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Image: Udo Jandrey
22.03.2024

New model for sustainable structures of textile-reinforced concrete

By reinforcing concrete with textiles instead of steel, it is possible to use less material and create slender, lightweight structures with a significantly lower environmental impact. The technology to utilise carbon fibre textiles already exists, but it has been challenging, among other things, to produce a basis for reliable calculations for complex and vaulted structures. Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, are now presenting a method that makes it easier to scale up analyses and thus facilitate the construction of more environmentally friendly bridges, tunnels and buildings.

By reinforcing concrete with textiles instead of steel, it is possible to use less material and create slender, lightweight structures with a significantly lower environmental impact. The technology to utilise carbon fibre textiles already exists, but it has been challenging, among other things, to produce a basis for reliable calculations for complex and vaulted structures. Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, are now presenting a method that makes it easier to scale up analyses and thus facilitate the construction of more environmentally friendly bridges, tunnels and buildings.

"A great deal of the concrete we use today has the function to act as a protective layer to prevent the steel reinforcement from corroding. If we can use textile reinforcement instead, we can reduce cement consumption and also use less concrete − and thus reduce the climate impact," says Karin Lundgren, who is Professor in Concrete Structures at the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at Chalmers.

Cement is a binder in concrete and its production from limestone has a large impact on the climate. One of the problems is that large amounts of carbon dioxide that have been sequestered in the limestone are released during production. Every year, about 4.5 billion tonnes of cement are produced in the world and the cement industry accounts for about 8 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. Intensive work is therefore underway to find alternative methods and materials for concrete structures.

Reduced carbon footprint with thinner constructions and alternative binders
By using alternative binders instead of cement, such as clay or volcanic ash, it is possible to further reduce carbon dioxide emissions. But so far, it is unclear how well such new binders can protect steel reinforcement in the long term.

"You could get away from the issue of corrosion protection, by using carbon-fibres as reinforcement material instead of steel, because it doesn't need to be protected in the same way. You can also gain even more by optimising thin shell structures with a lower climate impact," says Karin Lundgren.

In a recently published study in the journal Construction and Building Materials, Karin Lundgren and her colleagues describe a new modelling technique that was proved to be reliable in analyses describing how textile reinforcement interacts with concrete.

"What we have done is to develop a method that facilitates the calculation work of complex structures and reduces the need for testing of the load-bearing capacity," says Karin Lundgren.

One area where textile reinforcement technology could significantly reduce the environmental impact is in the construction of arched floors. Since the majority of a building’s climate impact during production comes from the floor structures, it is an effective way to build more sustainably. A previous research study from the University of Cambridge shows that textile reinforcement can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 65 percent compared to traditional solid floors.

Method that facilitates calculations
A textile reinforcement mesh consists of yarns, where each yarn consists of thousands of thin filaments (long continuous fibres). The reinforcement mesh is cast into concrete, and when the textile-reinforced concrete is loaded, the filaments slip both against the concrete and against each other inside the yarn. A textile yarn in concrete does not behave as a unit, which is important when you want to understand the composite material's ability to carry loads. The modelling technique developed by the Chalmers researchers describes these effects.

"You could describe it as the yarn consisting of an inner and an outer core, which is affected to varying degrees when the concrete is loaded. We developed a test and calculation method that describes this interaction. In experiments, we were able to show that our way of calculating is reliable enough even for complex structures," says Karin Lundgren.

The work together with colleagues is now continuing to develop optimisation methods for larger structures.

"Given that the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) expects the total floor area in the world to double over the next 40 years due to increased prosperity and population growth, we must do everything we can to build as resource-efficiently as possible to meet the climate challenge," says Karin Lundgren.

Source:

Chalmers | Mia Halleröd Palmgren

Photo: Sibi Suku, unsplash
29.01.2024

Naturalistic silk spun from artificial spider gland

Researchers led by Keiji Numata at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science in Japan, along with colleagues from the RIKEN Pioneering Research Cluster, have succeeded in creating a device that spins artificial spider silk that closely matches what spiders naturally produce. The artificial silk gland was able to re-create the complex molecular structure of silk by mimicking the various chemical and physical changes that naturally occur in a spider’s silk gland. This eco-friendly innovation is a big step towards sustainability and could impact several industries. This study was published January 15 in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

Researchers led by Keiji Numata at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science in Japan, along with colleagues from the RIKEN Pioneering Research Cluster, have succeeded in creating a device that spins artificial spider silk that closely matches what spiders naturally produce. The artificial silk gland was able to re-create the complex molecular structure of silk by mimicking the various chemical and physical changes that naturally occur in a spider’s silk gland. This eco-friendly innovation is a big step towards sustainability and could impact several industries. This study was published January 15 in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

Famous for its strength, flexibility, and light weight, spider silk has a tensile strength that is comparable to steel of the same diameter, and a strength to weight ratio that is unparalleled. Added to that, it’s biocompatible, meaning that it can be used in medical applications, as well as biodegradable. So why isn’t everything made from spider silk? Large-scale harvesting of silk from spiders has proven impractical for several reasons, leaving it up to scientists to develop a way to produce it in the laboratory.

Spider silk is a biopolymer fiber made from large proteins with highly repetitive sequences, called spidroins. Within the silk fibers are molecular substructures called beta sheets, which must be aligned properly for the silk fibers to have their unique mechanical properties. Re-creating this complex molecular architecture has confounded scientists for years. Rather than trying to devise the process from scratch, RIKEN scientists took a biomimicry approach. As Numata explains, “in this study, we attempted to mimic natural spider silk production using microfluidics, which involves the flow and manipulation of small amounts of fluids through narrow channels. Indeed, one could say that that the spider’s silk gland functions as a sort of natural microfluidic device.”

The device developed by the researchers looks like a small rectangular box with tiny channels grooved into it. Precursor spidroin solution is placed at one end and then pulled towards the other end by means of negative pressure. As the spidroins flow through the microfluidic channels, they are exposed to precise changes in the chemical and physical environment, which are made possible by the design of the microfluidic system. Under the correct conditions, the proteins self-assembled into silk fibers with their characteristic complex structure.

The researchers experimented to find these correct conditions, and eventually were able to optimize the interactions among the different regions of the microfluidic system. Among other things, they discovered that using force to push the proteins through did not work; only when they used negative pressure to pull the spidroin solution could continuous silk fibers with the correct telltale alignment of beta sheets be assembled.

“It was surprising how robust the microfluidic system was, once the different conditions were established and optimized,” says Senior Scientist Ali Malay, one of the paper’s co-authors. “Fiber assembly was spontaneous, extremely rapid, and highly reproducible. Importantly, the fibers exhibited the distinct hierarchical structure that is found in natural silk fiber.”

The ability to artificially produce silk fibers using this method could provide numerous benefits. Not only could it help reduce the negative impact that current textile manufacturing has on the environment, but the biodegradable and biocompatible nature of spider silk makes it ideal for biomedical applications, such as sutures and artificial ligaments.

“Ideally, we want to have a real-world impact,” says Numata. “For this to occur, we will need to scale-up our fiber-production methodology and make it a continuous process. We will also evaluate the quality of our artificial spider silk using several metrics and make further improvements from there.”

Source:

RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Japan

From MIT to Burning Man: The Living Knitwork Pavilion Credit Irmandy Wicaksono
24.10.2023

From MIT to Burning Man: The Living Knitwork Pavilion

Set against the vast and surreal backdrop of the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, Burning Man is an annual gathering that transforms the flat, barren expanse into a vibrant playground for artistic and creative expression. Here, "Burners" come to both witness and contribute to the ephemeral Black Rock City, which participants build anew each year. With its myriad art installations and performances, Black Rock City is a temporary home for creative minds from around the world.

Set against the vast and surreal backdrop of the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, Burning Man is an annual gathering that transforms the flat, barren expanse into a vibrant playground for artistic and creative expression. Here, "Burners" come to both witness and contribute to the ephemeral Black Rock City, which participants build anew each year. With its myriad art installations and performances, Black Rock City is a temporary home for creative minds from around the world.

This year among the large-scale art stood the Living Knitwork Pavilion, an unusual architectural piece crafted from knitted textiles and a lattice network of wood. Developed and built by a team of researchers from the MIT Media Lab and MIT School of Architecture and Planning, and led by PhD student Irmandy Wicaksono, the installation received a 2023 Black Rock City Honorarium. For the team, it was a highly challenging and fulfilling project, full of learning and surprises. Seeing it emerge and illuminate in the middle of the desert was truly magical.

In the Living Knitwork Pavilion, 12 modular fabric panels, known as Knitwork petals, are connected through a central tower. The whole installation stood as a dodecagonal pyramid shade structure, 18 feet tall and 26 feet wide, resembling a teepee. The fabrics were developed using digital machine knitting and a collection of functional and common yarns, including photochromic, luminous, and conductive yarns. Taking inspiration from the intricacy of textile patterns and temple carvings of Indonesia, Wicaksono leveraged the tension between knitted polyester and spandex yarns to create textural textile patterns or reliefs. The fusion of parametric and hand-designed motifs transforms the "Living Knitwork" into a narrative artwork, reflecting both a reverence for ancient artistry and a vision of the future. These reliefs, full of symbols and illustrations, depict 12 stories of the future — from solarpunk cities and bio-machine interfaces to the deep ocean and space exploration.

Burning Man and the Black Rock Desert are famed for their climbing enthusiasts and intense winds. Given that strong winds can make the fabrics behave like sails, exerting significant force, the team designed a structure capable of supporting the weight of many climbers, and withstanding wind speeds of up to 70 mph.

