Image: Deutsche Messe
DOMOTEX 2018 opens today and is set to wow with a fresher and more innovative look and feel than ever, organisers said.
“DOMOTEX is putting a new spin on how we look at floor coverings. Attendees can discover the very latest trends and innovations in a more direct and experiential way than ever, thanks to a host of appealing showcases put together by exhibiting firms, artists and up-and-coming young designers. They can also pick up lots of valuable insight and know-how thanks to an attractive series of guided tours, lectures and workshops,” said Dr Andreas Gruchow, a member of Deutsche Messe’s Managing Board, responsible for DOMOTEX. “Visitors can look forward to an absolute feast of new ideas in interior design and lifestyle.”
The show expects 1,615 companies from more than 60 countries to Hannover to showcase the future of retail, industrial production and craftsmanship in carpets and flooring, the “biggest exhibitor turnout in the history of DOMOTEX,” explained Gruchow.
“This is the first time DOMOTEX has ever filled as much as 106,000 square metres,“ he added.
UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE – wall-to-wall individualization
At DOMOTEX, visitors from the flooring wholesale and retail trades will find the world’s biggest range of floor coverings all at one convenient location. Everything they see on the showgrounds will relate in some way to the keynote theme of
UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE focuses on the trend towards individualised products and services. It is the underlying theme throughout the show’s display categories spanning everything from hand-made and machine-made carpets and textile and resilient floor coverings, to parquet, laminate and wood flooring, luxury vinyl tiles, application and installation systems and outdoor flooring. DOMOTEX will reveal how products and services can best be tailored to customer needs and lifestyles, and what this sweeping trend means for the industry.
“Framing Trends”: Immersive showcase of creative ideas in Hall 9
Hall 9 houses the special “Framing Trends” display, which comprises 20 display spaces grouped into four zones. These spaces are “frames” in which manufacturers, artists and up-and-coming young designers will stage amazing ideas and designs. In the “Flooring Spaces” zone, companies from the floor coverings industry will stage extraordinary product showcases that explore and illustrate the individualisation trend.
Next-door, exhibitors will partner with interior designers to craft inspiring spaces and lifestyle realms in the “Living Spaces” zone. The big visitor magnets there include “Endless Uniqueness” – a walk-through kaleidoscope exhibition involving a multiplicity of mirrors and textile surfaces. As part of this installation, 50 creatives, including Germany’s 10 best interior designers, have each built their own personal interpretation of the UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE keynote theme in the form of their favourite everyday items and flooring staged inside an open mirror box.
The third zone is called “NuThinkers”. It is a place of experimental and visionary designs by daring students and budding young designers tasked with reinventing the world of flooring.
Other activities include workshops that allow visitors to create their own fresh new designs inspired by the UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE keynote theme. Visitors will likewise have the opportunity to devise future flooring scenarios at the “floorCODES WorkLabs” run by the International Trendscouting Institute (IIT) of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Hildesheim.
Attractive supporting program
To add to the inspiration on offer, the show will feature a captivating program of speaking events – the DOMOTEX Talks – devoted to the UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE keynote theme. The speaker lineup includes internationally renowned architects and designers, such as Jürgen Mayer H., (J.MAYER.H, Berlin), Andreas Krawczyk (NKBAK, Frankfurt/Main), Chris Middleton (KINZO, Berlin) and Werner Aisslinger (Studio Aisslinger, Berlin), plus various new and emerging names in the design world. World-famous American interior design blogger and interior stylist Holly Becker will be giving a talk on the first day of the show in which she will share her views on the latest exciting and creative new developments in interior design. She will also participate in a discussion with other bloggers on future trends in interior design. The supporting program also includes daily Guided Tours led by big-name international architects and designers.
DOMOTEX 2018 runs from January 12–15.
