imm cologne news

[D3] Design Talents and Dezeen, the world’s most influential online architecture and design magazine, has teamed up with at the design fair imm cologne (19.-24.01.2010) in Cologne to present a series of interviews with upcoming and established designers and design-world figures.

Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs will interview figures including Benjamin Hubert, Philippe Malouin, Gam Fratesi and Tomás Alonso, all of whom have exhibited at [D3] Design Talents in the past.

Established designers including Tomoko Azumi, James Irvine and Erik Degenhardt will also feature. All interviews will be filmed and broadcasted on www.dezeen.com after the show.

Dezeentalks at [D3] Design Talents will take place at 12.30 each day from Tuesday 19 to Friday 22 January in the lounge area of the D3 Design Talents Hall. We hope to see you there!

Venue: D3 Lounge, Hall 3.1, Stand B 030/E 049 imm cologne

Tuesday 19 January

12.30 James Irvine
12.45 Tomás Alonso
13.00 Tomoko Azumi

Wednesday 20 January

12.30 Philippe Malouin
12.45 Erik Degenhardt
13.00 [D3] Design Talents winners

Thursday 21 January

12.30 Marco Dessi
12.45 Gabrielle Amman
13.00 Gam Fratesi (Stine Gam and Enrico Fratesi)

Friday 22 January

12.30 Benjamin Hubert
12.45 Kai Linke
13.00 Reinhard Dienes

Why is imm cologne a top event for exhibitors and trade visitors that you definitely must attend? We asked manufacturers, designers, retailers, commercial agents and architects.

Jens Wolff, CEO of CDH | For us this is the most important tradeshow for the furniture industry, where we can help exhibitors and visitors find distributors in Germany thus providing our members with an important and valuable service. Nowhere else is the support from the exhibition organisers as extensive as it is at imm cologne. But most importantly, the exhibition’s enormous importance and its excellent promotion in terms of attracting visitors helps us to get in touch with many sales representatives who are not yet members of CDH.

Claus Anstoetz, CEO, BW Bielefelder Werkstätten and Interprofil | We present almost all of the innovations from BW Bielefelder Werkstätten and Interprofil at imm cologne, because it gives us the best environment for displaying our products. It is always a pleasant start to the current business year.

Markus Benz, CEO Walter Knoll AG & Co. KG | imm cologne ranks among the most important furniture fairs worldwide. For manufacturers from Northern Europe it is the most important platform to present their novelties. It, thus, holds a strong attractiveness for retailers, architects and end customers.

Weiterlesen…

The latest magazine visions will provide you with designing and interior innovations and introduces notable designers. The November 2009 issue features these imm cologne topics:

- The place for discovering innovations
- The market place for lucrative business
- All the novelties, all the trends, and all the events

Download – visions November 2009

No Adobe Reader at hand? Here, you can browse “visions” online:
imm cologne – visions November 2009

Life in the home is changing. The distinctions between kitchen and living room and between bathroom and bedroom are becoming increasingly fluid. Factors such as lighting, textiles and accessories are becoming more significant in the new furnishing worlds. As a furnishings trade fair, Pure Village (hall 3.2) at imm cologne 2010 will impressively present these trend themes.

Weiterlesen…

Walter Knoll (exhibitor at imm cologne 2010, 19.-24.01.2010), one of Germany’s oldest manufacturers of upholstered furniture, cultivates a close partnership with designers and architects – an approach that is key to the company’s success. “New products evolve out of thorough communication, immersing yourself in processes and clarifying ideas. We seek out gaps together, looking for the right opening for something that has never been done before,” says CEO Markus Benz.

Benz, head of the Herrenberg-based company since 1993, sets great store by communication. It is a recurring theme that is also reflected in the company’s products. Take the Ameo lounge chairs by Austrian design team EOOS, for instance: they are ideal for relaxing with friends and putting the world to rights. The island-like swivel chairs can be turned to face one another for a conversation or away from the crowd for a moment of reflection, open to new perspectives. Or Living Landscape – another EOOS design. The sides and back turn with the seat and change their position.