The finalized central structure of the pavilion consists of an asymptotic lattice network of lumber and joint elements, optimized for structural integrity while minimizing material use. The knitwork petals, integrated with double-knit structure and mesh openings, and thermoformed through melting yarns, maintain structural stability. Tailored channels for ropes and cables were also incorporated into the knitting design, ensuring each fabric and electrical component is securely anchored and protected, without compromising visual elegance. Facing winds that reached 36 mph this year, the Living Knitwork Pavilion remained steadfast throughout the Burning Man event, demonstrating its resilience in extreme desert conditions.

In support of Burning Man's push for more sustainable art, the Living Knitwork Pavilion utilized additive manufacturing of digital knitting. This method allowed for the creation of custom multi-layer textiles that are both aesthetic and functional, all while minimizing raw material use and waste. The team incorporated recycled materials in their fabrics, with 60 percent of the yarns coming from recycled plastic bottles. The pavilion also runs entirely on battery power and solar cells. The team worked together with the Solar Library, a sculptural solar panel that distributes energy to other arts on the playa, to eliminate generators and noise while promoting the use of renewable energy sources.

By day, the Living Knitwork Pavilion served as a shade structure, while providing a communal space for meditation and discovery. As the sun shifts through the day, hidden-encrypted textile patterns and visual experience are revealed through photochromism and luminescent glow. As dusk descended upon the desert, the pavilion underwent a metamorphosis, illuminating its surroundings through an immersive lighting and audio system. Through a distributed network of antennas embedded within the central structure and each knitwork petal, the team’s ultimate goal was to create an intimate experience that allows individual and collective movement and activity to influence the overall ambience of the space, involving sound and illumination.

Throughout Burning Man, the pavilion also hosted pop-up events, from yoga sessions, dance performances, live music, and even a wedding ceremony. Unfortunately, in the last two days of the event, a heavy rainstorm hit the Black Rock Desert — a rarity for the event. Yet, this climatic twist worked in favor of the pavilion, helping cleanse its textile surface from the accumulated dust and reviving its vivid blue color.

The result of this grand project is a collaboration that transcends disciplinary boundaries. The research team aims to exemplify the remarkable possibilities that arise when architecture, technology, and textile arts converge and bring communities together.

The interdisciplinary group behind the Living Knitwork Pavilion includes researchers from across the Media Lab, the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms, and the Department of Architecture: Irmandy Wicaksono, Sam Chin, Alfonso Parra Rubio, Nicole Bakker, Erik Strand, Gabriela Advincula, Manaswi Mishra, Age van der Mei, Judyta Cichoka, Tongge Yu, and Angelica Zhang.

Source:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT News

BioKnit mycelium vault BioKnit mycelium vault © Hub or Biotechnology in the Built Environment
11.08.2023

Knitted futuristic eco-building designs using fungal networks

Scientists hoping to reduce the environmental impact of the construction industry have developed a way to grow building materials using knitted moulds and the root network of fungi.

Although researchers have experimented with similar composites before, the shape and growth constraints of the organic material have made it hard to develop diverse applications that fulfil its potential. Using the knitted molds as a flexible framework or ‘formwork’, the scientists created a composite called ‘mycocrete’ which is stronger and more versatile in terms of shape and form, allowing the scientists to grow lightweight and relatively eco-friendly construction materials.

Scientists hoping to reduce the environmental impact of the construction industry have developed a way to grow building materials using knitted moulds and the root network of fungi.

Although researchers have experimented with similar composites before, the shape and growth constraints of the organic material have made it hard to develop diverse applications that fulfil its potential. Using the knitted molds as a flexible framework or ‘formwork’, the scientists created a composite called ‘mycocrete’ which is stronger and more versatile in terms of shape and form, allowing the scientists to grow lightweight and relatively eco-friendly construction materials.

“Our ambition is to transform the look, feel and wellbeing of architectural spaces using mycelium in combination with biobased materials such as wool, sawdust and cellulose,” said Dr Jane Scott of Newcastle University, corresponding author of the paper in Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. The research was carried out by a team of designers, engineers, and scientists in the Living Textiles Research Group, part of the Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment, a joint venture between Newcastle and Northumbria Universities which is funded by Research England.
 
Root networks
To make composites using mycelium, part of the root network of fungi, scientists mix mycelium spores with grains they can feed on and material that they can grow on. This mixture is packed into a mold and placed in a dark, humid, and warm environment so that the mycelium can grow, binding the substrate tightly together. Once it’s reached the right density, but before it starts to produce the fruiting bodies we call mushrooms, it is dried out. This process could provide a cheap, sustainable replacement for foam, timber, and plastic. But mycelium needs oxygen to grow, which constrains the size and shape of conventional rigid molds and limits current applications.
Knitted textiles offer a possible solution: oxygen-permeable molds that could change from flexible to stiff with the growth of the mycelium. But textiles can be too yielding, and it is difficult to pack the molds consistently. Scott and her colleagues set out to design a mycelium mixture and a production system that could exploit the potential of knitted forms.

“Knitting is an incredibly versatile 3D manufacturing system,” said Scott. “It is lightweight, flexible, and formable. The major advantage of knitting technology compared to other textile processes is the ability to knit 3D structures and forms with no seams and no waste.”

Samples of conventional mycelium composite were prepared by the scientists as controls, and grown alongside samples of mycocrete, which also contained paper powder, paper fiber clumps, water, glycerin, and xanthan gum. This paste was designed to be delivered into the knitted formwork with an injection gun to improve packing consistency: the paste needed to be liquid enough for the delivery system, but not so liquid that it failed to hold its shape.

Tubes for their planned test structure were knitted from merino yarn, sterilized, and fixed to a rigid structure while they were filled with the paste, so that changes in tension of the fabric would not affect the performance of the mycocrete.

Building the future
Once dried, samples were subjected to strength tests in tension, compression and flexion. The mycocrete samples proved to be stronger than the conventional mycelium composite samples and outperformed mycelium composites grown without knitted formwork. In addition, the porous knitted fabric of the formwork provided better oxygen availability, and the samples grown in it shrank less than most mycelium composite materials do when they are dried, suggesting more predictable and consistent manufacturing results could be achieved.
The team were also able to build a larger proof-of-concept prototype structure called BioKnit - a complex freestanding dome constructed in a single piece without joins that could prove to be weak points, thanks to the flexible knitted form.

“The mechanical performance of the mycocrete used in combination with permanent knitted formwork is a significant result, and a step towards the use of mycelium and textile biohybrids within construction,” said Scott. “In this paper we have specified particular yarns, substrates, and mycelium necessary to achieve a specific goal. However, there is extensive opportunity to adapt this formulation for different applications. Biofabricated architecture may require new machine technology to move textiles into the construction sector.”

 

Source:

Press release adapted with thanks to Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

(c) Nadine Glad
18.07.2023

Promoting transparent supply chains and a more circular economy with digital product passports

Any prospective buyer interested in knowing more about the products they have set their eyes on will have to cope with limited information on print or online manuals or engage in time-consuming research. This may change soon, as the European Commission introduced a standardised digital product passport for the upcoming legislation. A project consortium has been formed with partners from industry and academia to set ground for the developments. The idea is for the proposed passports, supported by EU regulations, to make all product information available along the entire value chain and easily accessible e.g. by QR code.

Any prospective buyer interested in knowing more about the products they have set their eyes on will have to cope with limited information on print or online manuals or engage in time-consuming research. This may change soon, as the European Commission introduced a standardised digital product passport for the upcoming legislation. A project consortium has been formed with partners from industry and academia to set ground for the developments. The idea is for the proposed passports, supported by EU regulations, to make all product information available along the entire value chain and easily accessible e.g. by QR code.

ID cards and passports are usually the first things packed when one goes on a journey. They are internationally recognized and accepted documents with all the necessary information about the holder: Commonplace items for people that will soon become just as common for electronic devices, textiles, or batteries. But mobile phones, tablet computers, and their kin usually do not travel with a passport pouch, so their digital product passports with all their “personal details” will soon be accessible at every link in the value chain via a QR code or RFID chip.

Consumers looking to buy a new piece of clothing, a piece of electronics, or even furniture or toys should have more means to understand important information about their products, including their energy efficiency, the labor conditions during manufacturing, or their reparability, in order to make informed and sustainable purchasing choices.

Product passports also hold great potential for other actors, e.g. for repairs or recycling. Current electronic products, often highly miniaturized, make it hard to understand with materials, not least toxic substances are contained and how they could be separated from another. Use-specific certificates can regulate that this type of information is available to the people who need to know it.

No final decision has yet been made about the range of information that will be contained in the product passports. For the CIRPASS project, Eduard Wagner and his team at Fraunhofer ZM is currently surveying which types of information are already covered by current legal requirements and which additional information could be contained on a digital product passport. Their aim is to provide an information architecture that determines which types of information have added value for which actors in the value chain and at what cost this information could be provided. A reparability scale that shows how easily a product is to repair has been required in France since 2021 and might be a good inclusion in the digital, pan-European product passport. “Information about energy efficiency is already required, but this information still has to be prepared on a case-by-case basis, and there are no universal European disclosure requirements for other types of circularity related information. Meaningful standardization here is one of the top goals of the product passport. Imagine we could compare the durability of all t-shirts in the EU between each other,” says sustainability expert Eduard Wagner.

For the first product passports to be ready by 2026, many actors still need to be brought on board and a consensus be found for which information is most relevant. “Our project has identified 23 groups of stakeholders that we are including in our survey of requirements, in all three sectors”, Wagner explains. “We have suppliers of materials, manufacturers of electronics, and representatives of repair and recycling associations with us.” The results of these consultations will go to the European Commission to act as pointers for the political process en route to new legal requirements for the product passport. Small to medium-sized enterprises are given special attention and support in this, as providing the required information can mean a considerable effort on their part.

