Partner: wp_westermann products
Photos: Mario Brand
Graphic: Heide Sorn-Daubner
Year: 2022
Behind the concept of wp_westermann products is the development and design team of wd3_spatial design. wp_westermann products relies on the Stuttgart-based design and development office for the entire product development process, from conception and construction to design and product communication. The 758divide, flomo, motu and Xbrick® product series developed for wp_westermann products were presented at Orgatec 2022, the leading trade fair for modern working environments. Under the slogan “in good company”, the new product and space solutions that support agile work processes were presented. Experts, manufacturers and designers met in Cologne, presented product and room solutions and set impulses for new ways of working. The focus was on the needs and requirements in the work context that have emerged in the course of the pandemic. Solutions for hybrid working methods, furniture for the home office, room partitioning systems and collaborative spaces were all on display at Orgatec. From individual workstations and team-oriented creative spaces to communicative places that encourage movement, wp_westermann products invited visitors to immerse themselves in their adaptive working world.
A minimalist trade show concept was developed in response to the uncertain planning phase caused by the pandemic. The concept tied the factors such as uncertainty about the Orgatec taking place, material availability, transport times and low budget with a reduced and sustainable approach. The design language was based on a sustainable and minimalistic product and brand world, which was reflected in the design of the furniture, the booth and the choice of materials. Shape and color language created a flowing trade show concept between brand world, work world and the adaptive tools. The space left room for what seemed particularly important, creativity and communication. Shelves and room dividers on castors, height-adjustable desks, furniture for plugging, connecting and building stimulated the playful sense and invited visitors to discover the space through their own interaction and to create new environments.
These are the customers of wp_westermann products, the users of the furniture and the products themselves. As a product division of Westermann, wp_westermann products, with the fourth generation of the family business, combines the development and production of adaptive furniture and room systems with the experience of more than eighty years in carpentry and interior design. The reference to the craft was represented by the construction “Show-Frame” made in wood. Tradition and craftsmanship came to life in serially produced products with a high degree of customizability. The color design set analogies to typical design principles and machines from the craft. Overall, the young brand radiated a reduced, down-to-earth and loosened-up overall image in times of uncertainty.
The exhibition space of wp_westermann products was a place for meeting, interaction and exchange, merging corporate presentation and culture into a three-dimensional experience of brand values. The booth was an interaction area that created an inspiring and changeable working environment with a stimulating atmosphere. As flexible as the products themselves, the 100m² booth also convinced with a lot of movement, promoted active interaction and stimulated exchange. The central exhibition module was the show frame for the presentation of the room system 758divide and the sliding wall system flomo wall. Gracefully reminiscent of the Japanese Torii, architectural entrance gate, it formed the entrance to the brand world of wp_westermann products. In reduced timber construction, the show frame was constructed from scantling. The framework of squared timber formed a stable frame around which the individual workspaces were arranged. Orientated on the six different working styles, places opened up for meeting, exchanging, concentrating, making, moving and presenting.
Adaptive tools for adaptive working environments The working environment for wp_westermann products conceived in the magazine “adaptive workspaces” and the brochure “adaptive tools” was reflected 1:1 in the trade fair stand. The guiding principle “in good company” could be experienced in three-dimensional form at Orgatec.
The product division wp_westermann products develops furniture series that understand each other, are mobile and flexible, allowing easy applications and transformations of the space. From small pieces of furniture to room partitioning systems, wp_westermann products offers solutions for flexible workspaces.
At the front corner of the stand, various seating islands made of colorful Xbrick® invited visitors to linger and encouraged them to assemble furniture on their own. The Xbrick stand was used as a seating gallery for presentations. The three different heights of the multifunctional stool demonstrated how different sitting and standing heights can be achieved.
The Sputnik individual workstation, which is height-adjustable and can be wheeled, brings dynamism into everyday working life. As a temporary workstation, Sputnik I can be used wherever creative thought processes take place and innovative solutions are developed.
For even more activity and play, the X-table was converted into a ping-pong table, which encouraged the visitors to actively compete.
Everything needed at the workplace can be ideally stored in the mobile organization trolley flomo train. The shelf on wheels offers space for work materials with several shelves, can be used as an acoustically effective room divider or pinnable presentation wall. With the practical hook-in retaining plates, a flomo board can be accommodated on both sides of the shelf. Another functional and versatile companion is the mobile room divider flomo train S for everyday work. Equipped with acoustic felt fillings, it shields visually and acoustically.
