Gold Trade Show Architecture, Interiors, and Exhibit Design · 2026
Nowy Styl Fair Stand
by Konarski and Bzowski Piotr Duraj
- A' Design Award 2026 Gold Winner in Trade Show Architecture, Interiors, and Exhibit Design
- Awarded April 15, 2026
- CLIENT: Konarski & Bzowski
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 32,811
- Verification code AAE3E84F8A · Verify this award
About Nowy Styl Fair Stand
Nowy Styl is an exhibition stand created for the presentation of office furniture at a trade fair. The stand covers 607.5 square metres and follows biophilic design principles. Its layout is based on the metaphor of a tree, expressed through built objects. Fans produce a gentle breeze that animates the space, while warm lighting recalls sunlight passing through leaves. The design places human experience before direct selling. The intent is to show how a workplace can support well-being, reduce stress and improve focus.
Konarski and Bzowski's Fair Stand represents a remarkable achievement in contemporary exhibition architecture, positioning itself at the intersection of sculptural installation art and functional commercial environment design through its deployment of monumental fabric canopies that transform the conventional trade fair booth into an immersive experiential destination. The design demonstrates exceptional command of material properties, exploiting the inherent qualities of translucent technical textiles to create forms that simultaneously evoke organic natural phenomena—blooming flowers, unfurling petals, marine organisms—while maintaining the structural integrity necessary for large-scale architectural application within the demanding context of temporary exhibition infrastructure. The chromatic sophistication evident in the gradient transitions from warm coral through peach to cream suggests careful consideration of color psychology and atmospheric effect, creating an environment that feels simultaneously energizing and welcoming, professional yet approachable. The tripartite arrangement of the canopy structures demonstrates compositional intelligence, establishing visual hierarchy while providing functional zoning for different activities within the stand footprint, and the deliberate contrast between the organic overhead forms and the industrial exhibition hall infrastructure creates productive visual tension that heightens appreciation of both elements. The furniture selections visible beneath the canopies—curved seating in warm earth tones, organic table forms, lush green plantings—extend the biophilic design language to human scale while maintaining chromatic harmony with the larger installation. Visitors approaching this environment might contemplate how contemporary exhibition design increasingly draws upon strategies developed in museum experience design, retail theater, and immersive art installation to create memorable brand encounters that transcend conventional product display, inviting consideration of how spatial experience itself communicates values of creativity, innovation, and human-centered thinking.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- For Orgatec 2024, Nowy Styl presented an anthropological experiment in workplace wellbeing. As a brand specializing in office furniture, the company aimed to showcase its products from an entirely new perspective. The radical concept addressed a fundamental human paradox — the simultaneous yearning for nature and the need for controlled environments. Despite technological progress, Nowy Styl recognized that people still crave a primal connection with the natural world.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The stand is 607,5 square metres.
- Tags
- fair, wellbeing, nature, personification, control, instinct
- Production Technology
- In our design process, we drew inspiration from the metaphor of a tree, manifesting this concept through the physical objects we created. To enhance immersion and create an otherworldly experience, we incorporated motion using fans, simulating a gentle breeze that animated the environment. This movement not only brought dynamism to our designs but also fostered a sense of tranquility.
The implementation of warm lighting was crucial in evoking the sensation of sunlight filtering through leaves. This strategic lighting choice added depth and warmth to the surroundings, enhancing the overall atmosphere. - Design Challenge
- Mind seeks comfort and patterns that can lean on, because it feels safe. Moment when we go beyond our comfort zone isn't pleasant, but only by doing so, we can grow. This project rejected trade fair norms twice over: first by involving non-design teams in creation, then by prioritizing human experience over hard selling. The stand didn't just showcase furniture; it demonstrated how workspaces could (and should) make us feel.
- Project Duration
- The project was designed in July and August 2024, and it's exhibited on Orgatec 2024 in Cologne, Germany.
- Operation Flow
- Focusing on the human experience through design not only improves employee retention and satisfaction but can also lead to better organizational outcomes due to motivated and engaged employees. Here, we created that perfect balance between the comfort of wilderness and unpredictability.
- Research
- Our design research for the Nowy Styl project was rooted in understanding the profound impact of urbanization on mental health and well-being. We utilized various design tools and technologies, including 3D modeling software, mood boards helped us curate materials and colors that resonate with nature. We also created a lot of mockup projects to ensure good quality and translation from idea to reality.