Source:

Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM

First tests with free-form tiles made of wood short fiber filament. (Photo: LZH) Photo: LZH. First tests with free-form tiles made of wood short fiber filament.
19.09.2022

Sustainability in 3D Printing: Components made of Natural Fibers

3D printing has been in use in architecture for a while, and now it is to become ecologically sustainable as well: Together with partners, the LZH is researching how to produce individual building elements from natural fibers using additive manufacturing.

3D printing has been in use in architecture for a while, and now it is to become ecologically sustainable as well: Together with partners, the LZH is researching how to produce individual building elements from natural fibers using additive manufacturing.

In the project 3DNaturDruck, architectural components such as facade elements shall be created from natural fiber-reinforced biopolymers in 3D printing. To this end, the scientists will develop the corresponding composite materials from biopolymers with both natural short fibers and natural continuous fibers and optimize them for processing with the additive manufacturing process FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling). The project partners' goal is to enable smart and innovative designs that are both ecological and sustainable.
 
The goal: highly developed components made from sustainable materials
Within the project, different natural fiber-reinforced biopolymer composites will be investigated. The partners are researching both processing methods with very short natural fibers, such as from wood and straw, and a method for printing continuous fibers from hemp and flax in combination with biopolymers. The LZH then develops processes for these new materials and adapts the tools and nozzle geometries of the FDM printer. A pavilion with the 3D-printed facade elements is planned as a demonstrator on the campus of the University of Stuttgart.
 
The project partners want to explore how additive manufacturing can be used to simplify manufacturing processes for architectural components. Natural fiber-reinforced biopolymers are particularly suitable for producing components with complex geometries in just a few steps and with low material and cost requirements. With their research, the partners are also working on completely new starting conditions for the fabrication of newly developed architectural components: For example, the topology optimization of components according to their structural stress can be easily implemented with additive manufacturing.

Enabling the natural fiber trend in architecture also using additive manufacturing
There is great interest in the use of natural fibers in structural components in architecture and construction because natural fibers have several advantages. They have good mechanical properties combined with low weight and are widely available. As a renewable resource with in some cases very short renewal cycles, they are also clearly a better ecological alternative than synthetic fibers.

In additive manufacturing, large-format elements for the architectural sector have so far mostly been manufactured with polymers based on fossil raw materials. Research in the project 3DNaturDruck should now make the use of natural fibers in architecture possible for additive manufacturing as well.

About 3DNaturDruck
The project 3DNaturDruck is about the design and fabrication of 3D-printed components made of biocomposites using filaments with continuous and short natural fibers.

The project is coordinated by the Department of Biobased Materials and Materials Cycles in Architecture (BioMat) at the Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) at the University of Stuttgart. In addition to the LZH, project partners include the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research Wilhelm-Klauditz-Institut (WKI) and the industrial companies Rapid Prototyping Technologie GmbH (Gifhorn), ETS Extrusionstechnik (Mücheln), 3dk.berlin (Berlin) and ATMAT Sp. Z o.o. (Krakow, Poland).

The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture through the Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V. under the funding code 2220NR295C.

Source:

Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V.

Photo: Henning Rogge
09.03.2022

DRESSED. 7 WOMEN - 200 YEARS OF FASHION

  • Exhibition in Hamburg Museum für Kunst & Gewerbe: 25/02/ - 28/08/2022

  • Exhibition in Hamburg Museum für Kunst & Gewerbe: 25/02/ - 28/08/2022

Our wardrobe is among our most personal possessions. Nothing is closer to our bodies. Alongside its purely practical function, clothing is also a nuanced means of communication and self-expression. The exhibition DRESSED. 7 WOMEN – 200 YEARS OF FASHION presents seven fashion-conscious women and their wardrobes, ranging from the nineteenth century to the present day.
The spotlight is on the personalities and biographies of the wearers, who reveal themselves to be both performers and consumers of fashion. Whether haute couture, daywear, protest gear or avant-garde trends – what they chose to wear is every bit as diverse as their lifestyles. Their wardrobes tell of the status-consciousness of high-society wives, of an existence marked by illness, of “power dressing” for projecting confidence in the executive suite, of Hamburg’s punk scene, and of the aesthetics embraced by an art and design collector.
 
Rather than basing the selection on status or celebrity, the protagonists cover the greatest possible variety of women’s lifestyles and their expression through fashion. Around 150 garments and accessories from the Fashion and Textiles Collection at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (MK&G) illuminate seven different walks of life and 200 years of fashion, women’s liberation and contemporary history. The fashion items were produced by famous designers, couturiers/couturières and fashion ateliers such as Maison Worth, Elsa Schiaparelli, Yves Saint Laurent, Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo and Martin Margiela as well as by anonymous tailors and seamstresses. They are supplemented by biographical testimonies, photographs and documents.

„The idea of approaching not only fashion history but also the former wearers through the seven wardobes on display immediately excited me”, remarks Tulga Beyerle, director of the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg. “The narrative also goes beyond that and deals with a topic that is still relevant today: the changing role of women in society.”
 
Senator Dr Carsten Brosda says of the exhibition:” The history of clothing is the history of man. The history of fashion is the history of our social self-image. “Dressed” tells both the story of individual lives and the spirit of the times. The exhibition traces our understanding of aesthetics, the relationship between no-go’s and avant-garde, do’s and don’ts and as a whole is a symbol of possibilities. With the exhibition „Dressed”, the MK&G once again sensitises us to the social value of clothing in a time of material hyperconsumption.”
               
SEVEN PERSONALITIES – SEVEN WARDROBES
The earliest apparel ensemble, which once belonged to ELISE FRÄNCKEL (1807 – 1898), consists mainly of accessories and reveals the up to date fashion sense of the senator’s wife from Oldenburg in Holstein around 1820. The wardrobe of the diplomat’s wife EDITH VON MALTZAN FREIFRAU ZU WARTENBERG UND PENZLIN (1886 – 1976) includes elegant daywear and exquisite afternoon and evening attire from the years 1895 to 1950. The life and clothing of ERIKA HOLST (1917 – 1946) were shaped by war and her illness with tuberculosis. Dating from 1935 to 1945, her wardrobe contains mostly daywear. The Hamburg gallery owner and museum founder ELKE DRÖSCHER (b. 1941) wore almost exclusively pret-à-porter models by Yves Saint Laurent between 1968 and 1986, opting for a form of “power dressing”. INES ORTNER (b. 1968), active in Hamburg’s punk scene since the mid-1980s, combines an interest in fashion with a socio-critical stance in her ”self-constructed”, in some cases anarchic clothing objects. ANGELICA BLECHSCHMIDT (1942 – 2018), editor-in-chief of German Vogues from 1989 to 2002, clad herself in high-end products from international fashion houses as befitting position. Her “work uniform” consisted of little black dresses in combination with chunky costume jewellery. The art and design collector ANNE LÜHN (b. 1944) has over the years donated individual pieces from her wardrobe to MK&G. The often asymmetrical garments created by an international design avant-garde display an aesthetic of resistance.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF FASHION
The seven wardrobes selected for the show shed light on the development of fashion since the early nineteenth century. The items on view can be seen in one sense as an abstract succession of generations. The Second World War marked a clear turning point in terms of women’s opportunities, as revealed by the marital status and occupation of the carious women portrayed. Women born after 1940 were no longer confined to the role of mother, wife and house wife but were able to pursue their own professional goals. The garments also tell of contemporary political and social developments. The rigid corset disappeared after the First World War, roughly concurrently with the rise of women’s suffrage. The proliferation of trousers in women’s fashion from the 1970s onwards went hand in hand with the women’s liberation movement. And in the 1980s, an increasing plurality of clothing styles reflected developments in society at large.
          
CLOTHING AS AN ARCHIVE
The design of the exhibition is inspired by the concept of an archive. Reference is thus made to the museum’s mission of collecting and research but also to the archival function of clothing itself, which serves as a material but also to the archival function of clothing itself, which serves as a material witness to the history of design, technology and trade. At the same time, garments perpetuate the traces of individual bodies, movement and use, providing immaterial clues to the wearer’s aura and calling to mind notions of femininity, beauty and chic as well as personal and collective memories.
 
CLOTHING AS OBJECT OF DAILY USE
Garments are everyday items inscribed with signs of their use and of the body that wears them and bearing the marks of material wear and tear and of storage. These visible marks are just as unwelcome in private wardrobes as they are in museum collections – and yet they prove to be extremely valuable as evidence for object-based research. The exhibition therefore also shows objects with clear signs of wear and provides information about their state of preservation.

CLOTHING AS A MEANS OF SOCIAL COMMUNICATION
Clothing norms and dress codes depend on factors such as age, gender, body shape, occasion, location, status and social group. We already start learning in childhood how to navigate this maze of rules and find the right mix for ourselves between conformity and individuality. As demonstrated by the biographies recounted here, fashion and a preoccupation with how we look is even today primarily a topic for women and people who read as female. Women are judged more by their appearance that their male counterparts and
are held to account more harshly for ostensible “mistakes” in how they present themselves. The role dress plays in social communication cannot be overestimated. Its effect is immediate. Whether consciously or unconsciously, we send and receive signals with our clothes bodies – not to communicate is impossible.

FASION HOUSES AND DESIGNERS REPRESENTED
The exhibition provides a detailed look at high-quality items of clothing in the MK&G collection along with glimpses of the creative work of a wide range of both anonymous makers and famous national and international fashion designers, couturiers/couturières and ateliers, including Georges Doeuillet, Romeo Gigli, Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons, Alice Lanot, Emilienne Manassé, Maison Martin Margiela, Issey Miyake, Rick Owens, Prada, Yves Saint Laurent, Elsa Schiaparelli, Worth, Yohji Yamamoto and others.

