By Esme Banks Marr
ORGATEC 2016, Cologne, Germany. Chairs, more chairs, greenery and flat shoes
ORGATEC 2016 closed on Saturday 29th October, with some pretty outstanding results. The leading international trade fair for the modern working world had a record breaking 56,000+ visitors, from 118 countries! The trade fair’s theme this year was “creativity works – new visions of work”.
With its exhibitors and supporting programme ORGATEC has grown to become the annual creative hub for workplace professionals.
Attendees came from far and wide, everyone from start-up founders to dealers and decision-makers in medium-sized companies all the way through to senior managers at large corporations made an appearance… Oh, and Magenta’s own Esme and Jo! ORGATEC is definitely one of the best global networking and business platforms there is, for the A&D community and workplace world.
671 exhibitors in total presented a wide range of products and solutions, from furnishings to lighting, flooring, acoustics and conferencing technology all the way through to information and communications technology (but let’s be honest, an awful lot of chairs). Many of the concepts – a large number of which followed a holistic approach – revolved around the question of what solutions there are to meet the requirements of the new forms of collaborative working.
Spread across six HUGE exhibitor halls, flat shoes were definitely the savvy choice. The Magenta duo averaged 10 kilometres a day during their three day trip – which adequately helped to balance out the bratwurst and Koelsh being consumed.
Highlights for the team included K&N, Vitra (and their amazing baristas), Senator Group / Allermuir, Viasit, Colebrook Bosson Saunders (and their amazing putting green – where Esme got a hole in one and won a bottle of prosecco!) – and the joint On Office’s party, Humanscale (and their amazing mint julips) and Camira (and the fabulous band they had on the Wednesday evening)!
The three key tips Magenta can report on, from Orgatec 2016?
- Incorporate some living greenery and plants into your office, to create a more warm and inviting workspace and make your constructed environment more comfortable
- Get some wood. Just get some. Clad your walls or expose your desk – natural and rustic materials are here to stay
- Find something old, something new, something (ok not borrowed), and something blue – blue hues are everywhere, little dabs in the form of soft furnishings or larger statement pieces can help to reduce stress and increase productivity (allegedly…)