- Inspiration
- Inspiration for our project arose from the increasing disconnection from nature due to urbanization, impacting mental health and creativity. Focusing on biophilic design, we aimed to integrate natural elements to promote well-being, reducing stress and enhancing focus. We collaborate with AI paradoxically - became a creative process in which we needed to balance technology with our human intuition. Our task was to transform preliminary abstract visions into concrete, tangible solutions.
- Image Credits
- Image #1: Photographer Michal Jaworski, Orgatec, 2024.
Image #2: Photographer Michal Jaworski, Orgatec, 2024.
Image #3: Photographer Michal Jaworski, Orgatec, 2024.
Image #4: Photographer Michal Jaworski, Orgatec, 2024.
Image #5: Photographer Michal Jaworski, Orgatec, 2024.
Colors of Nowy Styl Fair Stand
Grand Interview about Nowy Styl Fair Stand
The initial idea came from a very simple but important observation: office furniture should not be experienced as isolated objects. In everyday life, people do not encounter desks, chairs, sofas, or acoustic solutions as separate products standing in a showroom. They experience them within a context — in offices, homes, meeting areas, public spaces, waiting zones, and informal places of work.This became the foundation of the concept. We wanted to move away from a conventional product display and instead create an environment where furniture could function in a way closer to real life. The question was not only: “How do we show the products?” but rather: “How do people actually live, work, rest, meet, and feel around these products?”That shift naturally opened a more human and anthropological perspective. Workplace wellbeing is not only about ergonomics or visual comfort; it is about the emotional and psychological context in which a person spends a significant part of the day. Furniture becomes meaningful when it supports human behavior, concentration, communication, regeneration, and a sense of belonging.The key realization was that the stand should not present furniture as a catalogue translated into space. It should present a possible world — a spatial experience where the visitor can understand the brand through use, atmosphere, and emotion. In that sense, the Nowy Styl Fair Stand was built around the idea that design is not only about objects, but about the conditions in which people feel and function better.
For us, biophilic design in this project was not limited to adding plants or natural finishes. The most important decision was to create a spatial structure in which nature could be felt as scale, rhythm, softness, light, and atmosphere. The central elements of the stand were three dominant suspended forms rising above the exhibition area. In the project drawings and visualizations, these elements were described as “parasols,” but conceptually they functioned more like organic canopies or spatial trees: large, soft, protective structures that organized the stand visually and emotionally. The plan clearly shows the three main parasol elements distributed across the stand, while the technical pages define their radial, leaf-like construction.Their organic form was important because it gave the stand a recognizable emotional identity. They were not only decorative objects; they created orientation, atmosphere, and a sense of shelter. In a trade fair environment, where visitors are usually surrounded by noise, visual overload, and commercial messages, these large organic forms helped introduce a calmer and more human spatial rhythm.The biophilic principles we focused on were therefore connected with immersion rather than quotation. We were interested in the feeling of being under a canopy, in the softness of filtered light, in natural associations with shade, protection, and pause. The stand still needed to present furniture and support business meetings, but the emotional goal was to make the visitor feel that this was not just another commercial booth. It was a workplace environment imagined through the lens of comfort, nature, and wellbeing.The decisions were informed by the client’s direction, our design experience, observation of how people behave in exhibition spaces, and the functional need to create different zones within a large footprint. We wanted the natural references to support the way people moved, stopped, sat, talked, and experienced the products in context.At the same time, this project was only one stage in our exploration of biophilic design. This year, we have decided to develop the subject even further — but for that, you will have to wait for the next ORGATEC.
At Konarski Bzowski, designers use AI tools mainly as support for prototyping, exploration, and post-production. In this project, AI was not treated as an author of the design, but as an additional instrument within the creative process — a way to test atmospheres faster, expand visual references, refine images, and open new directions that could then be evaluated by the team.There is a common misunderstanding that AI “does the work” for designers. In reality, the most important principle in working with AI is “human in the loop.” The designer must remain responsible for intention, judgment, taste, context, and final decision-making. AI can produce possibilities, but it does not understand the brand, the visitor, the production constraints, or the emotional precision required by a project like the Nowy Styl Fair Stand.This balance was especially important here because the project was centered on human experience, nature, wellbeing, and emotional perception. Using advanced digital tools to explore a more organic and humanistic spatial language may seem paradoxical, but for us it was a productive tension. Technology helped us accelerate parts of the process, but the meaning of the project came from human observation and design intuition.Ultimately, AI remained a tool for expanding imagination, not replacing it. The final stand was shaped by designers, conversations, functional decisions, production knowledge, and the collective experience of the team. AI supported the process, but the human layer gave the project its direction, sensitivity, and coherence.