CATALOGUE
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue of the same name, published by Hirmer Verlag Munich, edited by Turga Beyerle and Angelika Riley, and with essays by Claire Beermann, Turga Beyerle, Joanne Entwistle, Birgit Haase, Peter Kempe, Ingrid E. Mida, Angelika Riley and Maria Stavel, and photographs ny Anne Schönharting. In German with two essays in English, ca. 250 pages, ca. 475 colour illustrations, 90 of them full-page plates, 49.90 Euro.

Ingo Offermanns (Hamburg) is responsible for the graphic design of the catalogue and exhibition. The exhibition architecture is the work of designer and scenographer Katleen Arthen (Berlin).

EDUCTAIONAL PROGRAMM
As part of the exhibition, the MK&G is organising numerous analogue and digital guided tours, including the exhibition tour “With Pen and paper” – a drawing workshop on the seven wardrobes on display with the artist Anne Pflug. You can participate in the exhibition via MK6G’s social media channels: Which favourite piece of clothing should be preserved for posterity? The best photos and stories that are shared with MK&G links can be seen digitally in the exhibition shortly afterwards. More information on the event programme on the website under CALENDAR.

The exhibition is made possible by funds from the Exhibition Fund of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, the Hubertus Wald Foundation and the Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation.

Source:

Museum für Kunst & Gewerbe, Hamburg

Textile Prototyping Lab The modules from the prototyping kit can be used to create a variety of e-textiles © Textile Prototyping Lab
14.09.2021

Art meets Science: Prototyping Lab for textile electronics

Anyone who thinks of research laboratories only in terms of protective suits and clean rooms is not quite right: Since April, patterns, seams and mannequins have not been uncommon in the new Textile Prototyping Lab (TPL) at Fraunhofer IZM in Berlin. With the TPL, there is now a place where creative high-tech textiles are produced and which already distinguishes itself from the style of usual research laboratories by its design. As a collaborative project with the Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin, textile-integrated electronics are created here for a wide range of applications from architecture to medicine.

Anyone who thinks of research laboratories only in terms of protective suits and clean rooms is not quite right: Since April, patterns, seams and mannequins have not been uncommon in the new Textile Prototyping Lab (TPL) at Fraunhofer IZM in Berlin. With the TPL, there is now a place where creative high-tech textiles are produced and which already distinguishes itself from the style of usual research laboratories by its design. As a collaborative project with the Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin, textile-integrated electronics are created here for a wide range of applications from architecture to medicine.

Since its opening, the lab has been available to designers and product developers to prototype individual visions in the field of e-textiles. The possibilities are virtually unlimited: From interfaces between textiles and electronics to the testing of process chains, parts of the laboratory or even the entire laboratory can be used freely. In addition to the pure development and construction work, the premises can be converted in a few moves and repurposed for workshops or exhibitions.

Malte von Krshiwoblozki, who is providing scientific support for the project at Fraunhofer IZM, cited other advantages: “Not only the modular workstations and the meeting area are attractive for joint project work, especially the machinery offers a wide range for interested parties. The ‘sewing and embroidery’ work area, for example, is equipped with several sewing machines as well as a computer-controlled embroidery machine. It thus becomes central to the TPL, as textile finishing with small-format machines is the focus of this lab's work.” Another work area covers “Cutting & Separating” with a laser cutter and a cutting plotter. In addition, there are several presses and laminators, a soldering station and a 3D printer.

In the TPL, beginners can also try their hand at e-textiles and expand their knowledge: The prototyping kit developed at Fraunhofer IZM, which includes a series of electronic modules, LEDs and sensors that can be embroidered by hand as well as by machine, is particularly helpful in this regard.

“For particularly durable electronic textiles, the textile bonder developed and built by Fraunhofer IZM researchers can also be used in cooperative projects of the Textile Prototyping Lab. The versatile modules of the prototyping kit are deliberately designed so that integration into the textile can take place not only with classic textile technology such as embroidery during the prototyping phase, but also for subsequent, more industrial implementations using the textile bonder. In keeping with the motto ‘sharing is caring’ and the principle of interdisciplinarity, we at Fraunhofer IZM are available to provide advice and support during the realization of the textile projects, so that the artists' ideas can be enriched using such new technology,” said Malte von Krshiwoblozki.

Even before the opening of the laboratory, the collaboration between the Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin and Fraunhofer IZM had already produced developments that combine art and research in revolutionary ways. For example, a light rail for lamps that is made of a soft and conductive textile belt was created in cooperation with the designer Stefan Diez. For the Hans Riegel Foundation's Touch Tomorrow educational project, an interactive jacket was developed that can control the color of integrated LEDs via arm movements. The team of the Textile Prototyping Lab is looking forward to upcoming, exciting and agile projects and is open for ideas from start-ups, SMEs as well as industry partners.

Source:

Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM

(c) Messe Frankfurt
09.06.2020

Goodbye Berlin - Hello Frankfurt! Premium / Seek and Neonyt switch from the Spree to the Main

  • Frankfurt am Main is to become the "new hotspot of the international fashion and lifestyle scene"

Messe Frankfurt and Premium Group launched the Frankfurt Fashion Week yesterday, on June 8, 2020, under the title "Unveiling The Unexpected". From summer 2021, the Rhine-Main metropolis will become the new home for a future-oriented fashion and lifestyle community, with trade shows, conferences, runways and events based on the two pillars of digitization and sustainability, according to the two exhibition companies.

  • Frankfurt am Main is to become the "new hotspot of the international fashion and lifestyle scene"

Messe Frankfurt and Premium Group launched the Frankfurt Fashion Week yesterday, on June 8, 2020, under the title "Unveiling The Unexpected". From summer 2021, the Rhine-Main metropolis will become the new home for a future-oriented fashion and lifestyle community, with trade shows, conferences, runways and events based on the two pillars of digitization and sustainability, according to the two exhibition companies.

The kick-off for Frankfurt Fashion Week is planned for summer 2021. Joining forces to get the event off the ground are the world’s largest trade fair, congress and event organiser with its own exhibition grounds – Messe Frankfurt – and the organiser of Europe’s biggest fashion fair – the Premium Group – as the initiators, as well as the City of Frankfurt am Main and the German state of Hesse as hosts. Together they aim to create a brand-new ecosystem for tradeshows, conferences, runway shows and events for professionals and consumers in Frankfurt am Main.

 

“This will transform the financial centre of Frankfurt into a new hotspot for the international fashion and lifestyle scene and create a new, international fashion metropolis. Organising a Fashion Week in Frankfurt presents a unique economic opportunity for the City of Frankfurt am Main. We are expecting positive knock-on effects with the generation of more than 200 million euros per year for our hometown and the region,” emphasised the Senior Mayor of the City of Frankfurt am Main at press conference.

 

“It will bring a huge boost to the local hotel, hospitality and transportation sectors. Frankfurt is renowned for its style-defining impact on art, architecture and design and its unique club, bar and restaurant scene. Frankfurt Fashion Week will now also increase our appeal as an international fashion hotspot. We will be conveying the fashion and design theme to the rest of the city and complementing it with our own exciting events. It makes me proud that we have been able to attract these three prominent tradeshows with no less than 2,000 exhibitors from Berlin to Frankfurt,” concluded Feldmann.

“Securing this unique event for Frankfurt am Main is a huge opportunity to strengthen our image both nationally and internationally. In the next few years, the city is prepared to provide the necessary funds to show people from near and far that creative Frankfurt has what it takes to host a Fashion Week. Together with the State of Hesse and Messe Frankfurt, we, the City of Frankfurt, really want Frankfurt Fashion Week to get off to a flying start and make the city the fashion hotspot of Germany. And we will play our part in that,” adds Mayor and City Treasurer Uwe Becker, who together with the Councillor for Economic Affairs Markus Frank highlighted the development opportunities of Fashion Week in Frankfurt am Main.

Banking capital and fashion metropolis 
Skyscrapers and turn-of-the-century villas. Architectural eyesores and structural masterpieces. Business and culture. Red-light district and luxury shopping. It is against this backdrop that Frankfurt Fashion Week aims to inspire new momentum.

“The Rhine-Main Region is predestined to host an internationally significant event of this magnitude. We are cosmopolitan and international: out of the 6.2 million people living in Hesse, one third have their roots in other countries. And that makes the fashion here just as diverse and individual. At the same time, an event like the upcoming Frankfurt Fashion Week is of huge economic significance for Frankfurt as a trade fair location.

It is sending out an important and positive signal to an industry that has been particularly hard hit by the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. The State of Hesse is committed to sustainable business practices, the conservation of resources and climate protection. Promoting the creative industries has been the aim of Hesse’s economic policy for years now. And as Frankfurt Fashion Week has made sustainability its overarching theme, it’s also a real gain from that perspective. There couldn’t be a better fit for Frankfurt and the State of Hesse,” says Tarek Al-Wazir, Hesse’s Minister of Economics, Energy, Transport and Housing and Vice Minister-President.   

A core component of Frankfurt Fashion Week are Europe’s biggest fashion fairs: PREMIUM, Europe’s relevant business platform for advanced women’s and menswear, SEEK, one of the most progressive tradeshows for contemporary fashion, and NEONYT, the leading hub for sustainable fashion. Together with the Fashionsustain and Fashiontech conferences, they are moving from Berlin to Frankfurt am Main.

“Five platforms, three tradeshows, two conferences, over 2,000 designers, brands and fashion companies – Frankfurt Fashion Week will become an extremely attractive and relevant destination for the international fashion business. We believe in the concept of a physical Fashion Week, but one that is different to anything we have seen before. Frankfurt Fashion Week will enable us to fully play to our textile strengths gained from over 50 textile tradeshows worldwide. And it will result in new synergies along the entire supply chain”, stated Detlef Braun, Member of the Executive Board of Messe Frankfurt.   

