During the last week in October, Area Sq's lead designers travelled to Cologne for the Orgatec Fair. The international pilot fair for office & facility was attended by around 61,000 visitors from 110 countries, who came to obtain a comprehensive overview of the trends and innovations in the global furnishing sector for offices and office facilities. A total of 608 companies from 41 countries presented their solutions in the Cologne trade fair halls.
Area Sq's Design Director, Amanda Godwin-Jones, comments on the event, "We always enjoy coming over as a team to Orgatec. It's a great opportunity to see how the industry is developing and which new products are entering the market. There were some superb exhibitor stands and we’re looking forward to including some of the better designs and products in our offering back in the UK."
Highlights from the show included the new eco-friendly Herman Miller SAYL chair designed in collaboration with Yves Behar, as well as Vitra’s new free standing cubicle system called Communal Cells, designed by French designers Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec.
When identifying current trends evident at the show, Kat Wickens, Lead Designer at Area Sq, explains "The trend for agile working is definitely here to stay with manufacturers like Bene developing their PARCS work system of upholstered blocks and cubicles which can be used to create different zones in the office." The work system can be moved around depending on requirements for meeting, presenting, learning, brainstorming, focussing, reading or touch-down.
When posed the same question about current design trends, Amanda highlights the influence of hotel and bar design in the emerging trend of office interiors having a 'residential feel' to them. To this end, the Area Sq design team will be attending The Sleep Event in late November at London’s Business Design Centre. As the only event in Europe that focuses entirely on the design, architecture and development of hotels, it will be a great opportunity for the design team to pull inspiration from other industries in order to lead the way in contemporary office design.
