Werner Aisslinger had his hands full at Orgatec 2026. At the COR stand, he presented the Floy chair and told furnomics he was a firm believer in “softwork” thinking: work, he said, no longer needs to happen on machine-like furniture. At JAB Anstoetz, he was able to turn that idea straight into space. Aisslinger designed the Bielefeld textile company’s stand, which covered around 270 square metres. A curtain collection and a sofa from his studio completed the picture.
The concept was called “Spaces to Experience”, and its themes were acoustics and light. Instead of conventional trade fair architecture, the result was an open spatial landscape with so-called bays and nooks, each staging its own theme. The concept was developed in close cooperation with ERCO. The lighting manufacturer ran its own Lighting Lab on the stand, supported by JUNG. “Our central theme ‘Spaces to experience’ becomes visible in the individual nooks on the stand through light, colour and sound installations in interplay with the textile settings, and invites visitors on an ‘Experience Walk’,” says Claus Anstoetz, managing partner of the JAB Anstoetz Group.
The walk began on an orange-red carpet. Floor-to-ceiling curtains in white, gold and brown formed round chambers, with the illuminated brand sign above. One nook was devoted to Sun & Heat: sheer curtains with sun and heat protection, complemented by an exhibition of work by architectural photographer HG Esch, whose images included the Brooklyn Bridge. Directly opposite, Acoustic Guard Light took centre stage, an interactive installation designed to make visible and audible how light and acoustics change the way a room is perceived.
“The concept turns the JAB ANSTOETZ stand into an open, dynamic brand world in which bays and nooks combine products, materials and encounters into a spatial experience,” says Aisslinger. At the heart of the stand was a generous meeting area, home to NOMAD, the new sofa system Aisslinger designed for BW Bielefelder Werkstätten. The stand’s colour scheme relied on soft nuances, pastels and warm earth tones.
For office planners, the message is simple: the curtain is no longer a decorative item. It is expected to absorb sound, keep out the sun, create zones and look good while doing it. On the JAB Anstoetz stand, it took on the role of the wall as well.
How seriously this is meant is shown by the SUN & HEAT Reflect collection. The curtain fabrics are designed to regulate light and heat gain and to protect against glare. This is achieved through technical details on the reverse, such as lurex threads, aluminium coatings and special yarns. All qualities in the collection are flame-retardant, and the fabrics also have sound-dampening properties. The effect is measured by the total solar energy transmittance g of glazing and shading combined, and by the reduction factor Fc, which indicates how much the shading cuts solar gain compared with the glazing alone: the lower both are, the more effective the sun protection. JAB does not give specific values for individual fabrics.
The second launch is Aisslinger’s first textile collection for the company. Following collaborations in flooring and acoustics, for which he had already designed wall and ceiling panels, JAB Anstoetz Fabrics is now presenting the edition werner aisslinger: four floor-to-ceiling curtain fabrics, comprising a sheer printed fabric, two plains and a blackout weave. SILENT COLOURS plays with transparency and overlapping fields of colour, laid out in four combinations from blue-terracotta to nude-bottle green. SILENT TWILL is a flowing twill with a changeant effect and woven-in acoustic yarn. SILENT MOON provides blackout, comes in 28 colours and, like QUINN, a matt plain, is made from 100 per cent recycled polyester. All four are flame-retardant.
The collection was developed in workshops at the design studio in Bielefeld with Pascal Walter, Head of Design at JAB Anstoetz Fabrics, and Tatjana Heidhölter from design and development. Among other things, Aisslinger drew inspiration from the film “Dune”. “His most relevant colours were sand, ochre and yellow tones,” Walter explains. Aisslinger himself calls the project “a new playing field for me, one that is extremely complex and challenging”, going far beyond creating colour ranges to translucent fabric overlays, reflections, light and shadow.
NOMAD, the new sofa from BW Bielefelder Werkstätten, which belongs to the group, also comes from his studio. It draws on Aisslinger’s interior concept “Design and Architecture of Optimism”, which explicitly sets itself against monotonous, cool minimalism. Visually, NOMAD references the sofa landscapes and conversation pits of the 1970s and consists of a few combinable modules. A slim, tailored back shell wraps around the modules. BW makes its furniture exclusively in East Westphalia.
On the acoustics side, the Shapes and Pure panels from JAB Anstoetz Acoustics, introduced in 2024, completed the presentation, above all large-format Pure elements. Combined with ERCO’s lighting solutions, they are intended to enable individually planned wall and ceiling designs.
Behind the stand is a group that has combined textiles and interiors from Bielefeld since 1946. According to the company, the JAB Anstoetz Group employs around 1,600 people and generates annual revenue of around 300 million euros. It is led by Stephan and Claus Anstoetz and Chris-Jacob Schminnes. Besides JAB Anstoetz Fabrics, its portfolio includes Chivasso, Carlucci, Gardisette, climatex, the flooring lines JAB Anstoetz Flooring and Adramaq, and BW Bielefelder Werkstätten.
A fabric house showing rooms rather than bolts of cloth at an office furniture fair, and a designer who left his mark on two stands in Cologne: the softwork thesis was certainly not short of material at this Orgatec.