“Frankfurt Fashion Week is purposely aimed at a forward-looking, digital-savvy fashion and lifestyle community. B2B, B2C, B2P, P2P – all avenues are open. A synthesis of fashion, lifestyle, digital innovations and sustainability is always guaranteed to result in something new and unexpected. And that is exactly our aim. Unveiling the unexpected. Frankfurt is a fresh, new location for this. We’re looking forward to it,” says Anita Tillmann, Managing Partner of the Premium Group.

New Technology meets Applied Sustainability
Frankfurt Fashion Week wants to pool fashion, design, sustainability and technology, giving rise to unexpected cooperations and showing what is already possible today. ‘Applied Sustainability’ and ‘Applied Digitisation’ form the strategic pillars of the event. Frankfurt Fashion Week will make innovative, more sustainable products, collections and business models accessible to the wider market. At the same time, it also promotes the future-oriented interconnection of fashion and technology as part of the real-digital reality.

 

(c) Koelnmesse GmbH
19.11.2019

IMM COLOGNE 2020: STILL INDOORS OR ALREADY OUTSIDE?

  • “Das Haus 2020” by MUT Design brings the Spanish outlook on life to imm cologne
  • Young design team MUT from Valencia to create “Das Haus” as guest of honour
  • The Spaniards’ design addresses the longing for an interior concept in which possibilities for retreat can be sustainably combined with outdoor living.

 “Das Haus” is erected at the international furniture and interiors fair imm cologne: a design that points the way ahead to how we might live in future. For seven days in January every year, it’s constructed from scratch, painted and lovingly furnished, visited by thousands, discussed and photographed. The simulated interior in Cologne – a combination of architecture, interior design and furnishings – gives a designer or design team the opportunity to make their own personal statement on contemporary living.

  • “Das Haus 2020” by MUT Design brings the Spanish outlook on life to imm cologne
  • Young design team MUT from Valencia to create “Das Haus” as guest of honour
  • The Spaniards’ design addresses the longing for an interior concept in which possibilities for retreat can be sustainably combined with outdoor living.

 “Das Haus” is erected at the international furniture and interiors fair imm cologne: a design that points the way ahead to how we might live in future. For seven days in January every year, it’s constructed from scratch, painted and lovingly furnished, visited by thousands, discussed and photographed. The simulated interior in Cologne – a combination of architecture, interior design and furnishings – gives a designer or design team the opportunity to make their own personal statement on contemporary living. In a wide-ranging variety of styles – from minimalist to extravagant, from matter-of-fact to sensuous – the installation blends current trends and products into a finely tuned interior design. Koelnmesse has nominated the young Spanish design team MUT to be its guest of honour for the ninth edition of “Das Haus” at imm cologne 2020 (13.-19.1.).

“A project like ‘Das Haus’ gives a designer a unique opportunity to create something that’s totally independent of production and market conditions while simultaneously understanding and rediscovering their designs in terms of how they impact the space,” says MUT, describing the challenge of designing a fully furnished house for the international furniture and interiors fair imm cologne.

“In our design, we want to go one step further and explore the potential architecture and interior design have for opening the space up to the outdoors.” As a result, the architectural dimension of “Das Haus” is particularly significant this time round. “Mediterranean life is synonymous with outdoor living,” says MUT of the inspiration the team draws from its traditional lifestyle culture. “Our houses have always integrated a little bit of nature into their interiors.”

Founded in 2010 by Alberto Sánchez and Eduardo Villalón, the design studio is one of the most successful teams of the “new wave” in Spanish design. In their native Valencia, a hotspot of Spanish design that’s bolstered by the traditional furnituremaking and ceramics industries round about, the team creates furniture, carpets, tiles and lamps for the interiors sector, as well as designing hotels and exhibitions. All their work is characterised by a tendency towards simple, soft, circular shapes. Their creations – which have won major accolades such as the Red Dot award – exhibit forms with a vaguely unfamiliar quality or translate a familiar shape into a modern design. Their international clientele includes firms such as Expormim, GAN, Ex.t, Sancal, Preciosa Lighting, Bolia, E interiors, Harmony Inspire, Missana and LZF.

The name MUT comes from Valencian (a variant of Catalan) and translates roughly as “Quiet!” – a request for silence when you want to make yourself heard. But the designers can also identify with the German meaning of “Mut”, i.e. courage: “It rounds off the way we see ourselves perfectly, because nowadays it takes a lot of courage to stand up for your own principles instead of going with the flow dictated by trends,” says the Spanish team. And it’s definitely true to say that emotionality and an expressive design language are the most outstanding characteristics of their work.

With MUT, “Das Haus” is deliberately remaining within the sphere of European design this time round, while simultaneously selecting a decidedly progressive team with a contemporary profile. “MUT isn’t so much a classic design team as the kind of multidisciplinary community of like-minded people that exists in all sorts of constellations nowadays: modern, flexible and creative. They work in a surprisingly diverse range of fields: they’re product designers, creative directors, graphic designers, interior designers and curators, all rolled into one,” says Dick Spierenburg, creative director of the imm cologne, on the decision to nominate MUT. “As a result, they stand for a new generation of design studios that’s responding to a changed market landscape in which huge demands are made of designers’ adaptability and inventiveness.”
 
“Das Haus” – half portrait of the designer, half model home
The “Das Haus – Interiors on Stage” installation simulates a residential house at the international furniture and interiors fair imm cologne. The fair constructs an approximately 180-square-metre house in the middle of the Pure Editions area, Hall 3.1, designed according to the plans of a designer who is newly nominated every year. The furniture, colours, materials, lighting and accessories are also selected by the designer, rendering the finished house an individual, integrated configuration of interior design. The project thereby deals not just with contemporary furnishing trends but also with people’s aspirations as well as social change.
          
“Das Haus” from 2012 to 2019 – eight ideas of home
“Das Haus” was staged for the first time in 2012 and the Indian-British design team of Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien was nominated to introduce the new format. They installed a seemingly organically grown space that allowed inhabitants and cultures to interact in a spirit of communication. In 2013, the Italian product designer Luca Nichetto introduced the next installation of the design event with an elegant ensemble, the construction open on all sides. In 2014, the Danish designer Louise Campbell turned “Das Haus” into a low-tech place of calm within the bustle of the fair, representing the reconciliation of the most diverse human characters and preferences in style. In 2015, the Chinese architect couple Rossana Hu and Lyndon Neri challenged traditional home life rituals by taking “cages for living” packed full with classic and modern furniture and setting them in a spatial construction that recalled the narrow alleyways of Shanghai, turning visitor into voyeur and calling for reflection. German designer Sebastian Herkner was on home turf in 2016. With his circular “Haus”, he created a house that was airy and fully accessible – with no barriers to people or cultures – and limited only by adjustable curtains in order to permit changing perspectives. The transatlantic “Haus” by Todd Bracher that trade fair visitors could experience in Cologne in 2017 drew its inspiration from paring down to the essentials. While the Czech designer Lucie Koldova transformed “Das Haus 2018” into an experiment about the emotional dimension of various lighting compositions, Rotterdam-based Studio Truly Truly turned its idea of mood-driven, “fluid” living into reality with a design consisting of organically interlinked zones.

Source:

Koelnmesse GmbH
Design Press Talk imm cologne 2020 in Valencia on 18 September 2019/ Studio

 

(c) Deutsche Messe AG / Sonia Wedell-Castellano, Global Director DOMOTEX
15.10.2019

Interview with Sonia Wedell-Castellano about DOMOTEX 2020

  • Sonia Wedell-Castellano, Global Director of DOMOTEX,answers key questions on DOMOTEX 2020
  • "We're the world's flagship fair: At DOMOTEX, you can view the entire range of products from the global floor coverings industry."

As Global Director of DOMOTEX, you took over responsibility for DOMOTEX just over a year ago. What have you been able to accomplish so far?

  • Sonia Wedell-Castellano, Global Director of DOMOTEX,answers key questions on DOMOTEX 2020
  • "We're the world's flagship fair: At DOMOTEX, you can view the entire range of products from the global floor coverings industry."

As Global Director of DOMOTEX, you took over responsibility for DOMOTEX just over a year ago. What have you been able to accomplish so far?

In rapid response to the wishes voiced by our exhibitors and visitors, we have, for example, opted for changes in the fair's layout. Previously, premium suppliers were located in the immediate vicinity of the special Framing Trends showcase. They will now go back to their traditional market environments, in their respective halls. For visitors, this means shorter distances and easier on-site orientation. We are also addressing our target visitors in an even more differentiated and more targeted way. We have also reassessed the concept of our classic "Preview" press conferences, and are now touring key media cities, visiting editorial offices and organizing informal dinners, to which we invite exhibitors as well as partners and the press – a networking event with a view to 2020.

Nearly 97,000 square meters of space have already been sold for DOMOTEX 2020. Who are some of the more interesting exhibitors that visitors can look forward to at the event?

With some 1,500 exhibitors anticipated, the list is already quite long, so I'll only mention a few: Rug Star by Jürgen Dahlmanns, Naziri, Creative Matters, Galleria Battilossi, Rica Basagoiti will be showing in the handmade carpets segment. In the category of machine-woven carpets we are looking forward to Oriental Weavers, Carmel Carpet, Royal Hali, Prado Egypt, Stefany and Reinkemeier. US Floors, Windmöller, Moderna (MeisterWerke) and IVC will be exhibiting their resilient floor coverings, while ter Hürne, Decospan, BIMBO, SWISS KRONO and Forestry Timber will be presenting parquet, wood and laminate flooring. The manufacturers of installation technologies include Mapei, Selit, Välinge, Unifloor, Uzin Utz and Küberit.

What is the ratio of domestic to foreign exhibitors?