Nowy Styl has been our long-term partner, and this relationship was very important for the project. They know our way of thinking, and there is a strong level of trust between both sides. This trust allowed us to move beyond a conventional product showcase and discuss the stand as a broader brand experience.It is also important to say that Nowy Styl itself has a strong internal design culture. They have a large design department, they understand spatial thinking, and they are open to creative solutions. This makes them an ideal partner for this type of collaboration, because the conversation does not need to begin with explaining why design matters. Instead, we can immediately discuss how far the concept can go and what kind of experience will best represent the brand.The argument for a more emotional and contextual approach was quite natural. Nowy Styl does not create furniture as isolated objects; they create solutions for workplaces, public interiors, meeting areas, and everyday human environments. Because of that, presenting products only as separate exhibits would not fully express their value. The furniture needed to be shown in a living context, as part of a larger spatial and emotional ecosystem.The goal was not to reduce the commercial function of the stand, but to strengthen it through experience. A visitor who understands how a space feels, how it supports conversation, focus, comfort, and wellbeing, can understand the brand more deeply than through a traditional display format. In this sense, the stand served the long-term interests of Nowy Styl by building memory, trust, and emotional recognition around the brand.
At Konarski Bzowski, we try to build a design culture that respects the opinions of people who do not necessarily have a formal design background. For us, valuable insight does not come only from people who studied architecture, art, or design. Every person involved in the process can notice something important, because every person experiences space from a human perspective.This is especially important in exhibition design. The final users of our spaces are not only designers, architects, or creative professionals. Very often they are people from completely different backgrounds: clients, business visitors, sales teams, technical teams, managers, or casual fair guests. Their reactions matter because they are often closer to the real audience than a purely design-focused group would be.The challenge is that these opinions cannot always be translated literally into the project. A non-designer may describe a feeling, hesitation, confusion, or need in simple words, but it is the designer’s responsibility to understand what stands behind that reaction and transform it into a spatial decision. Sometimes this means changing the layout, simplifying a visual element, improving orientation, adjusting scale, or strengthening the emotional clarity of the concept.In the case of the Nowy Styl Fair Stand, this kind of dialogue helped keep the project grounded in real human experience. It prevented the concept from becoming too abstract or too closed within a designer’s perspective. The process was not always easier because of this openness, but it was stronger. The tension between professional design ambition and everyday human perception helped sharpen the project and made the final environment more accessible, intuitive, and emotionally understandable.
The atmospheric elements were not treated only as decorative effects. We wanted them to influence the way the space was perceived physically, not only visually. That is why we tested these solutions through prototypes in our workshop before applying them to the final stand.The use of gentle air movement, warm light, and soft material behavior required practical verification. On a rendering, these ideas can look poetic and convincing, but in reality they depend on very precise factors: the strength of the airflow, the distance between fans and fabric, the type and weight of the material, the direction of light, the color temperature, and the way these elements interact with people moving through the space.Prototyping allowed us to check whether the intended atmosphere would actually work in physical conditions. We could observe how the materials responded, whether the movement was subtle enough, whether the light created the right softness, and whether the whole effect felt natural rather than theatrical or artificial.The goal was to create a space that felt alive in a very gentle way. We did not want visitors to consciously think about technical devices or special effects. We wanted them to experience a slight sense of movement, warmth, shelter, and calm — something closer to the feeling of air and light in a natural environment. The prototypes helped us translate that intention into a controlled and buildable solution.
