Sustainability, ergonomics and innovation characterised the winners

The 9th Office Exhibition, sponsored by Hewlett Packard, closed after a successful three day event, with a variety of Middle East product launches taking place, and exhibitors positive about significant business opportunities resulting from the show.

Making its debut in 2010, The Office Awards competition honoured office furniture and seating companies. The awards were given to innovative products and designs, covering a number of categories including seating, files and storage, and tables.  Sponsored by Bene and judged by Gensler, Cityscape, EMS and Reliance FM & Green Technologies amongst others, the Awards were presented to the winners by Bernard Walsh, managing director of dmg world media, organisers of The Office Show. 

Winners all: The Encircle chair from HBF-HNI

Two USA companies fared well, with Allsteel being awarded two Gold Awards (for Stride - Furniture Systems and Encircle – Lounge Seating) and a Silver Award (for Villi – Public Seating); and Izzy+ receiving three Silver Awards (for Dewey – Education, Olivia – Public Seating, and Eliott – Worksurfaces).  Joey Ruiter of Michigan’s JRuiter Studio designed both Dewey and Elliot for izzy+. The designers of Olivia are bangdesign’s Bryan Marshall and David Granger, based in Sydney, Australia. H20 Concepts have been signed on to distribute Izzy+ products.

Boss Design from the UK also scooped three Awards, one Gold (for Kruze – Guest Seating) and two Silver (for Lily – Task Seating, and Pegasus – Tables).  The Kruze lounge chair is designed by David Fox of David Fox Designs. The Pegasus table, Kruze lounge chair and Lily Task chair were launched in the Middle East.

The 15,000-sq m show was split into four main sectors (technology, interiors, furniture and consultancy), and featured exhibitors from 25 countries, including USA, Italy, Spain, UK and Germany.  

Another award winner, Total Office’s Teknion Powermat created a real buzz.  This is a revolutionary way to charge up to three devices wirelessly at the same time from a single source, eliminating the need for a number of different chargers.  Total Office have received hundreds of enquiries about Powermat following its launch and are confident that sales within the region will catch on quickly.

The award-winning Knoll Generation chair was launched by Al Reyami, the UAE exclusive distributor.  This unique chair adheres to “holistic ergonomics”, whereby the chair provides support no matter how the person sits;  and Allsteel, in addition to launching a number of new products, signed a partnership with local company Human Space, making them a newly appointed distributor in Dubai. 

The Elliot chair from Izzy+

LOFT STUDENT WINNERS

The Loft Student Design Competition was another of this year’s attractions, thanks to sponsors Frezza SpA.  Providing a great opportunity for upcoming local talent to demonstrate their skills within the design and architecture industry, students competed to design a meeting table or area, workstation, reception desk and office lamp.  

Students from four local universities competed to design a meeting table or area, a workstation, a reception desk or an office lamp at the Student Loft Design Competition, sponsored by Frezza. Farzaneh Eslami from American University of Dubai won an award for her “Armed” lamp; Aahd Alanqar from Abu Dhabi University for her “The Strips” reception desk; and Israa Mahmoud from Ajman University for her “Serenity” workstation.

Speaking about her award, Eslami said, “I am so surprised that I won, but delighted!  This was a great experience for me, and was the first time I have really had to think about the practicalities of my designs. Winning has given me much more confidence, and I am sure that it will help me enormously in my future career.”

Winners bagged a week-long trip to Italy, where they could visit the famous international design fair in Milan, as well as Frezza’s office in Venice where they will be able to get a real feel for how the company works.

Sinead Bridgett, Show Director, The Office Exhibition, said, “Overall, The Office Exhibition was a great success, and the show features proved to be a hit.  The first ever Office Awards provided winning companies with a strong endorsement for their products, which we know will impact positively on their business.

“We are delighted with the feedback from exhibitors, who have all commented on the very high quality of visitors from the UAE and wider GCC region.  A number of innovative and exciting products made their Middle East debut at the show, and the resulting business should be significant.  The positive feedback has been supported by the level of rebookings and the fact that the demand for space next year has increased!”