November 2025
Be Original Americas Event
​Knak Group, Heller Furniture, MillerKnoll, and KBM Hogue Unite Northern California Design Leaders in Support of Be Original Americas
San Francisco, CA — San Francisco–based Knak Group organized an inspiring gathering of design innovators from across North America in support of Be Original Americas, a movement dedicated to championing authentic design and protecting creative integrity. Knak Group, together with Heller Furniture, MillerKnoll, and KBM Hogue, demonstrated the power of collaboration in bringing this important initiative to life.
Mike Skaar, founder of Knak Group and a long-standing contributor to California’s architecture and design community, underscored the shared values that brought the group together: “We’ve built our business around supporting a very special community of creatives and promoting original design,” said Skaar. “Be Original Americas is deeply committed to protecting design and preventing knockoffs wherever possible.”
The evening featured a lively panel discussion moderated by Kyle Kusich, illuminating Be Original Americas’ mission and the broader importance of authenticity in the design industry.
The panel (top pictured from left to right) included:
- Moderator: Kyle Kusich, Knak Group
- Annie Kantor, Founder & Design Director – Modern Metal Designs
- Brian Graham, Founder & Creative Director, Graham Design
- David Charne Founder & CEO, Fyrn
- John Edelman, CEO & President, Heller + Current President, Be Original Americas
- Laura Guido-Clark Guido Clark, Founder of Love Good Color & Project Color Corps
- Primo Orpilla, Founder & Principal, Studio O +A
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For more information about Be Original Americas, and its ongoing efforts to promote design authenticity, please visit https://www.beoriginalamericas.com/
For additional event information, contact kyle@knakgroup.com
June 2025
Astoria Best of NeoCon Winner
​Halcon takes home Best of Competition at NeoCon in addition to Gold Awards in Café Tables, Collections for Collaboration, and Conference Tables.
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Chicago, IL - ASTORIA brings effortless sophistication and elegance to meeting spaces of any size.
ASTORIA's concealed, easy rolling locking casters are seamlessly integrated within its base – an innovation that allows the communal table to move effortlessly without compromising its sculptural beauty. ASTORIA is a harmony of scale, beauty, and movement – designed for spaces that demand both performance and elegance.
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The communal table features a refined metal rail with optional power, while the conference tables beautifully integrates technology in the surface or edge, making it convenient for users to access. For an added touch of refinement, conference tables can be specified with an optional anodized aluminum edge that harmonizes beautifully with the surrounding materials.
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ASTORIA’s beautiful, sculptural bases are available in a curated palette of lustrous, tamboured anodized aluminums, richly textured woods, and meticulously sequenced matched veneers.
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Appointed with lustrous materials and available in a full range of sizes and heights, ASTORIA is the ideal solution for gatherings and collaboration.
May 2025
Knak + Heller
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Knak Group is proud to announce a new partnership with Heller Furniture, representing the brand throughout the Bay Area, Northern Nevada, and Hawaii.
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Since 1971, Heller has championed a revolutionary idea: exceptional design shouldn't be exclusive. Through innovative manufacturing and an unwavering commitment to quality, we've transformed how people experience modern furniture—making the extraordinary accessible, the beautiful practical, and the timeless affordable.
Heller’s story began when founder Alan Heller discovered a set of stackable dinnerware designed by Massimo and Lella Vignelli. The original Italian manufacturer had closed, leaving this Compasso d'Oro-winning design without a home. Alan saw the opportunity to bring this brilliant design to America, launching Heller with the now-iconic Hellerware in 1971. Those vibrant, stackable plates and cups didn't just fill kitchen cabinets—they democratized good design, proving that plastic could be beautiful, durable, and worthy of museum collections.
This first success established Heller’s enduring philosophy: collaborate with the world's greatest designers to create products that are simultaneously sophisticated and accessible, using cutting-edge manufacturing to ensure they're built to last generations.​​
Heller’s transformed how we think about plastic. Today, their furniture incorporates over 25% recycled content, sourced from post-consumer and post-agricultural waste. But they didn't stop there.
