Betty and Mark Heath at the Business Interiors of Idaho opening party in 1985.
Today, we’re officially retiring the Business Interiors of Idaho (BII) name and launching the Freeform brand across both of our locations. The name BII has served us well and has been a beacon of consistency and service in Idaho for over 35 years, and we owe a huge debt of gratitude to my parents, BII’s founders Mark and Betty, for the strong foundation they built. We’re excited to continue building upon that foundation as we take the company they created into its next phase.
After making the (not so emotionally easy) decision to take on the Freeform name, I of course needed to tell my parents that we would be pivoting our brand to something that more wholly encompassed who we are now, and the capabilities of our recently expanded organization. My mom, the former president of the company, looked me dead in the eye and said, “You realize you’re killing my third child.” While we greatly respect the legacy Mark and Betty have built, a lot has changed since 1985. Work environments have been reshaped by technology, a pandemic, and countless other factors that have changed the way people work, both in and out of the office, and how we support our customers and partners to accomplish their workspace goals.
So Why the Change?
After 35 years in the biz, we are so much more than “Business interiors of Idaho.” With a second location in Spokane and future regional expansion on the way, our organization crosses beyond the bounds of Idaho. Additionally, ‘Business Interiors’ is a far too narrow descriptor of the scope of our team’s capabilities as we serve customers in every industry, including healthcare, education, and multifamily/hospitality.
The name Freeform encapsulates our approach to furnishing all spaces. Rather than fixed definitions of what a space should be (conference room, lobby, office), a ‘freeform’ approach designs with the expectation that spaces will change and evolve as organizations and people do the same. Freeform is more descriptive of the growth of our combined organization, expanding geography, and the diversity of spaces, environments, and workplaces we work on, both indoors and out.
When we initially merged, the Freeform team already had the building blocks of what could be a great brand – but we all agreed that those building blocks could be polished up and expanded on to create a brand that matched our combined vision for the new and improved Freeform. We had tinkered with “soft” rebrands in the past and knew that not only did it take a huge amount of work, but if we were going to do it, we wanted to do it right.
We needed our brand to serve as an indicator of our dynamic approach to solving business and workplace challenges to our now broader community, customer base in the inland Northwest, and industry partners. Our Freeform approach embodies much more than the physical products we offer, but a broader, more integrated process of deeply understanding our clients’ needs. Our project process ensures that our team is involved in every step of a project, from early design through final project completion, and delivers a complete, smooth execution all the way through installation and the punch list.
We hope that our newly refined brand is recognized as the standard for trustworthiness, innovation, consistency, and community partnership now and into the future. Although the way the brand looks is new, everything it stands for is deeply embedded in the people who make up our team. We hope you feel this in all of your interactions with us.
So, when my mom told me I was “killing her third child,” I let her know that the child she and my dad raised, the values they instilled, and the lessons they taught have stuck, but that Business Interiors of Idaho grew up. BII went out into the world and found a partner, which often comes with a name change that signals a newly united and transformed family. When it comes down to it, we’re still the same team that you’ve worked with and grown to know and love. We’re a little bigger, a little better dressed, and, most importantly, constantly looking for ways to improve, and to better serve our communities and customers. We are so incredibly excited to continue to Create Culture, Build Community, and Enrich Lives.
Yours,
