Office Gallery International (http://officegallery.net), a Norwood-based provider of office furniture and design services for the business community since 1989, recently completed an office design and outfitting project for E. A. Stevens Co., Inc. (www.eastevensins.com).
Independently owned and locally operated, the insurance company E. A. Stevens Company, Inc. was founded in 1903. The agency is now owned by Thomas P. Cares, Jr., CIC (president) and Kelly Clifford Watrous, CPCU, CIC (vice president).
A. Stevens Company first reached out to Office Gallery in 2018, when they thought they might be leasing new office space in Middleton. The company ended up finding a new space to purchase instead: a two-story, mixed use residential building, built in the 1970s, with approximately 4,400 square feet of office space across two floors.
“The building looked like a residential home but needed a lot of work on the inside and out so we completely gutted it and basically had a blank slate to work with,” Watrous recalled. “Plus, we were coming from a dated 1980s-era office with low cubicles that were orange and brown so we wanted a new space with modern, functional pieces. Hilary [Troia, president of Office Gallery] came in, designed some workstations and offices with furniture to suit our needs today, and did a fantastic job meeting and exceeding all of our expectations.”
The Office Gallery team worked on a large conference room, a couple of smaller conference rooms, three executive offices, five additional offices, 11 workstations, a kitchen and reception area. Work started in August 2020 and was finished in late spring 2021, due in part to construction delays as a result of the pandemic.
A. Stevens Company wanted functional, ergonomic pieces within a neutral palette. The neutral color allowed employees to customize their offices and workstations – which feature sit-to-stand desks and complimentary file cabinets, storage spaces and overhead surface areas.
“This was such a large investment and undertaking for us, and we found in Office Gallery a partner that came in on budget while developing a full-scale office design for us,” said Watrous. “They took the time to suit our individual business needs and the results speak for themselves!”
