In the Pure Talents Contest, students and graduates who have recently completed their education, can apply with designs and prototypes that are not yet in production from different fields of interior design and smart home. Just like Anton Hendrik Denys with his Foam Fence and Anne Schmiederer with her Blue Ruffle Chair did. And now we will see them with their products at imm cologne.
With The Stage, the imm cologne is doing more than just providing a central rendezvous for professionals and creative partners in the industry; the forum also has an exciting programme lined up for the public days of the fair. At the weekend, interior designers and design professionals will give end consumers useful tips on interior decor. Some of the weekend’s topics are: interior colour trends (Axel Venn, Julia Hausmann), furniture hacking (Sigurd Larsen), interior decoration with light (Thorsten Moortz), eco-friendly room furnishing (Wibke Schaeffer and Moritz Zielke) and new bathroom materials (Martina Brüßel).
In terms of entrants to the Pure Talents Contest, the field has rarely been as international as it is this year, featuring 671 designers from 53 countries. Many entries were submitted by students and young graduates from every major university, including the RCA London, Design Academy Eindhoven, LASALLE Singapore, ECAL, Aalto University, Konstfack Stockholm, Pratt Institute NY, ArtCenter Pasadena and many others.
For many visitors, the prestigious programme of talks offered by The Stage is the starting point for their visit to the international interiors show imm cologne. Designers, creative talent and interiors professionals inform the audience about current developments in interior design. The lecture forum offers with 55 lectures on 7 days a very strong programme. Today the speakers will talk about natural materials in sustainable construction (Susanne Brandherm and Sabine Krumrey), DIY from a new perspective (Sigurd Larsen), living happily with Hygge (Barbara Delius) and colour for body, mind and soul (Axel Venn)
In just over a week, it is time at last – imm cologne opens its doors again. Guest of honor of “Das Haus – Interiors on Stage” will then be Lucie Koldova. “In my ‘Haus’, light will play the main role,” explains the young Czech designer from Prague, who is well known for her extraordinary flair in designing lighting fixtures and lighting effects.
The trends forum at the largest interiors show of the year cannot fail to shine a light on the fringe areas of interior design. Robert Müller-Grünow (Scentcommunication) will be explaining the important role fragrances can play in interior design. Virtual worlds are also playing an increasingly important role in the furnishings sector. Picking up on this field in the lecture programme, Mara Michel (.futurize dietrendagentur) will be offering an insight into “analogue virtuality”, while Michael Gairing (Blanx) will address the issue of augmented reality. And Barbara Busse (Future+You) will give an insight in the ideas about design and marketing of the Generation Z.
If there’s one thing young designers like doing, it’s turning the world upside down. And the competition for emerging talent at the international interiors show imm cologne is the ideal opportunity to see them do just that. The results presented in the form of prototypes are not only exciting and inspiring, they also look fantastic.
The colour trends for the new interiors season are of particular interest, and will again be presented by Karl Johann Bertilsson (NCS Colour Academy) in 2018. As the flipside to trends in interior colour design, Dr. Hildegard Kalthegener will also have the appropriate anti-trends to hand. But materials will also get their fair share of attention in the lecture forum of The Stage. Hannes Bäuerle (raumPROBE) will highlight the importance of the combination of materials and sound; Dr. Sascha Peters (Haute Innovation) will be giving a presentation about materials for a decarbonised society. Of course, there is more to come on Wednesday:
The special exhibition “Pure Talents Contest” at imm cologne (Hall 3.1) will show smart product concepts, offbeat ideas and solid craftsmanship in a tremendous diversity encompassing everything within the world of interior design, from ultra-simple furniture and textile works to home accessories and lamps through to conceptual design. Today we present the lamp 60° of Svenja Katharina Jakobs and Jonas Wansing and the two seating furniture Cellastic and Temi of Hiroyuki Morita.
The imm cologne’s information and networking platform for architects, planners and designers offers a professional overview of interior design trends. On Tuesday, amongst others, the following issues will be dealt with: Furniture buying in Germany (Nicole Schostak and Sebastian Klein), action and reaction in Scandinavian design today (Monica Förster), innovative ideas for living in old age (Michael Schlenke) and contemporary colour trends (Karl Johan Bertilsson).