Zow 2016 in February

February ..... so it's already time for ZOW, the great subcontracting fair for the furniture sector that will be held from 16 to 19 February at Bad Salzuflen Messe Zentrum in Bad Salzuflen, Germany. But what will be the focus of the next edition ? Zow 2016 will focus on the new technologies that populate the furnishings and on the kitchen of the future. Indeed, the Internet is increasingly creeping into our everyday objects. If in the past the technological elements of daily use were made up of mechanical and electronic components, today we are dealing with complex systems with embedded computers, able to communicate with each other online and receive commands via app. Visitors to the 500 m2 exhibition area dedicated to new trends in hall 20 at the next ZOW will be able to see how this technology will bring about important changes in our everyday lives, especially in the kitchen. And in this regard, a small kitchen will be exhibited at the fair. What will its main feature be? It will express the expertise of all the "arts and crafts" involved to build it together with their interconnection. This means that all the components of this kitchen, albeit representative of different brands, are connected in a domotic way through a technological platform, so that all the appliances in this environment can be managed universally through a standard application.

It is also a kitchen in which production costs are reduced: this result was obtained by configuring the cooking area with standard modules. Finally, this room takes up the principles of the so-called “Frankfurt Kitchen” designed by the Viennese architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky in the 1920s, which are still current. Students from Detmold College of Architecture and Interior Design (OWL University of Applied Sciences) analyzed a historical version of this kitchen to draw inspiration and develop creative design concepts in the name of an innovative cooking area culture. Their ideas will be introduced together with the original kitchen at the Exhibition Essence | kitchen in hall 22.1. The topic of “maximum efficiency in minimum space” will also be explored in the course of ZOW: all the important elements must be at hand, which is not so difficult as living spaces are often reduced.