I’ve been going to Orgatec in Cologne since 1992. It has always been one of the twin global behemoths of office design shows. The other being NeoCon in Chicago. Over that time, I’ve seen it dwindle significantly in size, if not relevance. It is held every two years, which means it can offer a better snapshot of current thinking about offices than an annual show might. The last show, two years ago, was still hungover from the pandemic (2020 was cancelled) so this year’s event was, in a way, the first chance to see how things stand in whatever era we might now be in.
My long experience of Orgatec might be seen as a good thing. Or might not. So, treading the halls of the enormous Cologne Messe last week, what did we learn? Here are four of my impressions.
Size matters
It’s enormous, the neophyte said. Nowhere near as big as it once was, the patronising old timer responds.
As it turns out, it is the first time visitor who is closer to the truth. Orgatec is a major event. Around 140,000 square metres, more than 700 exhibitors and 50,000 visitors. It may not be as dauntingly unmanageable as it once was, but Orgatec is easily the biggest show of its type in Europe.
Orgatec is big. It’s the furniture that got small.
There were notable exceptions to this idea and it’s always good to see firms approach such events with a degree of swagger. Shame that there are fewer of them now.
Whether that is enough to spare Orgatec the fate of its sister show IMM remains to be seen. I don’t know the economics of Germany’s colossal exhibition centres, but I can assume that their hungry, gaping maws take some filling.
Talk turns now to the co-location of IMM and Orgatec, the launch of new Orgatec branded exhibitions in Mumbai and Tokyo, as well as the lessons that can be learned from the growth in smaller and city-based events.
Also telling that there was a greater focus on panels and workshops in the Wherever Whenever – Work Culture Festival, hosted in two of the halls, including a very interesting discussion on the Actiu stand led by the always reliable Women in Office Design team.
The British aren’t coming
There was only a handful of British office exhibitors at this year’s show and arguably only one manufacturer of traditional office furniture. To be fair, there are solid commercial reasons why this should be the case, but this does seem pretty insular to me.
There is no excuse however, for the low number of British visitors. I get that they are operating in a difficult market, but this betrays a lack of curiosity about it. I can understand why a firm may not want to commit a major sum or whatever to take part. But I don’t get why some can’t spare a few hundred quid and two days of their time to come have a look.
Keeping the British end up were a number of foreign owned firms with significant market presence including those like Flokk, who have manufacturing operations in the UK.
What’s new?
There were plenty of excellent products for sure, but was there anything genuinely new? A couple of chats I had cemented the view that we are in an era of refinement rather than new directions.
It says it all that we are celebrating the anniversaries of two revolutionary products that had their European debuts in the last Century – Aeron (30 years old) and the Humanscale Freedom chair (25). Also, a dead giveaway that the go-to products for designers in certain parts of the office are mid 20th Century classics and their derivatives.
Nothing propinks like propinquity
It is only partly about product. Much of the action takes place in the corridors that link the halls of the Messe and the meetings and chats that take place there, or later over dinner and drinks. It’s a great chance to renew acquaintances and meet new people and have a proper chat with them.
There’s no substitute for breaking bread with other people. Or, as I put it in the aforementioned panel discussion on the Actiu stand during the show, nothing propinks like propinquity.
Having said all that, I may need to change my routines given that my old friend Rob Kirkbride of US magazine Office Insight knew exactly where to find me one night.
October 31, 2024
Four honest impressions of Orgatec 2024
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Workplace design
I’ve been going to Orgatec in Cologne since 1992. It has always been one of the twin global behemoths of office design shows. The other being NeoCon in Chicago. Over that time, I’ve seen it dwindle significantly in size, if not relevance. It is held every two years, which means it can offer a better snapshot of current thinking about offices than an annual show might. The last show, two years ago, was still hungover from the pandemic (2020 was cancelled) so this year’s event was, in a way, the first chance to see how things stand in whatever era we might now be in.
My long experience of Orgatec might be seen as a good thing. Or might not. So, treading the halls of the enormous Cologne Messe last week, what did we learn? Here are four of my impressions.
Size matters
It’s enormous, the neophyte said. Nowhere near as big as it once was, the patronising old timer responds.
As it turns out, it is the first time visitor who is closer to the truth. Orgatec is a major event. Around 140,000 square metres, more than 700 exhibitors and 50,000 visitors. It may not be as dauntingly unmanageable as it once was, but Orgatec is easily the biggest show of its type in Europe.
Orgatec is big. It’s the furniture that got small.
There were notable exceptions to this idea and it’s always good to see firms approach such events with a degree of swagger. Shame that there are fewer of them now.
Whether that is enough to spare Orgatec the fate of its sister show IMM remains to be seen. I don’t know the economics of Germany’s colossal exhibition centres, but I can assume that their hungry, gaping maws take some filling.
Talk turns now to the co-location of IMM and Orgatec, the launch of new Orgatec branded exhibitions in Mumbai and Tokyo, as well as the lessons that can be learned from the growth in smaller and city-based events.
Also telling that there was a greater focus on panels and workshops in the Wherever Whenever – Work Culture Festival, hosted in two of the halls, including a very interesting discussion on the Actiu stand led by the always reliable Women in Office Design team.
The British aren’t coming
There was only a handful of British office exhibitors at this year’s show and arguably only one manufacturer of traditional office furniture. To be fair, there are solid commercial reasons why this should be the case, but this does seem pretty insular to me.
There is no excuse however, for the low number of British visitors. I get that they are operating in a difficult market, but this betrays a lack of curiosity about it. I can understand why a firm may not want to commit a major sum or whatever to take part. But I don’t get why some can’t spare a few hundred quid and two days of their time to come have a look.
Keeping the British end up were a number of foreign owned firms with significant market presence including those like Flokk, who have manufacturing operations in the UK.
What’s new?
There were plenty of excellent products for sure, but was there anything genuinely new? A couple of chats I had cemented the view that we are in an era of refinement rather than new directions.
It says it all that we are celebrating the anniversaries of two revolutionary products that had their European debuts in the last Century – Aeron (30 years old) and the Humanscale Freedom chair (25). Also, a dead giveaway that the go-to products for designers in certain parts of the office are mid 20th Century classics and their derivatives.
Nothing propinks like propinquity
It is only partly about product. Much of the action takes place in the corridors that link the halls of the Messe and the meetings and chats that take place there, or later over dinner and drinks. It’s a great chance to renew acquaintances and meet new people and have a proper chat with them.
There’s no substitute for breaking bread with other people. Or, as I put it in the aforementioned panel discussion on the Actiu stand during the show, nothing propinks like propinquity.
Having said all that, I may need to change my routines given that my old friend Rob Kirkbride of US magazine Office Insight knew exactly where to find me one night.