Softwork in fabric
Werner Aisslinger designs the JAB Anstoetz stand
Werner Aisslinger had his hands full at Orgatec 2026. At the COR stand, he presented the Floy chair and told furnomics he was a firm believer in “softwork” thinking: work, he said, no longer needs to happen on machine-like furniture. At JAB Anstoetz, he was able to turn that idea straight into space. Aisslinger designed the Bielefeld textile company’s stand, which covered around 270 square metres. A curtain collection and a sofa from his studio completed the picture.
The concept was called “Spaces to Experience”, and its themes were acoustics and light. Instead of conventional trade fair architecture, the result was an open spatial landscape with so-called bays and nooks, each staging its own theme. The concept was developed in close cooperation with ERCO. The lighting manufacturer ran its own Lighting Lab on the stand, supported by JUNG. “Our central theme ‘Spaces to experience’ becomes visible in the individual nooks on the stand through light, colour and sound installations in interplay with the textile settings, and invites visitors on an ‘Experience Walk’,” says Claus Anstoetz, managing partner of the JAB Anstoetz Group.
The walk began on an orange-red carpet. Floor-to-ceiling curtains in white, gold and brown formed round chambers, with the illuminated brand sign above. One nook was devoted to Sun & Heat: sheer curtains with sun and heat protection, complemented by an exhibition of work by architectural photographer HG Esch, whose images included the Brooklyn Bridge. Directly opposite, Acoustic Guard Light took centre stage, an interactive installation designed to make visible and audible how light and acoustics change the way a room is perceived.
“The concept turns the JAB ANSTOETZ stand into an open, dynamic brand world in which bays and nooks combine products, materials and encounters into a spatial experience,” says Aisslinger. At the heart of the stand was a generous meeting area, home to NOMAD, the new sofa system Aisslinger designed for BW Bielefelder Werkstätten. The stand’s colour scheme relied on soft nuances, pastels and warm earth tones.
For office planners, the message is simple: the curtain is no longer a decorative item. It is expected to absorb sound, keep out the sun, create zones and look good while doing it. On the JAB Anstoetz stand, it took on the role of the wall as well.
How seriously this is meant is shown by the SUN & HEAT Reflect collection. The curtain fabrics are designed to regulate light and heat gain and to protect against glare. This is achieved through technical details on the reverse, such as lurex threads, aluminium coatings and special yarns. All qualities in the collection are flame-retardant, and the fabrics also have sound-dampening properties. The effect is measured by the total solar energy transmittance g of glazing and shading combined, and by the reduction factor Fc, which indicates how much the shading cuts solar gain compared with the glazing alone: the lower both are, the more effective the sun protection. JAB does not give specific values for individual fabrics.
The second launch is Aisslinger’s first textile collection for the company. Following collaborations in flooring and acoustics, for which he had already designed wall and ceiling panels, JAB Anstoetz Fabrics is now presenting the edition werner aisslinger: four floor-to-ceiling curtain fabrics, comprising a sheer printed fabric, two plains and a blackout weave. SILENT COLOURS plays with transparency and overlapping fields of colour, laid out in four combinations from blue-terracotta to nude-bottle green. SILENT TWILL is a flowing twill with a changeant effect and woven-in acoustic yarn. SILENT MOON provides blackout, comes in 28 colours and, like QUINN, a matt plain, is made from 100 per cent recycled polyester. All four are flame-retardant.
The collection was developed in workshops at the design studio in Bielefeld with Pascal Walter, Head of Design at JAB Anstoetz Fabrics, and Tatjana Heidhölter from design and development. Among other things, Aisslinger drew inspiration from the film “Dune”. “His most relevant colours were sand, ochre and yellow tones,” Walter explains. Aisslinger himself calls the project “a new playing field for me, one that is extremely complex and challenging”, going far beyond creating colour ranges to translucent fabric overlays, reflections, light and shadow.
NOMAD, the new sofa from BW Bielefelder Werkstätten, which belongs to the group, also comes from his studio. It draws on Aisslinger’s interior concept “Design and Architecture of Optimism”, which explicitly sets itself against monotonous, cool minimalism. Visually, NOMAD references the sofa landscapes and conversation pits of the 1970s and consists of a few combinable modules. A slim, tailored back shell wraps around the modules. BW makes its furniture exclusively in East Westphalia.
On the acoustics side, the Shapes and Pure panels from JAB Anstoetz Acoustics, introduced in 2024, completed the presentation, above all large-format Pure elements. Combined with ERCO’s lighting solutions, they are intended to enable individually planned wall and ceiling designs.
Behind the stand is a group that has combined textiles and interiors from Bielefeld since 1946. According to the company, the JAB Anstoetz Group employs around 1,600 people and generates annual revenue of around 300 million euros. It is led by Stephan and Claus Anstoetz and Chris-Jacob Schminnes. Besides JAB Anstoetz Fabrics, its portfolio includes Chivasso, Carlucci, Gardisette, climatex, the flooring lines JAB Anstoetz Flooring and Adramaq, and BW Bielefelder Werkstätten.
A fabric house showing rooms rather than bolts of cloth at an office furniture fair, and a designer who left his mark on two stands in Cologne: the softwork thesis was certainly not short of material at this Orgatec.