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The History of Haskell

Haskell Education started as Haskell Office over 70 years ago by two brothers, Ed and Bud Haskell. Haskell Furniture, in their beginning years were known for their well-built metal furniture and have always designed and provided products for the education market place. Over the years, Haskell has experienced a number of owners and their current ones, also two brothers, have operated Haskell for over 15 years. 

During this time, they have focused more intently on the education market in the development and focus of their products and research. Their current leadership team includes individuals who have been embedded in and passionate about learning environments for many years. As such, they are constantly focused on how their product designs can be impactful in improving learning outcomes for the students and the faculty who use them.

Haskell's heritage of well-built metal furniture combined with their progressive designs have helped position their products for use in today’s active learning environments.

How Haskell Products Are Creating Better Learning Environments

Haskell believes that movement, flexibility and student choice drive today's educators decisions on how they envision their next generation learning environments. Historically, students had to adapt their learning styles to the physical space. Today, they experience the reverse as Haskell furniture is being designed for multiple purposes and is mobile, giving the student greater choice around how they learn.

Haskell always considers factors in the design and development of their products. They also know that new technologies are huge drivers of new pedagogies in the classroom and they are constantly analyzing these trends and solutions to insure their products support and align with them. If they design and manufacture products that allow teachers to teach in multiple modalities and allow students to choose solutions that align with their unique learning styles, they believe learning outcomes will improve.

Haskell often hears from educators at trade shows that furniture is one of the most important and most overlooked factors in creating progressive, high impact learning environments. When a classroom or learning space is designed well, you increase the potential for engaged students and motivated educators which equal positive outcomes.

Learning, thinking and doing are all integral parts of the student centered learning process….. given this, Haskell designs their products to work in and support each one of these unique modes of learning. This often requires their products to do more than just one thing, so they build in multiple functionalities wherever possible.

How Haskell Drives Innovation As A Company

Innovation is the single most important factor in the development of new products at Haskell Education. Without it, we are asking educators to make investments in products that may not serve them over their lifetime of use. So the number one factor that drives innovation for Haskell Education is what does the potential future look like?

Will their products be flexible enough to meet the changing needs of the next generation of students and educators? Haskell knows that most schools when making a purchase for a classroom or learning space will have to make that purchase last 20 - 30 years. So, not only do they want their products to last that long, but they must also be designed to meet the potential needs of tomorrows educators and students.

To that end, Haskell works diligently with the many stakeholders who are forward thinking when it comes to tomorrows learning spaces...educators, architects and designers who are also looking to the future and what might be. They also listen to the student….Haskell takes their product design and innovation process to the streets and lets students experience them and give them unfettered feedback as only a student can.

Haskell Products In Action

Resources Haskell Uses To Stay Ahead of The Curve

Haskell participates in many trade shows across the country and they are constantly listening to their dealers and customers. Haskell is also very focused on the “forward thinking”  that architects and designers are doing in the world of education environments. Many of their products and innovations in their offering have come from interfacing with these stakeholders. Haskell also has a great innovation team that is constantly looking at insights and trends that help them drive what’s next.

Their number one tool for staying ahead of the curve though, is that they go back to their current customers and see firsthand how their products are working. Are they accomplishing the intended outcome that they were designed for? A great example of this would be the enhancements they have recently made to their very successful Ethos classroom chair, which has been in their line for just over 5 years now.

Based on student and teacher feedback and observations in the classroom, Haskell designed new features into the chair and upgraded existing design elements that will make the Ethos line of seating even better than it was before. They never want to assume a design is perfect...if they can make it better, they will!