spoke with Dennis about the process and outcome. He was kind enough to say, “It was fun working with you folks.” We can say, “Vos Glass it was great to work with you, too.”

– Edit 8/29/24:

In June 2024, the entire r.o.i. Design team took a “field trip” to visit some of the completed jobs we designed. One of the stops was Vos Glass. It was enjoyable to re-engage with the customer and see in person how the project turned out. We toured the facilities with John Turner, the President & Owner of Vos Glass, and he gave us a great customer testimonial:

R.O.I. transformed our new building into an inviting, functional space that perfectly meets our needs. Their attention to detail and creative vision exceeded our expectations, making the entire design process seamless and enjoyable. We couldn’t be happier with the results and highly recommend R.O.I. for any commercial interior design needs.

Click on the thumbnails below to view larger images.

Durable Casegoods: r.o.i. Design Expert Advice

by Rayanne Rzepka | Dec 14, 2022 | Procurement and Purchasing

r.o.i. Design has been supplying their clients with furnishings for more than 20 years and the need for durability in casegoods (tables, storage units, non-seating furniture) is a budgetary and maintenance must. Buying a casegood for your commercial or hospitality use should last more than 10 years.

Many of our clients have opted to buy residential-grade furnishings based on their sense of price and value. We have several examples when these same clients called after 18 months, saying they need to replace the furniture because of poor wear, the inability to maintain, or general breakdown.

Contract furniture has these qualities that many residential furniture pieces lack:

Frame Construction: The base frame is hardwood or steel, with fewer pieces and joints. Joints in the frame are reinforced. Non-exposed surfaces are fully finished/sealed.
Maintainable Tops: Many contract grade casegoods offer laminate top options, versus wood veneer. In many cases, stone and resin tops are also available. These are more durable finishes that permit typical cleaning using non-caustic cleaners.
Internal Hardware: Hinges, drawer glides, and feet glides all are tougher than residential grade.
Warranties: Most contract casegoods are sold through qualified distributors who can advocate with the manufacturers when issues arise. Most contract manufacturers offer a 1-year warranty on frame and construction issues.

r.o.i. Design supports all our local and regional office furniture providers. We have been engaged with clients to provide more “residential in feel” furnishings for lobbies, lounges, and break rooms.

When we are asked to procure furniture for other spaces in a project, we use two local manufacturers or work with a local office furniture provider.

Let us know if we can help you with your furniture procurement.

BDNY 2022

by Rayanne Rzepka | Dec 14, 2022 | Design News, Procurement and Purchasing

Scroll down to see photos from our visit.

Boutique Design New York (BDNY) is the leading trade fair and conference for the hospitality industry’s boutique and lifestyle design community.

This November, r.o.i. Design attended the BDNY conference in New York looking for the latest ideas for the hospitality “touch” to share with our customers and include in our designs.

We weren’t disappointed.

This 24-hour excursion was a 12,000-step adventure with two red-eye flights. We met with our current furniture distributors, renewed the relationship with inactive furniture distributors, and created relationships with new furniture manufacturers. We saw the latest in wall finishes, wall décor, and decorative lighting.

We are pleased that we already knew and are engaged with many of the manufacturers of finishes and furniture (thank you to our product representatives) and look forward to including our new learning in our designs going forward.

Click on the thumbnails below to enlarge photos from our visit.

National Nail “N” Bench

by Rayanne Rzepka | Oct 26, 2022 | Branding, Workplace Design

One of r.o.i. Design’s current interior design projects is the expansion and remodel of the Corporate Offices for National Nail in Grand Rapids. Construction on this job is near completion. We have just completed the installation of two custom “N” benches displayed in their main lobby.

National Nail asked us to create a statement piece using their newly rebranded logo, which features an uppercase “N” composed of positive and negative space. Their main lobby has a seating area furnished with new furniture from r.o.i. Design. We created a bench to be a part of the seating arrangement with a back using the “N” shape.

The negative spaces of the “N” are three large “shadow boxes” filled with National Nail’s various fasteners they produce and distribute. Another material featured throughout the remodel is OSB sheathing. We used this as the backer and positive space of the “N”.

Bluewater Studios were the fabricators and installers of this custom statement piece. We have trusted their expertise and attention to detail on several past projects. This one is no exception as we feel it turned out amazing.

Stay tuned for more photos and information about the rest of the National Nail project in the coming months!

Click on thumbnails below to view larger images.

Creating Renderings for Exterior Building Improvements

by Rayanne Rzepka | Oct 26, 2022 | Designing Public Areas, Graphic Design

Alpine Slopes_2020_Building1_Exterior Concept_02-01

For the most part, r.o.i. Design is known as a commercial interior design firm, but we also do exterior design as well. Many of the projects that we work on require design and consulting on the materials and colors for a building’s exterior. For some projects, that is all we do.

For instance, a longtime customer, DTN Management in Grand Rapids, owns several multi-family residential complexes throughout the state. One of the local properties, Alpine Slopes Apartments, needed improvements to the buildings’ exteriors to update the look and provide less maintenance.

We worked with their team to provide options for new siding and paint options. We created renderings from photos we took to show how the new finishes would look when installed. This proved to be a valuable tool for DTN. Replacing the siding on all the buildings of a large complex was a major undertaking, so making sure it would look right was important.

The new siding has gone up on most of the buildings, including the clubhouse and pool building. It looks great and is a real improvement. We are happy to have been able to help DTN and look forward to more collaborations like this in the future.