VS America, Inc.

Wishing you a holiday season filled with peace, wonder, and joy.

Happy Holidays from .

It's a little late for a post, but we had to give a major shoutout to the Collegiate School in Richmond, VA for their amazing costumes this year. The school received all new VS furniture, and our partner in furniture and classroom pedagogy, , visited them for some professional development, and they were inspired to create all of these awesome costumes.

Look closely and you will see ThumbPrint tables, a PantoSwing chair, two Hokki stools, and David himself – thank you to the teachers and students at Collegiate School for sharing these great photos! We love to see your dedication to your students' well-being.

Check out that beautiful PantoSwing chair. Aptly named for its designer, Verner Panton, the PantoSwing is a VS America classic. This cantilever chair stands out among the rest because it stimulates the spine by encouraging movement. This type of dynamic sitting has been proven to activate both the body and mind — increasing the attention span of students and adults alike. And with a seat shell made of a double wall of textured polypropylene, it is also virtually indestructible!
The PantoSwing is available as part of our QuickShip program, which means it's ready to ship, fully-assembled from the US within 10 days. Check out www.vsamerica.com/quickship for more information.

It's , and did you know that our partner in design, David A Stubbs II, wrote and published a book?!

David has partnered closely with VS for many years. Back in 2014, he changed the education game by redesigning the function of school desks and storage pieces in the classroom with the Shift+ line of furniture, and last year he disrupted the system again by reimagining the resource room with the new, all-school, high-capacity storage system, SPACE.

David’s book, Hinge & Pivot, is available to order at www.paperpetebooks.com or on Amazon.

The Hokki wobble stool, like all VS products, was thoroughly researched, designed, and engineered for incredible stability and durability. Developed in 2010 by designer John Harding, every detail has been carefully thought out – from the highly scratch-resistant and 100% recyclable materials from which it is made, to the patented scalloped edge for hanging on tables, all the way down to the slip-resistant base.

Our Hokki stools are made to stand the test of time – and students. Learn more at www.hokki.com.

The German School of Guayaquil in Ecuador recently renovated their Grade 1 – 4 building and VS is honored to have been chosen to outfit the next generation of learning in this space. VS created layout designs for the learning spaces, allowing for a diversity of tables and seating solutions in each environment to support student choice. The spaces are highly flexible and adaptable to support different educational delivery needs. Being a German School, the stakeholders had full confidence in the build quality, safety, and longevity of the product. A return visit is planned where VS will work with the educators to ensure they get the most out of their new environments, which are very different from what they’re used to.

It's crazy to think this bench/desk combo was innovative at the time, but it was!

In 1895 Wilhelm Rettig developed his design for a two-seater school bench. It offered a heightened footrest that made it easier for students to sit down and stand up from, and a tilt fitting meant the bench could be tilted to facilitate floor-cleaning – an important contribution to school hygiene. 

Our predecessor company, P. Johannes Müller, first manufactured the bench, but after 1898 they were produced directly at VS and spread rapidly across Europe. 

Our student desks have come a long way since then, but it's important to remember that change doesn't happen overnight and it's the small steps in between that make the biggest difference.

The front-of-the-class teaching technique has its place, but group work, independent learning, and project lessons play increasingly important roles in the classroom. A diverse room design with a broad variety of needs-appropriate furniture gives teachers the flexibility to craft their lesson plans to match the diversity of their students and individual learning styles.

We know that students retain information best when they can process it themselves – and even better when multiple senses are engaged. Check out this list of five things you can do in your school and classroom to create a movement-friendly culture.

It’s key to understand that students at any age are not able to sit still for long periods of time. Having the ability to sit, stand, and move around is always optimal for healthy, growing, and often fidgety bodies. That’s why chairs should not be used for long-term sitting and should feature agile, three-dimensional sitting, enabling micro and macro movements.

When specifying chairs for your learning space, they should enable a high degree of freedom. They should be easily adjustable to individual body heights and flexible enough to respond to free flowing body movements, such as our JUMPER chairs pictured here.

Our patented 3D-rocking mechanism or the cantilever frame available on our chairs provides multi-dimensional seat mobility that promotes the right kinds of movement while seated.

VS America’s QuickShip program has a wide range of products – including chairs, desks, and storage – ready to ship in 10 business days or less. And, the products arrive fully assembled so they can be put to use immediately.

Explore the furniture at www.vsamerica.com/quickship.