words Max Fraser
Another year, another round of design shows. But which are the must -see events and, just as important, which have the best parties? We asked globe-trotting design junkie Max Fraser to round up the most prestigious ones, and rate them in terms of quality and fun.
January
Salon du Meuble
Paris expo – Porte de Versailles, Paris, France
January 8-12
2003 visitor numbers: 40,500 (trade only)
www.salondumeuble.com
Kicking off the year’s calendar of trade fairs is Salon du Meuble in Paris. As its name implies, this event is dedicated to furniture from the traditional, modern and avant-garde markets. It’s held across six halls, and visitors should make a bee-line for Metropole in the newly built Hall 5 where cutting-edge creations from international exhibitors are displayed alongside those from homegrown designers like the Bouroullec brothers and Matali Crasset. This hall is art-directed by French design star Christophe Pillet.
Quality – 3/5
Fun – 2/5
Maison & Objet
Paris-Nord Villepinte, Paris, France
January 23-27 and September 3-7
2003 visitor numbers: 66,978
www.maison-objet.com
Like any large trade fair, there are huge sections that simply won’t appeal to your tastes. Hall 5 is the show’s best attribute, boasting a new showcase dedicated to textiles – Maison & Objet éditeurs – in Hall 5A. For contemporary offerings of French furniture, lighting and tableware, check out Now! Design à Vivre in Hall 5B, where Chantal Hamaide will be curating an exhibition called Appel d’Air alongside a tribute display of work by designer Alfredo Haberli.
Quality – 3/5
Fun – 3/5
IMM Cologne – International Furniture Fair
koelnmesse, Cologne, Germany
January 19-25
2003 visitor numbers: 132,000
www.imm-cologne.de
The Cologne fair is Europe’s biggest after Milan. However, the German economy has experienced a slump over the past few years which has resulted in an obvious knock-on effect for its furniture industry. To liven things up, Karim Rashid and Konstantin Grcic were commissioned last year to design their ideal house, resulting in two vast displays communicating contrasting visions of the future for domestic interior design. This year, we can expect a similar initiative between the Campana brothers of Brazil and the Bouroullec brothers.
Quality – 3/5
Fun – 3/5
February
Stockholm Furniture Fair
Stockholmsmässan, Stockholm, Sweden
February 4-8
2003 visitor numbers: 27,923
www.stockholmfurniturefair.com
The Stockholm Furniture Fair has established itself as one of the more exciting trade fairs because of Sweden’s international reputation. This show presents the largest concentration of Swedish design firms, and with it comes the celebration of design that one would expect from the prolific Swedes. Within the fair, check out Area 04 where 50 companies will be presenting their new “ultramodern” collections. The Greenhouse section will be showcasing design schools and new independent designers, and there is also a hall dedicated to products for the contract market. Patricia Urquiola will be this year’s guest of honour and will be designing the entrance lounge. Year on year, Stockholm has more and more off-site exhibitions and parties around the city, and this year promises to be no exception.
Quality – 4/5
Fun – 4/5
March
100% Design Moscow
Gostiny Dvor, Moscow, Russia
March 11-14
Visitor numbers: NA
www.100percentdesignmoscow.com
London’s 100% Design (see page 84) is expanding its exhibition portfolio to Moscow for the first time this year. As Russia’s political difficulties have stabilised, most markets have grown rapidly, with the furniture industry growing 50 per cent a year thanks to a construction boom. Said to be the first selective contemporary design event in Russia, this show will be co-located alongside Fidexpo, an established annual interiors event.
Quality – n/a
Fun – n/a
April
Salone Internazionale del Mobile
Fiera di Milano, Milan, Italy
April 14-19
2003 visitor numbers: trade 174,783; public 15,039
www.cosmit.it
The crucial date in the furniture industry’s diary is the Milan Furniture Fair every April. If you can’t get excited about contemporary furniture design here, you are in the wrong industry. Expect to find all of the major players in international furniture manufacturing launching new designs in Milan’s immense exhibition centre. Spot the cream of young design talent in Hall 9 – Salone Satellite. The most interesting events take place in nearly 300 alternative venues across the city. Book your accommodation now as hotels fill up rapidly and cost a fortune. Pack comfy shoes, lots of business cards, a reliable bag, multi-vitamins for energy and painkillers for hangovers as there are about 50 parties a night. Lastly, it always seems to rain during the fair, so take your designer umbrella.
Quality – 5/5
Fun – 5/5
May
Design Mai
Berlin, Germany
May 6-16
2003 visitor numbers: NA
www.designmai.de
While Cologne and Frankfurt stage serious trade fairs, the funky German capital organises a more transient design festival where shops, galleries, bars and cafés open installations and exhibitions across the city. Although this is only its second year, we expect it to be bigger and better than 2003.
Quality – 3/5
Fun – 3/5
Scandinavian Furniture Fair
Bella Center, Copenhagen, Denmark
May 12-16
2003 visitor numbers: trade 18,727; public 1,437
www.scandinavianfurniturefair.com
Competing for visitors with the Stockholm Furniture Fair earlier in the year, this show attempts to attract the international markets to new, mainly Danish furniture creations. It’s still quite small but will be expanded this year with a new section for home accessories and lighting. Copenhagen’s furniture showrooms will also be hosting off-site events.