Of all Deutsche Messe events, DOMOTEX is by far the most international. This applies to exhibitors and visitors, alike. German exhibitors account for some 12% of display space, with the international share consequently running at 88%. This is naturally quite an achievement for the world's leading marketplace for floor coverings and carpets. That said, we also aim to expand our exhibitor lineup by attracting more exhibitors from Germany and the rest of Europe.

As a result of the changes made to the show's layout plan, Hall 8 will now be devoted entirely to the Framing Trends display. What can visitors expect to see there – and what's new?

Hall 8 will star as the pulsating, emotive heart of the event, with visitors being welcomed and wowed by a large textile horizon showing projections of atmospheric images. Our new lead theme of "ATMYSPHERE" will address how floors can improve our sense of well-being. In a series of Frames, we'll be showing the contribution that a floor's appearance makes to the overall atmosphere, how its texture dampens noise and how ecological production techniques make for a healthier indoor climate. Manufacturers, artists, universities and, for the first time, start-ups will take up these and numerous other characteristics to create soothing, personal worlds of experience via their creative approach.

Our partner agency, Schmidhuber will moreover be staging four pavilions consisting of furnished themed rooms, so as to make the lead theme even more tangible. "Hotel – Sustainable", for example, illustrates the impact of materials and furniture, including acoustic paneling in a hotel room. "Wellness – Green Living" emphasizes health-promoting and environmentally friendly aspects. "Conference – More than Floor" focuses on acoustic solutions, going all the way to upholstered seating landscapes, while "Health – Wellbeing" features a yoga room for relaxation. In the space between these focal points, the advantages of outdoor floors and a flowing transition from indoors to outdoors will be highlighted. The aim is not only to provide inspiration to designers, architects and retailers, but also to illustrate concrete areas of application.

Visiting professionals from retail, the skilled trades and architecture are among the main target groups at DOMOTEX. All of these groups have different needs and requirements. Apart from having interesting exhibitors, what will DOMOTEX be offering its attendees?

There will be something for everyone at the event. For top buyers from the wholesale and retail trades, we'll be offering a special service package to make their visit at DOMOTEX as pleasant as possible.

Craftspeople can look forward to a more state-of-the-art "Treffpunkt Handwerk" – a forum featuring issues ranging from the challenge of digitalization for the skilled trades and topics related to personnel and recruiting young talent to current product trends and cutting-edge application techniques. In addition, craftspeople can visit their associations here, such as the Federal Association for Parquets and Flooring Technology. In the adjacent live-action zones, our exhibitors will once again be giving practical tips on how to prepare and lay wooden floors.

As a special showcase, Hall 8 is ideal for architects and designers. On all four days of the event there will also be a wide range of presentations by renowned architects followed by discussions. This year for the first time ever, exhibitors can join in on staged panel discussions. The focus will be on the latest social transformations and their significance for architecture, in particular as it applies to floors. In specific terms, trendy topics such as building information modeling (BIM) or healthy living and working will be explored. In addition, AIT Dialog Tours – guided tours where internationally renowned architects and interior designers will share their personal highlights of DOMOTEX – will be conducted daily.

Exhibitors displaying new products and services for digitalization will be of interest to all three target groups. For retailers, this will consist of digital sales tools, for architects, the focus will be on building information modeling, and for craftspeople, interest will revolve around things like how to introduce an up-to-the-minute order database.

What do you see as the top USPs of DOMOTEX?

We are the world's only global business platform for carpets and floor coverings: At DOMOTEX, you can see and experience the entire range of products on offer by the global floor coverings industry.

Here you can get an overview of the latest trends and developments in the international market and keep abreast of the latest developments. Manufacturers and buyers as well as partners, architects and designers from all over the world come together at DOMOTEX. New business relationships and cooperation opportunities are emerging that were hitherto inconceivable. The show attracts visitors of extremely high caliber, nearly 90 percent of whom play a decisive role in their companies' buying decisions.

Composites Europe 2019 (c) Photos: Reed Exhibitions/ Oliver Wachenfeld
30.07.2019

COMPOSITES EUROPE 2019: Digital Process Chain makes Fibre Composites Competitive

  • Strong Triple: COMPOSITES EUROPE, International Composites Conference and Lightweight Technologies Forum
  • “Process live” special areas showcase technological progress
  • Co-located event: Foam Expo Europe

The composites industry provides important impetus – for lightweight construction and material innovations in automotive, aviation, mechanical engineering, construction, wind power as well as in the sports and leisure sectors. So in international competition it is solutions with a high degree of automation that are in demand. COMPOSITES EUROPE from 10 to 12 September will present the trends and advances in the production and processing of fibre-reinforced plastics in Stuttgart. The trade fair will be accompanied by the International Composites Conference and the Lightweight Technologies Forum. Also held in parallel at the Messe Stuttgart premises will be Foam Expo Europe.

  • Strong Triple: COMPOSITES EUROPE, International Composites Conference and Lightweight Technologies Forum
  • “Process live” special areas showcase technological progress
  • Co-located event: Foam Expo Europe

The composites industry provides important impetus – for lightweight construction and material innovations in automotive, aviation, mechanical engineering, construction, wind power as well as in the sports and leisure sectors. So in international competition it is solutions with a high degree of automation that are in demand. COMPOSITES EUROPE from 10 to 12 September will present the trends and advances in the production and processing of fibre-reinforced plastics in Stuttgart. The trade fair will be accompanied by the International Composites Conference and the Lightweight Technologies Forum. Also held in parallel at the Messe Stuttgart premises will be Foam Expo Europe.

Trade fair visitors will meet with over 300 exhibitors from 30 nations who will be displaying materials, technical solutions and innovative application examples in Stuttgart. Apart from novel products the trade fair will place special emphasis on innovative process engineering. Visitors will learn about the state of play in serial production and new applications in the composites industry in the exhibition area as well as on numerous special areas, on themed guided tours, at the accompanying International Composites Conference and at the Lightweight Technologies Forum, which is dedicated to the trends in multi-material lightweight construction.

“Process live”: Technologies in Synergy
Perfectly coordinated processing and manufacturing processes will be centre stage at the “Process live” event. On shared exhibition space machinery and equipment manufacturers will exhibit their technologies in concert and – what’s more – in operation so as to show the different individual processes in a real context.  

On display, to name but one exhibit, is VAP®, the Vacuum Assisted Process patented by Airbus, which will be in the limelight in the Trans-Textil and Composyst special area. This process permits the one-step production of large-surface and geometrically complex components without an autoclave, which is why it is particularly suitable for structural components in aviation, wind power, shipbuilding, in rail and road transport, in machinery and device manufacturing as well as in architecture and in the leisure industry.

The “Process live” special area care of cutting specialists GUNNAR from Switzerland specifically targets the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) with its small and medium-sized companies. Jointly with laser projection expert LAP and composites engineering expert SCHEURER Swiss, GUNNAR introduces a connected overall process that fuses modern machinery and software with specialists’ manual jobs. The point of departure here is an automated manufacturing process for sorted layer placement in small and medium quantities involving a certain degree of skilled labour.

Fibre composite specialist Hacotech will present CNC-controlled cutting processes and various finishing possibilities in cooperation with Aristo Graphic Systeme and Lavesan. Alongside cutting, production preparation and customised sizing, the production of dimensionally correct templates and the cutting and custom-sizing of composite materials and prepregs will be on show.

Cutting technology is also centre stage in the special area of Rebstock Consulting, Broetje-Automation and Zünd Systemtechnik, which will be taking part in “Process live” with “Automated Sorting and Kitting”.

Composite producer Saertex and chemical company Scott Bader will demonstrate the RTM process for producing and curing a laminate that complies with the highest fire protection requirements in as little as 1 hour.   

5th International Composites Conference (ICC)
Serial production, stable processes, new markets – the International Composites Conference (ICC) is set to inject a fresh breeze for innovations into the market and to this end brings together processors and users of fibre-reinforced plastics from all over Europe. For the first time, this renowned Conference will be held in parallel with COMPOSITES EUROPE. The lecture programme put together by the trade association Composites Germany and the trade fair will also move closer in terms of content.  

One of tomorrow’s cross-cutting themes keeping the entire industry on its toes are multi-material solutions in nearly all industrial applications. In the construction sector the Conference also deals with the rising use of carbon concrete. Process engineering will focus on processing thermoplastic materials for serial production and stable processes for thermoset plastic processing.  

The partner country of the Conference is the United Kingdom. Especially against the backdrop of the current Brexit debate the ICC aims to foster exchange among all European countries. After all, the UK is among the biggest producers of composites components in Europe.

Themed Tours on Digitalisation, Fibre Glass, Thermoplastics, Automotive and Wind Power
Guided tours and hands-on demonstrations in the exhibition halls complement the conference programme. Themed guided tours revolving around composites application, materials and markets guide trade fair visitors and congress delegates right to the stands of selected exhibitors, who will share with visitors their innovations in the fields of digitalisation of composites production, automotive manufacturing, building and construction, fibreglass, new mobility, thermoplastic materials and wind power.  

New ideas on special areas and joint stands
“Material and Production Technology” is the name of the new special area set up under the guidance of the Institute of Plastics Processing (IKV) of the RWTH Aachen University. In cooperation with other institutes such as the Aachen Center for Integrative Lightweight Production (AZL) the IKV will place manufacturing technology centre stage at the trade fair. In particular, the special area will trace the path from scientific development to practical, industrial implementation.

Tomorrow’s automotive experts will also be given a separate forum: under the heading “Formula Student” students and trainees will present to visitors racing cars and bikes they have engineered.

Lightweight Technologies Forum: platform for multi-material lightweight construction
Lightweight construction remains a driver across the board for many developments in the composites sector. The Lightweight Technologies Forum (LTF) held as part of COMPOSITES EUROPE makes it clear how lightweight construction can be achieved in an economical and resource-efficient manner. This Forum views itself as a cross-industry and multi-material think tank where all parties involved can reflect on these new concepts.

