Designing For The Workplace: The Best Of Orgatec

With more people working remotely, alongside the boom of the startup industry, no doubt the business world is changing. The culture is becoming more relaxed, and formality is often swapped for efficiency. Running from October 25th – 29th, Cologne’s Orgatec conference is a trade fair that celebrates these design innovations in a variety of ways.

With ‘Creativity Works’ as its motto, Orgatec highlights the best of ergonomics. Born from the first ‘West German office trade fair’ in 1953, the conference primarily showcases the best of office supplies, organizers, and furnishings. While today this fair is more cutting-edge than ever, the central belief remains the same: the office environment has a great impact on work performance.

With 650 exhibitors hailing from 40 different countries in attendance, the office implements available at this year’s fair will include some of the leading officer furniture manufacturers and organizational specialists. For example, the Turkish company Bürotime will feature customizable furniture, which is organized based on various aspects of office life including, social, solo, meeting, and teamwork. With these functions in mind, the furniture is designed to most effectively meet the needs of the modern office.

The furniture design company, Haworth, approaches the products presented at the fair with the notion that, ‘With an ideal combination of furnishings, colors and materials, lighting and acoustic solutions as well as the integration of technology, the [office] place becomes a place of well-being.’ The highlight of their repertoire this year is expected to be their new series of revolving office chairs called ‘Fern,’ which promises maximum comfort and revolutionary form.

HAUTE INNOVATION, a company based in Berlin, places its efforts on developing the best sustainable materials from which office supplies are built. Dr. Sasha Peters, an expert on the subject who will be attending this year’s conference, explains, ‘The smart office of the future would be unimaginable without innovations in materials. Innovative materials and intelligent design can play a part in making workplaces for creative knowledge workers more multifunctional, sustainable and smarter.’

Another highly anticipated event of the conference is the ‘smart co-working lobby,’ with an interactive prototype of the creative new co-working module, which was designed in collaboration with the prestigious interior design firm, brandherm + krumrey interior architecture (b-k-i). Other fascinating projects of this nature include ‘The Life at Work,’ which is an exhibit created by the furniture company, Vitra, in conjunction with architects, Jonathan Olivares and Pernilla Ohrstedt. It offers insight into the working world of the future under the title, ‘design at its best’.

In all, Orgatec will focus on facilitating new approaches to office life with an emphasis on digital technology and holistic working environments. The items were designed with the diversity of the many different forms of company culture that have arisen in the contemporary corporate world.

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.