The little brother of the train series is the flomo trolley. A compact piece of organizational furniture that doubles as a trolley or practical standing table. With its drawers it offers a lot of space to store working material or to keep it ready for workshop and creative session.
The mobile secretary on wheels flomo labcase provides a micro workstation where it is needed, shielded, if desired also acoustically effective. The flomo labcase is the place for concentrated work phases or for the next video conference. A manual control crank allows the user to switch between sitting and standing desk work, thus ensuring movement in the open space and comfort in the home office. At the end of the day, the tabletop can be folded up so that the work disappears from view.
The flomo wall turns the flomo series into a room system. With the floor and ceiling guided frame construction, open spaces are zoned and create different work zones. The double-sided reception of the whiteboard flomo board creates drawing areas, pin boards and presentation boards at eye level. By running parallel sliding walls, teams have the opportunity to screen off, organize, or create ideal environments for creative work phases and workshops. Changing teams enter into exchange and can organize themselves again and again in a new and different way. The easy take-away from the flomo board allows interdisciplinary teams to hold meetings, brainstorming sessions and presentations indoors as well as outdoors.
With the 758divide room system, wp_westermann products creates entire room structures and subdivides open office landscapes into units. The glass wall system was presented in the show frame and combined with the flomo wall. The show frame demonstrated how open spaces can be zoned to accommodate teams of varying sizes in the office. The 758 divide system was also equipped with acoustically effective broadband compact absorbers that provide improved room acoustics.
The product portfolio and toolkit for adaptive working environments from wp_westermann products showed at Orgatec how rooms can be subdivided for working, furnished with flexible products and thus create tools for agile teams that organize themselves in a self-determined manner and develop creatively.
Research into circular design approaches does not stop at Xbrick. At Orgatec, for example, a prototype of the Xbrick multifunctional stool made of fungus-based material was presented, showing the extent to which the bio-based material can be used in the furniture industry. At the special Materials4Future area, the Xbrick grown from hemp shreds and mycelium was an exhibit between forward-looking materials research and products made from organic composites. The Materials4Future area was curated by Sascha Peters, who heads the future agency HauteInnovation. The future agency publishes and publicizes news and concepts that deal with material innovations, sustainable materials, new manufacturing techniques and smart technologies.
On the stand itself Xbrick grown found its appearance in the show train. The flomo train, a flexible shelf, was transformed into a mobile exhibition showcase covered with a printed textile banner. Future concepts for Xbrick were displayed on both sides of the show train. On one side, Xbrick grown presented itself with various Mycelium material samples and surface tests on mushroom-based material samples. The other side showed the concept COM’MOVE, which was developed within the master thesis of Dorothee Bitter and deals with the future demands on work culture. The work environments for creative processes designed for this purpose were visualized with Xbrick and a future image was created that provides an outlook on the future of collaboration.
The physical workspace was extended by the digital dimension and found itself in the concept flomo labcase studiolo. The concept was developed in cooperation with halbautomaten Kommunikationsdesign GmbH. Studiolo is a mobile multimedia micro workstation with green screen for home office, office and remote work. As a technical set up addition to the flomo labcase, a hybrid workstation for video conferencing can be set up. The green screen at the back of the seat creates a digitally branded space for three-dimensional brand and product presentations. This allows interactive product presentations to be held and products, 3D objects, videos and materials to be shown without themselves disappearing behind them. The mobile power supply unit Xbrick power ensures the supply of digital end devices and enables flexible working from different locations.
The stand concept was based on an ecologically sustainable approach, the conscious handling, use and application of materials. Already during transport and assembly, care was taken to produce as little waste as possible and to use pure, recyclable materials. The show frame, back wall and exhibition box were planned as reusable units. Four-meter-long single-variety “Moon” textile panels from Rökona, manufactured using a special warp-knitting process and without chemical treatment, covered the backs of the stand. The textile webs are again used for brand communication and are made into shoulder bags. By not lining the floor of the trade fair, an urban atmosphere was created. After the trade fair, the construction timber from the show frame was returned to the production process and was used in the next interior design project.
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