Trends and innovations for contract textile furnishing are at the heart of the Interior.Architecture.Hospitality Expo – individual, sustainable, functional. New and particularly interesting for the hotel industry is the expansion of the bed-related product portfolio.
Textiles are an integral part of comprehensive building planning and the hotel industry. The reasons for this are by far not only rapidly changing lifestyle and furnishing trends, but also and above all economic and functional arguments. Home and contract textiles are true quick-change artists, comforters of the soul and at the same time high-tech wonders.
Heimtextil is the industry’s first date of the year. At the world’s largest trade fair for home and contract textiles, 500 of around 3,000 exhibitors alone will target the contract sector in particular under the title Interior.Architecture.Hospitality. The supporting programme consists of top-class expert tours, informative lectures and the renowned Heimtextil trend statement on material and interior design.
The demand for textile solutions for architecture, interior design and the hotel industry is growing from year to year. In 2018, a new event format was added to the range for this area, the Interior.Architecture.Hospitality Expo in hall 4.2. The Expo will once again be the focal point for contract furnishing at Heimtextil in 2019.
Interior .Architecture.Hospitality Expo – the future of textile contract furnishing
The Interior.Architecture.Hospitality Expo is precisely tailored to the needs of interior designers, hotel furnishers and planners. Following very positive feedback from the first event in 2018, the latest aesthetic and functional solutions for contract furnishing will also be presented at Heimtextil 2019 in hall 4.2: from textiles with acoustic function or special abrasion properties to modular carpets, sun protection and innovative wall coverings.
New and particularly interesting for the hotel industry will be the expansion of the bed-related product portfolio. At the Expo, hotel planners will also find bed systems, mattresses, bedding and linen that meet the special requirements of hotels. Next year, the overall design concept will be planned and implemented by Atelier ushitamborriello from Switzerland. Ushi Tamborriello is one of the most sought-after interior designers and set designers and her team creates internationally acclaimed spatial installations.
There are also exciting and innovative solutions for textile floor coverings in the contract sector. A special display will once again prove this: ‘Under the brand Carpet by Heimtex, the Association of the German Home Textile Industry (Heimtex) will once again present its members’ modern carpets in a stylish environment at the upcoming Heimtextil in 2019′, announces Managing Director Martin Auerbach. ‘The target group of Carpet by Heimtex in the field of architecture/interior design and contract furnishing also expects a world of experience in hall 4.2 that appeals to almost all the senses.
The core element of the new stand will be a dominant, effective installation that will invite visitors to linger and experience. In addition, there will once again be sufficient space for exhibiting manufacturers to provide communication and advice’.
Information and training for contract planners
The expert lectures within the framework of the Interior.Architecture.Hospitality at Heimtextil are a magnet for contract planners, hotel decision-makers, interior designers and interior architects. They cover a large spectrum of subjects from demographic influences on contract planning, via urbanisation, to the opportunities and visions opened up by digital printing in interior design.
Additionally, there will be lectures for the first time under the heading ‘Printed Interior Decoration Lectures’ at Heimtextil 2019. In cooperation with ESMA (European Specialist Printing Manufacturers Association), an association of European manufacturers for industrial printing, and Thomas Pötz, an internationally recognised expert in inkjet printing and experienced strategy consultant, specialists from the digital printing field will discuss the latest technologies and ways of customising wall and floor coverings and decorative fabrics in accordance with individual creative designs for contract furnishing. At the Printed Interior Decoration Lectures, contract furnishing specialists have the chance to make contact with important companies from this sector.
ESMA is the organiser of the Printed Interior Decoration conference (www.printedinteriordecoration.org), an international educational and networking platform which brings together technology suppliers and the creative world: printers, designers and architects.
Guided tours for interior designers and hotel decision-makers
The Interior.Architecture.Hospitality Tours at Heimtextil offer great added value for property planners and interior designers as well as valuable guidance. The guided tours of the fair aimed especially at interior designers, hoteliers or housekeepers are offered in cooperation with renowned industry partners, including AIT, AHGZ/Hoteldesign and AHGZ/Housekeeping, the Bund Deutsche Innenarchitekten (bdia) and the online portal World-Architects.