To this end, the Forum in Stuttgart pools lightweight construction projects from automotive manufacturing, aviation and aerospace and mechanical engineering, to name but a few industries that serve as a driving force for many sectors with high demands made on materials, security and reliability.  

This year’s keynote speakers include Airbus Innovation Manager Peter Pirklbauer, lightweight construction expert Prof. Jörg Wellnitz (TU Ingolstadt), Dutch racing driver Jeroen Bleekemolen and lightweight construction, aviation and aerospace specialist Claus Georg Bayreuther (AMC). In their talks they will provide an overview of reference projects and novel manufacturing and joining technologies.  

Combining its own exhibition space with a lecture forum, the LTF demonstrates how glass-fibre reinforced plastics (GRP) and carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) leverage their strengths mixed with other materials in hybrid structural components. Exhibitors at the Forum and in the neighbouring Lightweight Area include “Leichtbau-Zentrum Sachsen” (Lightweight Construction Center Saxony), Chem-Trend, Gößl + Pfaff, Krempel, Mitsui Chemicals Europe, Leichtbau BW, the VDMA, Gustav Gerster, Potters Ballotini (UK), Yuho (Japan), Riba Composites (Italy) and Stamixco (Switzerland) as well as the journals Lightweight Design (Springer Fachmedien) and Automobil Industrie (Vogel Communications Group), to name but a few.

“Ultralight in Space”: market study on lightweight construction trends in the aerospace industry
The aerospace industry has always served as a pioneer for ultra-lightweight construction pushing many disciplines to their limits as a driver of innovation. The latest technical trends are currently under scrutiny via a market study carried out by consultancy Automotive Management Consulting (AMC) in cooperation with the Luxembourg-based aerospace OEM GRADEL. The results will be presented for the first time at the LTF in Stuttgart on 10 September.  

Presentation of the AVK Innovation Prize
Innovative products and applications in fibre-reinforced plastics, manufacturing processes and the latest insights from research and science, will again be recognised by the German trade association AVK – Industrievereinigung Verstärkte Kunststoffe e. V. with its renowned Innovation Prize. The winners will be announced as part of the trade fair on 10 September and the award-winning products and projects will be on display in a special area.

Presentation of the SMB-BMC Design Award
The European Alliance for SMC BMC will announce the winners of the SMC BMC Design Award 2019 – also on 10 September. The contest already held for the second time now, honours and promotes the design excellence of students or young design professionals who use SMC and BMC components (sheet and bulk moulding compounds) in their designs. This year saw sustainable mobility take centre stage as a theme.

COMPOSITES Night
The event to celebrate the midway point of the trade fair: the COMPOSITES Night at the end of the second trade fair day offers visitors and exhibitors additional opportunities for networking. Participants are in for buffets and live music at the Stage Palladium Theater in Stuttgart.

Matchmaking programme makes trade fair visit more efficient
Thanks to the complimentary networking & meeting platform “matchmaking” visitors and exhibitors can already reach out to contacts in the run-up to COMPOSITES EUROPE. Who is at the trade fair? Who has answers to your specific questions? Who can you team up with to turn new ideas into practice? The matchmaking platform allows you to “filter” and make direct appointments with potential cooperation partners by product category, industry, country, or company.

Career & Composites
With its career&composites stand COMPOSITES EUROPE targets students and graduates who can come here to establish contact with potential employers. On the special area the exhibitors present their companies to interested junior employees and attract attention to vacancies and career opportunities via a Job Wall.

Co-located with Foam Expo Europe
COMPOSITES EUROPE will be co-located with Foam Expo Europe for the first time. This trade fair covers the supply chain of technical foam production and presents moulded, rigid and soft foam solutions – from raw materials to equipment and machinery. The parallel exhibition dates generate special synergies for gaining an overview of lightweight construction materials for such shared applications as the automotive, aviation, construction and sports & leisure industries.

(c) Messe Frankfurt
14.05.2019

Prize winners of the “Textile Structures for New Building” have been chosen

Eight projects receive awards in the "Textile Structures for New Buildings” competition. For the 15th time, the competition for young talent during Techtextil will honour innovative approaches and excellent material solutions from the world of textile construction.
 
The winners of the student competition “Textile Structures for New Building” have now been decided. An international jury of renowned civil engineers and architects has awarded six prizes and two commendations. On the occasion of Techtextil, which will take place in Frankfurt am Main from 14-17 May 2019, the student competition organised jointly by the international association TensiNet as sponsor and Techtextil will award prizes for the 15th time for innovative ideas for building with textiles and textile-reinforced materials.

Eight projects receive awards in the "Textile Structures for New Buildings” competition. For the 15th time, the competition for young talent during Techtextil will honour innovative approaches and excellent material solutions from the world of textile construction.
 
The winners of the student competition “Textile Structures for New Building” have now been decided. An international jury of renowned civil engineers and architects has awarded six prizes and two commendations. On the occasion of Techtextil, which will take place in Frankfurt am Main from 14-17 May 2019, the student competition organised jointly by the international association TensiNet as sponsor and Techtextil will award prizes for the 15th time for innovative ideas for building with textiles and textile-reinforced materials.

‘We're really pleased that, together with the international association TensiNet, we are once again able to sponsor students who have submitted work of a very high quality. Presenting these awards during Techtextil also gives young students and professionals at the start of their careers the chance to come into contact with other universities, the textile technology industry and the construction industry’, explains Michael Jänecke, Director Brand Development Technical Textiles & Textile Processing at Messe Frankfurt.

The submitted works covered a very wide range of services and variety of topics and focused among other things on material applications, building designs, utilisation concepts and environmental solutions as well as assembly and construction concepts.
All prizes and commendations will be presented at a Techtextil ceremony on 14 May 2019 at 4 p.m. as well as during a special show in the foyer of hall 4.2.

Micro architecture
One prize was awarded to the project ‘Airdapt’. Rebecca Schedler from the Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin developed an adaptable kinetic wall system that offers the possibility of dividing large rooms into smaller working areas that can become more or less transparent and more or less sound-absorbing depending on requirements.

Macro architecture
The first prize in this category goes to Hugo Cifre from the Universidad Europea de Madrid/Espacio La Nube and Miguel Angel Maure Blesa from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid for the project ‘Bubble’. This pneumatically supported walk-in cuboid has a square layout and a height of approx. 4 metres. The entrances are elegantly integrated into the geometry and become effective when the cuboid is under slight positive air pressure. Attracted by the unusual object, visitors are literally ‘sucked into’ the interior.

Second prize goes to Thitiwut Pakdee, Surakist Hunpaisarn and Chonticha Wimonchailerk from the Thai Thammasat University for their work ‘Membrane Shelter for Shipyard’, which provides a membrane canopy for the site of a former shipyard in Ayutthaya (Thailand) to protect the plant from direct sunlight, wind and rain. The concept was inspired by the sails and waves of classic shipbuilding.

Ruichen Tang from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid has been awarded third prize for the entry ‘Tensegrity Cloud’.
The visual lightness of the ‘basic modules’ formed by this design, which consist of a textile-covered steel frame, is supplemented by a structural advantage, namely that the forces within the overall self-stabilising system balance each other out.

Urban Living – City of the Future
Based on this year's special Techtextil theme, Masa Zujovic, Isidora Kojovic and Nevena Jeremic from the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Architecture (Serbia) will receive an award for their ‘Voro-Membrane’ design. What at first glance seems convincing as an aesthetic solution for providing shade in public street spaces is based on the mathematical pattern of Voronoi structures. The resulting exciting interplay of light and shadow could be further explored in an urban context and applied to a wide variety of situations.

Material innovations
In this category, Magdalena Wierzbicka from the Dutch Piet Zwart Institute has been awarded a prize for her project ‘Woven Spaces - Porcelain Textiles’. Here, the jury honours the fact that the contribution draws on the Thuringian tradition of porcelain lace from the late 19th century and transforms it into a modern design language.

Commendation
The project ‘A Catalyst for Urban Renewal’ by Galen Rochon from Canada’s Dalhousie University – School of Architecture receives a commendation. In this design for the Prince of Wales Bridge in Ottawa, an industrial monument that has lain unused for 20 years, various possibilities were shown for hanging double-curved membrane surfaces in the existing, regularly structured truss construction and stiffening them if necessary.

Commendation
The design ‘XCape’ submitted by Lobke Beckfeld from the Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin also received praise. It presents a hybrid vehicle whose space is generated by variable folding configurations and can be used in a variety of ways.

Prizewinners can look forward to prize money totalling 8,000 euros.

Messe München Eingang (c) Messe München
01.01.2019

BAU PRESENTS THE “LONG NIGHT OF ARCHITECTURE” FOR THE FIFTH TIME

  • MUNICH BUILDINGS IN A NIGHTLY ATMOSPHERE

 
The Long Night of Architecture celebrates its anniversary. For the fifth time already, the event will lead all those interested to Munich’s most beautiful and important buildings within the framework of BAU, the world’s leading trade fair.

Over fifty buildings in total will take part this year, including a few newcomers.

  • MUNICH BUILDINGS IN A NIGHTLY ATMOSPHERE

 
The Long Night of Architecture celebrates its anniversary. For the fifth time already, the event will lead all those interested to Munich’s most beautiful and important buildings within the framework of BAU, the world’s leading trade fair.

Over fifty buildings in total will take part this year, including a few newcomers.

Ever since its launch in the year 2011, the LNDA has been a resounding success. In 2017, more than 30,000 enthusiastic visitors took part in the guided night tours, up to 35,000 participants are being expected for the forthcoming event. On Friday, January 18, exhibitors, trade show visitors and all architecture aficionados will have the possibility of catching a glimpse behind the scenes of prestigious buildings.
 