Weiterlesen…

The average German only replaces his sofa with a new one every 8-12 years. Don’t you sometimes wish there was a scrapping incentive for furniture too?
We in the furniture industry aren’t calling for subsidies – we just want equal treatment for all sectors. Instead of getting people to scrap their cars, the politicians ought to be scrapping taxes for normal citizens and SMEs so they’ve got more money left in their pockets and budgets at the end of the month – money they can use however they see fit.

The imm cologne’s Trendboard is anticipating a return to more quality consciousness as a response to the economic crisis. Is “real” quality actually still affordable these days?
We’re living in a time when people are refraining from quick consumption again so yes, you could say people have started to change their mentality. They’re becoming more sensitive to how we use the world’s resources and looking for things that promise value and durability again. That’s why there’s an increasing demand for sustainability and value in our industry too. For earlier generations it was normal not to follow every furniture or clothing fashion or go along with every new style that came out. Then there was a period of rapid and changing consumption. The pleasure was often short-lived and the products interchangeable.

Weiterlesen…

Gerald Böse, Chief Executive Officer of Koelnmesse GmbH

Ladies and gentlemen,
thank you for coming to this press conference in order to find out at first hand about the current status of our initiative to create a new international kitchen trade fair.
I would also like to thank Mr. Hans Strothoff for giving us the opportunity to present our results to date here at the MHK Forum in Enger. We purposely chose this location in order to save you a long trip.

After extensive and intense talks with companies in the sector, we’ve received numerous expressions of interest from renowned German manufacturers of kitchen furniture who support the concept of holding an international kitchen trade fair in 2011. That’s why it’s my pleasure to announce to you today that the first part of our mission is accomplished. There will be a kitchen trade fair in Cologne in January 2011!

Weiterlesen…

Every autumn, the imm cologne furniture fair publishes a trend forecast on the most important developments in interior design. In the so-called Trend Book, the themes shaping the design scene right now are extrapolated in four directions representing various tastes and lifestyles.

The trend analysis is the work of the Trendboard inaugurated by the imm cologne six years ago – a group of five or six influential designers, architects, material specialists and journalists. Every year, several new members join the line-up to ensure a constant stream of new input for the Trendboard’s work. In a two-day workshop, these creative designers and experts discuss the most promising developments in the design scene, the needs people have and the answers design could potentially come up with. Once the workshop is over, the members of the Trendboard check how the trends they have formulated have been translated into the imm cologne’s publication, the Trend Book.

Using vivid photos of lavishly staged interiors and outdoor spaces, representative products and forms, material collages and detailed colour specifications, the Trend Book shows how people would like to furnish their homes in the coming season. The renderings and information are just as helpful for the general public as they are for professional interior designers or retailers. The pictures are supplemented by texts that describe the corresponding outlook on life and explain the aesthetic attitude of creators and users alike. The trends are also given catchy, evocative names.

The current “Interior Trends 2010” are called “Discipline”, “Trickery”, “Comfort Zone” and “Rehab”. Learn more about these four trends.

Weiterlesen…

There’s more to a living room than a sofa by Marcel Wanders, a chair by Konstantin Grcic or a shelf by Arik Lévy. It is the nuances, the scenography of the room and the context of the lighting, furniture and fabrics that provide the backdrop for showing the leading actors off at their best – one reason, perhaps, why design items are increasingly providing the face for complete creative concepts.

The new presentation format Pure Village caters to this market development by creating a stage on which stand-alone presentations of exclusive design items are showcased just as effectively as creative interior concepts. From 19 to 24 January 2010, Hall 3.2 will cluster the highlights from the various specialist ranges in the immediate vicinity of the furniture in the Pure segment (Hall 11) and the ideas of the d3 Design Talents forum (Hall 3.1).

Weiterlesen…

What are the key trends influencing furniture design this year? We asked designers, manufacturers, retailers and journalists for their assessments and observations.

Oliver Holy, CEO ClassiCon, München:
At the fair I regularly came across the new term “Homing”. Even if I’m reluctant to label any change in public desires right away I do understand what this one tries to register. I, too, believe that the uncertainty caused by the current economic and ecologic developments evokes a desire for concentrating on basics. With regard to interiors and materials this means to me that furniture which is natural, “grounded” and can even develop patina is favored and that loud and flashy styles become replaced by haptically pleasant forms and materials. I see this confirmed by the enthusiasm with which Sergio Rodrigues collection has been received.

Weiterlesen…