Renato Turri of World Architects had a positive take-home message from Heimtextil 2018: ‘The guided tours by World-Architects at Heimtextil were carefully curated and tailored precisely to the needs of architects, interior designers, designers and trade visitors. With so many good exhibitors, this was a big but worthwhile effort to make.
Guided by renowned architects and interior designers, participants were able to discover the highlights of the trade fair and seek dialogue with exhibitors in pleasant surroundings. The feedback from all stakeholders was correspondingly positive. As a textile fan, I was particularly impressed by the enormous variety of high-quality products and the professionalism of the exhibitors’.
Heimtextil also offers some highlights for hotel planners and housekeepers. A guided tour of the trade fair especially for housekeepers made it clear what kind of potential contract textiles have in this segment.
Opinions on the last event were positive all round: ‘The tour was very valuable for the housekeepers in two respects. It gave them orientation in an unmanageably large offer of hundreds of exhibitors from all over the world and also optimally presented the potential of very diverse service providers who all have in common the fact that they have specialised in this very target group, the hotel industry’, says Rolf Slickers, Managing Director of Servitex GmbH. And Bernhard Egner, Floringo GmbH, confirms: ‘The housekeepers were very interested in our new organic ranges, i.e. towels and bathrobes made with 100% cotton from certified organic cultivation and a process chain subject to inspection according to the GOTS standard’.
The Austrian company Hefel Textil GmbH was also one of the stands visited on the tour. Jürgen Grabher, Sales Manager Germany, emphasises the increased awareness of how important restful sleep has become for body, mind and soul. ‘Sleeping is always very individual and therefore Hefel bedding is, with its great variety, ideally suited to a range of different consumer needs’.
New products and trends from the last Heimtextil
At the last event, contract furnishers were able to see and enjoy the abundance of future-oriented products and materials. The AIT Trend is a good indicator of the innovation potential offered by textiles in the field of interior design and contract furnishing.
The award has been presented annually by the architecture magazine AIT at Heimtextil since 2011. On the first day of each trade fair, around 30 (interior) architects are out and about in the halls on behalf of AIT to track down the latest industry trends for AIT Trend Scouting. An expert jury then selects the prize winners from among the nominated products.
One of the companies that was particularly pleased about this special award was Expo exhibitor Maasberg from Germany. Managing Director Gunther Maasberg expressed his great satisfaction: ‘We came to Heimtextil to check how well received our feischee-coex collection would be on the market. And it was outstanding! Especially when we won the AIT Trend Award. The jury is made up of the crème de la crème of interior design – it is a very special distinction’.
The Coex fibre, a specially processed cotton, is flame-retardant, washable at the highest temperature and is currently causing a stir in many sectors, e.g. clinics. It is part of a clear trend in contract textiles, where it is clear that there is not only a very high demand for flexibility, but also a clearly increasing interest in sustainability.
This applies in particular to innovations that combine environmental and economical aspects. ‘Here at Heimtextil in the surroundings of the Expo, the focus is on innovation and sustainability. This is exactly the right place for us’, says Maasberg’s business partner Simona Pesaro, Sales Coex at Torcitura Padana SpA in Italy.
The Irish company Chieftain Fabrics also showed that environmental awareness is no longer a niche theme within interior design and has not been for quite some time. With its recyclable organic artificial leather, which it presented at the Expo, it has already equipped major projects such as Dublin Airport and the football stadium in Chelsea.
Healthy living and working was another top topic. At the Expo, for example, Drapilux presented several innovations that can air-condition rooms or dampen noise. They are also environmentally friendly, antibacterial, waterproof and flame retardant. The bottom line: despite all the high-tech, the textiles still look very natural.
At Heimtextil 2019, contract furnishers will once again be expecting exciting new products, networking opportunities and inspiration for their work, especially in the context of the Interior.Architecture.Hospitality Expo.
See Heimtextil web site HERE
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