March 9, 2022

Workspace Design Show reveals new theme and announces new Amsterdam event

by Freddie Steele • News, Workplace design

With 12 months to go, ‘Destination Workplace’ has been unveiled as the theme for the second edition of the Workspace Design Show. Taking place at London’s Business Design Centre on 27-28 February 2023, the Workspace Design Show will once again be bringing together the entire commercial interiors community to discover and discuss tomorrow’s workspaces. The Workspace Design Show has announced the members of an advisory board and is also launching an Amsterdam counterpart. The Amsterdam show will have a special focus on bringing UK exporters an opportunity to sell to the Benelux market.

The fundamental nature of how and where we work is changing radically and the once clear divisions between home, entertainment, and work are now blurred. The purpose of the office in today’s world is being contested continuously, but workspace specialists remain firm that the physical office continues to be integral to the function of successful businesses. The office is a space to bring teams together, encouraging collaboration and inspiring creativity, but for this to happen, workspaces need to offer a unique and agile user experience that cannot be achieved while working from home.

The theme ‘Destination Workplace’ is all about ‘spaces where people want to be,’ and so Workspace Design Show 2023 will focus on products that advocate building a culture that attracts, retains and motivates employees, thus recentring the office as the heart of all business operations. This will be supported by a comprehensive Workspace Design Talks programme that will see thought leaders from across the commercial interiors industry discuss key issues and current trends that are shaping the future of workspaces.

In the show’s inaugural edition, Founders Esha and Charlie Bark-Jones came with a completely fresh approach to the workplace sector, which was welcomed by the contract industry. Over 2,500 architects, designers and specifiers visited with 71% having a specifying role.

Suppliers at Workspace Design Shows’s first edition came from over 20 countries and brought with them more than 120 product launches spanning the worlds of furniture, lighting, design & fit out, surfaces & flooring, storage and technology with agility in workplace design appearing to be the overarching theme, along with privacy, acoustics and sustainability.

Over 60% of the floorplan has already been booked for the 2023 show; this includes the official Acoustics Partner Woven Image, an international interior finishes company that has sustainability and design leadership at its core.

Advisory board

Workspace Design Show has also announced the team of industry specialists who will make up the 2023 edition’s Advisory Board. The 2023 Advisory Board comprises a range of key industry players including Bernie Mitchell, Co-Founder of the London Co-Working Assembly, Natalie Smith, Workplace Strategy Director at Perkins & Will, May Fawzy Director at BIID and MF Design Studio, Nasim Köerting, Head of Design at The Office Group, Gill Parker, CEO at BDG architecture + design, Mark Simpson, Principal & Board Director at BDP, Peter Brogan, Head of Research & Insight at IWFM, Vanessa Brady, Founder and CEO at SBID, Jack Pringle, Founder and Director at Studio Pringle, Scott Rominger, Creative Director at We Work, Joe Cilia, Technical Director at FIS, Georgia Elliot-Smith, Managing Director at Element 4 and UN Special Junior Envoy for Youth and the Environment, Collin Burry, Principal at Gensler and Kate Smith, Executive Director at CBRE.