Workspaces That Breathe
Etion, Fijne Werkplek and Plantsoon. Each one comes with its own story
"We think long and hard about where things go. The whole design is full of choices you don't see unless you know them. With Plantsoon, that story sticks around."
Not Your Average Office
Etion's office is not a row of desks - deliberately. Fijne Werkplek turned it into a landscape: an arena for meetings, a snake-shaped table for collaboration, focus spots partitioned off with acoustic leaves, and a quiet area with a moss wall as a resting point. The space doesn't ask you to sit still for eight hours. It assumes you'll move, and gives you somewhere to move to.
That's the idea behind activity-based working. People don't work in one way all day. You shift between focus, conversation, creation, and recovery, sometimes within the same hour. A workspace that ignores that rhythm fights the people in it. A workspace that supports it gets out of the way.
Fijne Werkplek ascribes to a movement in Workspace design called biophilic design. No plant as decoration, no acoustics as a last-minute fix, no material chosen because it happened to be in stock. Everything is there for a reason. The Natural Living Wall in the focus zone helps restore your attention after an hour of deep work. The leaf-shaped acoustic screens dampen sound and bring the outdoors in at the same time. Moss absorbs. Wood warms. The honeycomb mail slots near the entrance give structure, and a first moment to land before the day starts.
So What Are You Actually Scanning?
Next to the plants, the moss wall, the acoustic leaves, and the other biophilic elements, you'll find a smart label from Plantsoon. One scan with your phone and the story opens in your browser, no installation needed, no account, no friction.
What do you see? Not just what it is. Also why it's there. What it does for the acoustics, for the air, for your head after a meeting. The idea behind it from Fijne Werkplek. And if you keep reading: what the science says. About Attention Restoration Theory and the thirty seconds of green that help your brain to reset. About biophilia and why our nervous system still treats natural shapes differently from straight lines. About how a space, quietly and constantly, shapes how you think.
Some labels tell you about a single plant. Others explain a whole zone, why the arena is acoustically separated from the workstations, why the focus area is surrounded by green that moves, why the quiet space sits at the center instead of tucked away in a corner. The labels meet you where you are. Not interested? Don't scan. Curious? You'll know more in half a minute. Want to go deeper? The story keeps unfolding.
For Etion, it means visitors and new hires can understand the space without anyone needing to give a tour. For Fijne Werkplek, it means the thinking behind the design doesn't disappear the day the keys are handed over.
What Fijne Werkplek and Plantsoon Do Together
A designer hands over a space and walks out the door. The story behind the choices; why this plant, why that moss wall in that spot, why leaves as an acoustic screen, often is lost with them. The space stays beautiful. The reasoning fades. Three months later, someone moves a planter to make room for a coat rack, and a carefully considered piece of the design quietly disappears.
That's a shame, because the reasoning is exactly what sets biophilic design apart from a few nice plants in a row. The choices look intuitive, but they're built on years of research and craft. Once that's invisible, it's also fragile.
That's where the collaboration comes in. Fijne Werkplek designs and installs. Plantsoon makes sure the story is preserved. Every important element or zone gets a smart label, and every label connects to a digital story that grows with the space. New plants can be added. Seasonal notes can be updated. The science can be linked to fresh research. The story isn't frozen in the moment it was delivered, it keeps speaking.
For Etion's team, that means a workspace that introduces itself. For visitors, a space that answers their questions without anyone having to. For new colleagues walking in one day in the future, a way to understand not just where the coffee is, but why the office feels the way it does.
Discover the Etion office
Fijne werkplek
Etion