ICFF – International Contemporary Furniture Fair
Jacob K Javits Convention Center, New York, USA
May 15-18
2003 visitor numbers: 17,000
www.icff.com
If the truth be known, most foreign visitors to ICFF in New York will have ulterior motives for coming, as the most creative designs are still being produced by Europeans. The Brits have presence here through the support of the British European Design Group, and the Italians dominate about a third of the hall, leaving a few interesting contemporary US design firms among many rather boring ones. Indeed, the real motives for flying across the Atlantic are parties and shopping. The design stores of Brooklyn, SoHo and the rest of downtown Manhattan come alive for four days with endless parties.
Quality – 2/5
Fun – 3/5
Spectrum
The Commonwealth Galleries, London, UK
May 18-21
2003 visitor numbers: 6,500 (trade only)
www.spectrumexhibition.co.uk
This annual exposition of contemporary contract products is housed in the spectacular Commonwealth Institute on Kensington High Street, West London. Each May, architects, interior architects and senior specifiers visit more than 100 design-led manufacturers such as Boss Design, Ercol, Vitra, Beyon, Steelcase, Wilkhahn and Herman Miller, who are exhibiting their latest innovations for the public and private sectors of the interior contract market. The vast scale of most trade fairs can be exhausting but visitors to Spectrum benefit from the venue’s manageable size, preserving some of their energy to attend the various lectures, awards, and seminars.
Quality – 4/5
Fun – 2/5
June
NeoCon World’s Trade Fair
The Merchandise Mart, Chicago, Illinois, USA
June 14-16
Visitor numbers: 41,000
www.merchandisemart.com/neocon
NeoCon was set up in 1969 to exhibit commercial and residential furnishings to the US market. One is unlikely to see many groundbreaking creations, but it’s worth a visit if you are trying to suss out the market patterns and interests of the massive – yet conservative – US furniture market. NeoCon also takes place in Baltimore, Los Angeles and Toronto at other times of the year.
Quality – 3/5
Fun – 1/5
September
Promosedia International Chair Exhibition
Udine Esposizioni showgrounds, Udine, Italy
September 10-13
2003 visitor numbers: 13,410
www.promosedia.it
Located in one of Italy’s main furniture capitals, the 28th Promosedia claims to be the only exhibition in the world that specialises in chairs. Expect to see about 200 exhibitors showcasing more than 6,000 chairs in every imaginable material for all market sectors.
Quality – 3/5
Fun – 2/5
Abitare Il Tempo
Exhibition Centre of Verona, Verona, Italy
September 16-20
2003 visitor numbers: 50,718
www.abitareiltempo.com
Taking place in the picturesque Italian city of Verona, Abitare Il Tempo merges traditional craft companies with hi-tech, avant-garde firms. The result is a vibrant mix of interior styles mainly from Italian producers which have been enhanced in the past by additional curated spaces from the likes of Giulio Cappellini, Piero Lissoni, Ettore Sottsass, Droog and Fabio Novembre who showcase their interpretations of contemporary design today.
Quality – 3/5
Feria Internacional de Meubles, Valencia
Feria Valencia, Valencia, Spain
September 27 – October 2
2003 visitor numbers: 88,201
www.feriavalencia.com
Europe’s third-largest furniture show has traditionally been one of the least interesting, with much of the huge Feria de Valencia trade hall given over to Spain’s love of antiques, dark wood and leather upholstery. But Valencia is determined to take on Milan and, for the third year, will showcase young Spanish designers in an attempt to provide some much-needed edge.
Quality – 3/5
Fun – 1/5
100% Design
Earls Court 2, London, UK
September 23-26
2003 visitor numbers: trade 30,756; public 5,122
www.100percentdesign.co.uk
100% Design is the UK’s biggest annual trade fair, yet compared with the immense scale of fairs in Cologne, Frankfurt and Milan, this show is thankfully more digestible with everyone showcasing their collections in one hall. The fair has increasingly taken on a more corporate edge as the larger international companies choose to target the thriving UK market. While this surely indicates the show’s growing success, one hopes that the exhibitor list holds true to the edgier young designers who contribute that all-important quirky element. This year heralds their tenth anniversary so expectations will be running high. See also London’s growing number of off-site exhibitions, promoted under the banner of 100% Guaranteed.
Quality – 4/5
Fun – 3/5
October
Tokyo Designer’s Week + Designers Block
Independent venues across Tokyo, Japan
October 7-11
2003 visitor numbers: c100,000 trade and public
www.tdwa.com, www.tokyodesignersblock.com
Tokyo doesn’t stage a central trade fair event during this period. Instead, the city hosts two simultaneous events showcasing works by contemporary designers from Japan and abroad. Tokyo Designers Block sees installations and concepts being exhibited in galleries, cafés, shops, restaurants, museums, universities, embassies and courtyards while Tokyo Designer’s Week holds a major show of local talent. During the day you endlessly tour this accessible grand design collective. By night you take your pick of parties, which are among the most outlandish you’ll encounter at a design festival.
Quality – 3/5
Fun – 5/5
Interieur Bienniale 04
Xpo, Kortrijk, Belgium
October 15-24
2002 visitor numbers: 110,051 trade and public
www.interieur.be
The organisers of Interieur Biennale manage to transform the six halls of the Xpo centre, located in the less-than-inspiring city of Kortrijk, into a vibrant haven for contemporary design concepts every two years. Unable to release too much information yet, they promise an exciting programme of design events from “great names in design” which will run alongside the exhibitor stands. Fringe events are also planned for Kortrijk’s city centre. Attendees of Belgium’s design biennial in 2002 seem to only have good words to say about Interieur.
Quality – 4/5
Fun – 3/5