Education Goes Both Ways

Richard Hein, Director of Marketing – Palmer Hamilton

No one knows an industry better than those who are in it every day, and we are lucky to work directly with some of the most experienced and well-versed professionals in education. Throughout our decades as a full-service furniture manufacturer, Palmer Hamilton has built up our own wealth of knowledge entirely thanks to these relationships with schools and dealers. For our part, we hope to provide the same value back to them as a trusted partner, and this two-way exchange of expertise is the cornerstone of our business model.

You Learn Something New Every Day

Cafeterias are the biggest rooms in a school with uses beyond the single purpose of feeding students

Our ongoing relationships with important industry contacts are crucial to keeping us up to date on the latest trends. Over time, we’ve learned the importance of flexibility in a space, especially in smaller schools. Cafeterias are one of the biggest rooms in a school, and many administrations feel they should have uses beyond the single purpose of feeding students. The right furniture and design can make the room multifunctional for meetings, community events and other purposes, extending the value that the room provides to the school. STEM/STEAM and esports spaces are seeing a similar trend, with many schools looking to combine multiple educational media into one space. This design style started in university settings but has since gained traction in high schools with an emphasis on multidisciplinary education.

Individual accounts also offer important insight on a more personal level. Each job is unique, and there are nuances to the community and the space that will influence the final design. Our designers take the time to meet with multiple stakeholders, including students, teachers, custodians, facility managers and IT. This approach ensures that every question is answered, input is gathered and the designers have a complete picture of what they’re working with.

School for Schools

Our field guide was developed to catch the details that can be missed.

Developing an effective method for getting the information we need involves a lot of learning from our past. We have always been thorough, but small details can slip through the cracks when not enough detail is given. Small details like outlets and planned upgrades can seem unimportant in the initial intake, but they can have an impact on the final design. Our design team is adaptable enough to navigate these forgotten factors when they pop up down the road, and they also ensure they never happen again. This leads to new questions for the stakeholders in future accounts to avoid facing the same obstacles going forward.

Ultimately, Palmer Hamilton is looking to solve a school’s problems, not create more. Schools in the market for a major cafeteria upgrade are generally looking for a solution for an objective. In many cases that’s driving up student participation or making a space more flexible, but we’ve encountered and assisted with many other goals as well. Understanding the “why” helps our designers be the best possible resource to help schools bring their vision to life.

Palmer Hamilton would not be successful today without the continued input from the schools and dealers we work with. We hope that they learn as much from us as we do from them and that they value the quality of our expertise as much as the quality of our products.