Every project teaches us something, and the Nowy Styl Fair Stand was an important lesson for our team. It was one of the first projects in which we used textile materials on such a large scale, and also one of the rare exhibition stands that did not remain visually static after construction. It moved, responded, and in a subtle way seemed to live.This was significant because exhibition architecture is often perceived as fixed and object-like. In this project, the large suspended forms, soft materials, light, and movement created a different type of spatial presence. The stand was not only seen; it was sensed. Its atmosphere changed through air, fabric, shadow, and the visitor’s movement through the environment. The project documentation already shows how important the suspended “parasol” structures and lighting strategy were to the overall spatial language.For Konarski Bzowski, this confirmed that temporary architecture can be much more than a frame for products. It can become an emotional environment, a sensory experience, and a form of storytelling. It also strengthened our belief that materials such as textiles, when used with technical precision, can give a stand softness, scale, and an almost living quality.The project did not completely change our philosophy, but it expanded it. It reminded us that a fair stand can function not only through form, function, and branding, but also through atmosphere, movement, and bodily perception. These lessons will certainly influence the way we think about future exhibitions, events, and scenographic environments.
For me, the most enduring contribution of the Nowy Styl Fair Stand is the reminder that we spend too much of our lives working not to care deeply about how we feel in work environments. Workplace design should not be reduced to efficiency, furniture specification, or visual branding. It has a direct influence on mood, concentration, comfort, relationships, and the way people experience their everyday lives.This is why the stand treated furniture not as isolated products, but as part of a broader human experience. A chair, desk, sofa, meeting table, acoustic solution, or lounge element only gains its full meaning when it is placed in a context: how people use it, how they move around it, how they communicate, rest, wait, focus, or collaborate. The value of furniture is not only in the object itself, but in the quality of life and work it helps create.I believe this is an important message for both the design community and the business world. Wellbeing should not be seen as a decorative trend or a marketing layer added to a workspace. It is a real human need. A well-designed workplace can support people physically and emotionally, and this should be treated as a strategic value.The Nowy Styl Fair Stand showed that even in a temporary trade fair environment, it is possible to speak about work through atmosphere, comfort, nature, and emotion. Its contribution is the idea that workspace should be designed as an environment for human experience, not only as a container for products or business functions.
The tree metaphor was translated into the project through three main elements: structure, textile, and atmosphere. The large suspended forms were not designed as literal trees, but they carried the emotional logic of tree canopies. They created shelter, orientation, softness, and a sense of being under something protective and organic.The challenge was to transform this poetic idea into a precise and buildable system. The organic forms had to be engineered as repeatable elements, assembled from carefully controlled parts, materials, and suspension points. What looks soft and natural in the final experience always requires a disciplined technical process behind it. The “living” quality of the stand was possible only because the geometry, textile behavior, lighting, airflow, and construction logic were all tested and coordinated.For us, the most important moment came when the elements stopped feeling like static decoration. During prototyping and later during assembly, once the fabric began to react subtly to air movement and the warm light started to filter through the suspended forms, the space gained a different quality. It no longer only represented nature as an image. It began to behave in a gentle, almost living way.That was the point where the concept became fully convincing. The stand was not trying to imitate a forest literally. Instead, it translated some of the sensations associated with nature — shade, movement, warmth, softness, rhythm, and protection — into an exhibition environment. This balance between poetic metaphor and technical precision was essential to the final result.
For designers and architects who want to move beyond surface-level biophilic gestures, the most important discipline is experience. If we have not experienced something ourselves, it is very difficult to design it in a meaningful way. Creativity is built from experience: from places we have visited, materials we have touched, light we have observed, conversations we have had, and emotions we have remembered.This is why I encourage designers to explore the world as much as possible. It is not enough to look at references on a screen. To design spaces that affect people emotionally, we need to understand how space feels in real life: how scale changes the body, how light changes mood, how air movement can make an interior feel alive, how materials behave, and how people respond to atmosphere.In the case of the Nowy Styl Fair Stand, the key was not simply to copy nature, but to translate certain experiences of nature into a spatial language. That required functional thinking, prototyping, testing, technical coordination, and a clear understanding of the visitor’s journey. A project like this cannot be based only on decoration. It has to begin with the human being, the context, and the desired emotional response.The practical lesson is that ambitious sensory design requires both imagination and verification. You need poetic thinking, but also prototypes. You need intuition, but also production knowledge. You need a strong concept, but also the humility to test it physically and adjust it when reality gives you feedback.The most important rule is that emotion must come from experience, not from ornaments. Biophilic design becomes meaningful only when it affects the way people actually feel, move, rest, focus, or connect with a space. And to design such experiences, designers must first collect experiences themselves.