NewWork Pioneers: Yoffix Talks with NORNORM CEO Anders Jepsen

The world of work is changing faster than ever, and so are the spaces where we work. As organizations embrace hybrid and flexible models, the challenge of creating inspiring, sustainable, and adaptable offices has never been more urgent. One company leading the charge in this space is NORNORM—a Copenhagen-based startup that’s reimagining office furniture through a circular, subscription-based model. At the helm is Anders Munk Jepsen, an experienced leader passionate about making workplaces better for people, businesses, and the planet. We sat down with Anders to explore his vision for the future of office spaces, the role of New Work in his own life, and practical advice for hybrid organizations.

Interview with Anders Munk Jepsen, CEO of NORNORM

Yoffix: Dear Anders, what is the purpose of your company?

Anders: NORNORM offers a subscription-based furnishing service, founded to flip the script on the unsustainable status quo of the current office. Our message is simple: Stop buying furniture! Instead, we encourage all companies to subscribe for a custom set of high-quality, functional, and well designed workspace. When it’s time for an update or the needs of our clients change, the pieces are returned, exchanged and replaced, then refurbished and readied for their next home. Thereby, we create a smart, sustainable, and cost-effective closed loop that eliminates waste.

Yoffix: What did New Work change in your life?

Anders: New Work enables me to be flexible in the way I work and lets me choose the place of work that fits my current needs. At home, we just moved from a house in the countryside to a city apartment. That’s a big change, especially since I have five year old twins and a twelve year old daughter. While I greatly value the flexibility of being able to work from home and to spend more time with my family, I wouldn’t want to miss the chance of going to an office where I can have in person conversations with my colleagues. An office that encourages communication, collaboration and people’s well-being is vital to create a vibrant working culture that fosters creativity and innovation.

Yoffix: A great office is…

Anders: ..a place that fuels inspiration and collaboration. It is beautifully designed, is highly functional and most importantly is based on circular economy principles. In NORNORM we do this by offering workspaces that optimize three dimensions of being better for people, better for businesses, and better for the environment.

Yoffix: How do you see the future of work and office?

Anders: We believe the future belongs to the adaptive workspace. The recent trend of wanting to work from home, highlights the failure of today's office solutions. Just ask yourself why so many people prefer to work from home - claiming they do better work there?!

Most businesses today are focusing on activity based working. When well designed, these workspaces offer a nice mix of solutions for various activities. The problem is they are static and hard to change. When businesses grow, reorganize, decide to work in a new way - the furniture solution stays the same. I think the future belongs to the adaptive workplaces, allowing full flexibility to constantly make changes to the furniture and layout as the needs change - without a lot of costs and creating waste. To end this we need models where the furniture can be circulated, refurbished, and reused. 

Yoffix: Tell us one tip you would recommend to successfully manage a hybrid organization.

Anders: At NORNORM, we are currently in a scale-up phase where we emphasize self-initiative and independent organization to accomplish tasks. We believe in an adhocracy structure, where we value individuality in the sense that employees are encouraged to think on their feet and to bring their own ideas to the table. This fosters flexibility and enables us to react swiftly.  The foundation for all of that however is trust. 

Thank you, Anders, for sharing your insights on sustainable office design and the future of work. As companies worldwide rethink their office strategies, innovative solutions like NORNORM are setting new standards for flexibility, sustainability, and employee well-being. To learn more about their circular approach to workspace design, visit NORNORM.

Interview by the Yoffix team.