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In partnership with Worry Free Plastics, they've implemented groundbreaking technology across all furniture line. Products now contain organic enzymes that remain dormant during use but activate in landfill conditions, transforming the material into nutrient-rich soil within 3-5 years. No microplastics. No toxic residue. Just furniture that gives back to the earth.
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This isn't greenwashing—it's genuine innovation that addresses the full lifecycle of our products.Heller Furniture is manufactured in the USA, reducing transportation emissions and supporting local craftsmanship. Their streamlined production process means products ship directly from our warehouse—no wasteful overproduction, no excess inventory, just efficient delivery of furniture built to order.
June 2022
Knak Group Goes to NeoCon 2022
Two days of NeoCon are complete. Chicago weather has been wild (tornado warnings and 100 degree heat). The crowds have been huge at North America’s largest design exposition and conference for commercial interiors. There has been a palpable exuberance as everyone returned to The Merchandise Mart after almost a two year hiatus. The Knak Group met with many old friends, made some new ones, and had the privilege of winning a special award ourselves. We also threw a fabulous birthday party at Sidetracks for David Meckley. (We Vogued!) What follows is a rundown of everything we were able to capture from NeoCon 2022!
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Award Winners
Let’s start at the end of the story. If you’ve been to The Mart, you know the epic scale of it all. If you’ve never been, wearing comfortable shoes is key to seeing everything- this was the largest building in the world when it opened in 1930. Three of our manufacturers were present in The Mart (and two were offsite and therefore ineligible for a Best of Award). Halcon, Muraflex, and Mayer Fabric each had innovative, awe-inspiring products as finalists in the Best Of NeoCon Awards. Here are the winners.
Halcon Helm Wins Best of Competition
The single most prestigious award given at NeoCon is the Best of Competition. All of the judges who hand out hundreds of awards need to all agree on one, single, solitary introduction that embodies the very best of innovation and design among all of the entrants. This year, for an unprecedented third time in a decade, Halcon once again received this single, top award for their stunning Helm adjustable table. Designed with jehs+laub, Helm is sleekly integrated with technology and unexpectedly equipped with an adjustable-height surface. Helm exudes and respects a classic, timeless mid century design but enables it with technology to adapt to a changing workplace. A powerful statement as a desk or board room table, it also won two additional Gold Awards at NeoCon - for Adjustability and Conferencing.
Knak Groups wins the Halcon Covid Crusher Award
Possibly the biggest surprise for Knak Group was learning we won the Halcon Covid Crusher Award. We wish it had something to do with eradicating a virus, but we are humbled it actually had to do with how successful we were in bringing Halcon products to some of the most important commercial interior projects in the Northern California region over the last year.
Happy Birthday, David
This year marks the 20th anniversary of David throwing his birthday party while at NeoCon. It was especially poignant being at Sidetracks in Chicago since this is where he really came of age when it was one room with a video screen over the front door. Now, it's a multilevel, multiroom club, bar, and lounge. David isn’t the only thing that has come a long way! Friends new and old gathered for this festival and hilarious love fest Sunday evening. We all owe a great deal to David for what he has done for our industry. We are grateful to everyone who made an appearance to raise a toast, have a dance, and wear a face mask from the David of Years Past collection.
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Replay the Live Streams
In case you didn’t know, we were live streaming directly from NeoCon. If you follow Mike’s LinkedIn account, you were getting alerts each time we went live. It was an incredible way to get up close and personal with the products we love and the people who bring them to us. Major kudos to Mike Varljen who gave us a tour at Mayer Fabrics and Alistair Simpson who gave a tour of the latest Wilkhahn products from their beautiful showroom at Tree Studios in River North.
In addition to products, while at the Sandow ThinkLab Sustainability Lab, Mike had an opportunity to share some important details on sustainability being tackled by the non-profit Philanthropy by Design (www.pbd.org).