The aim of the LNDA is to give the public a better understanding of architecture, the topic of the BAU trade show. “Architecture is constructed environment in which we all move every day. Therefore, I am pleased that BAU also reaches all those interested in architecture in Munich and its environs through the Long Night of Architecture”, states Dr. Reinhard Pfeiffer, Deputy Chairman and CEO of Messe München.

Fifty buildings on seven routes

As in the past years, free shuttle buses will be made available for all visi-tors. The seven different bus routes will start directly at the Odeonsplatz, but it is also possible to get on and off at the respective bus stops. In addi-tion, there will be walking tours through the Munich city center, optionally with or without a guide. However, all those interested can also compile and plan their nightly excursions very individually using an interactive map on the website.

Theme tours for exhibitors and trade show visitors

Exhibitors and trade show visitors additionally have the choice among seven special theme tours. For instance, they can visit buildings which captivate the observer’s eye with new office concepts, or those which have been awarded certificates for their sustainability. Examples of digital processes in architecture will also be shown. The majority of the theme tours bear reference to the key topics of BAU. Since the number of places is limited, online registration in advance is compulsory.

Munich from different perspectives

Over fifty buildings in total have something in store for all interests and preferences of the visitors. The Monacensia City Library, the Siemens Headquarter and the Steelcase Innovation Center in the heart of the city center will be part of the event for the first time. The nocturnal excursion through Munich’s world of architecture will lead participants to well-known landmarks like the Olympic Tour, among other things. As the city’s highest building, it offers an incomparable view of Munich at night. Featuring the world’s largest tent roof, the eponymous Olympic Park is worth visiting even at wintry temperatures. Just a few kilometers away, there is Europe’s most cutting-edge office building: the German headquarters of Microsoft provides an insight into the working world of the future. The progressively changing world of work and increasing interaction between living and working is one of the key topics of BAU 2019.
 
Another cultural highlight is located directly at Maximilianstrasse, the city’s promenade. The Palais at the Opera underwent conversion and refurbishment until 2012 and now combines historic building stock with elegant new building spaces. For detailed descriptions of the participating buildings, please visit www.lange-nacht-der-architektur.de.

mtex+ and LiMA 2018 (c) Messe Chemnitz
22.05.2018

mtex+ and LiMA 2018: BRIDGE BUILDING BETWEEN TECHNICAL TEXTILES AND LIGHTWEIGHT

At May 29/30, 2018, 147 exhibitors from six countries present application-oriented textil and lightweight-solutions for all sectors from A to Z and introduce numerous innovations in Chemnitz - Special exhibitions and specialiced events deepen the trade fair topics and give inspiration for innovation development and business contacts

At May 29/30, 2018, 147 exhibitors from six countries present application-oriented textil and lightweight-solutions for all sectors from A to Z and introduce numerous innovations in Chemnitz - Special exhibitions and specialiced events deepen the trade fair topics and give inspiration for innovation development and business contacts

With a 10 % plus of exhibitors and an exhibition area which rose 20 % the trade fair duo mtex+ and LiMA starts at May 29/30, 2018. At hall 1 of the Messe Chemnitz 147 companies and research institutes present on 4.200 square metres application-oriented textil and lightweight-solutions for sectors from architecture to railway technology. On 3.500 square metres 134 exhibitors were represented at the previous trade fair in 2016 in Chemnitz. „We are pleased that the merging of the fields of technology technical textiles and lightweight becomes even more visible at our trade fair duo. Not only exhibitors from the Central German industry and research region demonstrate their know-how. We can as well welcome companies and research institutes from all over Germany adding Belgium, France, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic in Chemnitz. To us this is the proof that the further merge of mtex+ and LiMA under the new slogan ‚Excellent connections: Technical textiles meet lightweight construction‘ works out“, emphasises Dr. Ralf Schulze, director C³ Chemnitzer Veranstaltungszentren GmbH, to which the Messe Chemnitz belongs.

Innovations from textil circuit boards to railway-components made of basalt and bamboo
The international trade fair for technical textiles mtex+ and the lightweight trade fair LiMA focus on functionalised and intelligent textiles as well as lightweight materials and –products, digitised production, process development-, process- and technology development, refinement and recycling. The exhibitors in 2018 put various innovations forward. The nonwoven-manufacturer Glatzeder arrives with a protective suit made of an entirely new material, which is suitable for work under extreme conditions. A especially for security forces made protective clothing will be shown by Wattana. Flexible textil circuit boards made of conductive nonwovens are the new development from Norafin. Vowalon presents a surface sealing for imitation leather padding which extends its service life. Light interactive components as well as tables and seating areas made of textile concrete will be shown by the TU Chemnitz. HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering demonstrates trim - and interior components  for railway vehicles with basalt- and bamboo fibre.
New and proven special exhibitions offer insights into innovative developments besides the exhibition stands. A new addition at the program is „light.building“ belonging to lightweight in architecture and building trade and „flexible.protect“ belonging to  protection- and safety textiles for humans, nature, mobile and immobile goods. The successful exhibition „health.textil” with medicine-, health- and wellness textiles from 2016 will be continued.

Compact, intensive and international
The exhibition stand- and special exhibition-presentations demonstrate the growing application range of technical textiles and lightweight. „Hightech-textiles and lightweight solutions conquer more and more new fields of application. Compact seen should be the various possibilities in the Central German industrial metropolis Chemnitz, that is and was a centre of innovative textile industry. The atmosphere of the small but fine trade fair duo of short distances and intensive contacts is not only appreciated by the actors of the strong Saxon-Thuringian textile region but also by foreign companies and research institutes. So are the textile federation ATOK and the Techtex-Cluster CLUTEX from the Czech Republic with a multicompany stand and the Smart-Textiles-Network from Austria our guests again“, informs Dr. Jenz Otto, general manager of the Noth-Eastgerman textile- and clothing industry association (vti) and amends: „The exhibiton is not only an obligatory date for the specialised insiders but also the federal policy shows a great interest in the textil- and lightweight- competences of the region. Because of this the Commissioner for middle class and for the new Länder, Christian Hirte, follows our trade fair duo invitation.“ The vti is from the very beginning major partner and a generator of inputs for the continuous further development of the event.

You can find further information about the program as well as the trade fairs under: www.mtex-lima.de

 

DOMOTEX 2018 (c) Deutsche Messe
23.01.2018

GLOBAL FLOOR COVERINGS INDUSTRY ENTHUSIASTICALLY EMBRACES NEW DOMOTEX

  • Record-breaking event in terms of exhibitor turnout and booked space
  • Strong visitor turnout a clear signal that new concept is right on target
  • New “Framing Trends” showcase a big hit among exhibitors and visitors alike

DOMOTEX 2018 featured a fresher, more modern, trendier look and feel than ever. Running from 12 to 15 January in Hannover, Germany, the event sported an all-new site and hall layout, plus a new Friday-to-Monday run and an array of immersive displays exploring the lead theme of UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE. This all added up to optimal visitor orientation and a fresh take on the world of floor coverings. As the world’s leading trade fair for carpets and floor coverings, DOMOTEX once again delivered top performance as a driver of new business, trends and innovations.

  • Record-breaking event in terms of exhibitor turnout and booked space
  • Strong visitor turnout a clear signal that new concept is right on target
  • New “Framing Trends” showcase a big hit among exhibitors and visitors alike

DOMOTEX 2018 featured a fresher, more modern, trendier look and feel than ever. Running from 12 to 15 January in Hannover, Germany, the event sported an all-new site and hall layout, plus a new Friday-to-Monday run and an array of immersive displays exploring the lead theme of UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE. This all added up to optimal visitor orientation and a fresh take on the world of floor coverings. As the world’s leading trade fair for carpets and floor coverings, DOMOTEX once again delivered top performance as a driver of new business, trends and innovations. 1,615 exhibitors and 45,000 trade visitors from over 100 nations traveled to Hannover to kick off an exciting year of business. The new DOMOTEX was enthusiastically received by the global floor coverings industry, which sported a record number of exhibitors and a record amount of booked space (106,000 square meters), thus underscoring a tangible turnaround in the floor coverings industry. “Significant growth in the number of participating exhibitors and the amount of booked space, a strong visitor turnout, an abundance of new products and innovations as well as an upbeat mood throughout the exhibition halls all bear witness to the great success of this year’s event”, commented Dr. Andreas Gruchow as the responsible member of Deutsche Messe’s Managing Board at the close of the event. “With UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE as this year’s chosen keynote theme, DOMOTEX provided a brightly lit stage for the individualization trend and all the inspiration and innovation associated with it, thus enhancing the show’s image as a prime source of orientation on interior furnishing and lifestyle trends.”

“Framing Trends” showcase provided a huge source of inspiration
The special “Framing Trends” showcase in Hall 9 was where visitors could most fully experience the significance of “UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE” as the exhibition’s keynote theme. Exhibitors, young designers and artists used Framing Trends to explore the topic of individuality in 20 different “framed” rooms. This special display proved hugely popular among attendees and offered a wealth of inspiration. “Framing Trends was a big success. Its fresh approach gave rise to lots of new ideas and made DOMOTEX more attractive than ever,” remarked Gruchow. “This special showcase will therefore also be a key offering at future editions of DOMOTEX,” he added.

A visit to Framing Trends was particularly high on the agenda of architects, designers and planners, who used this creative hotspot to gather new inspiration for their work – all the more so since Framing Trends covered the full spectrum of floor covering products. “‘Framing Trends’ in Hall 9 attractively featured and summarized everything on offer at DOMOTEX. With its fresh approach and central location, it served as the beating heart of the show and proved especially appealing to architects, interior designers and designers,” commented Chris Middleton, an architect at KINZO based in Berlin.

Highly international mix of attendees
More than 65 percent of the event’s 45,000 visitors came from abroad – around 60 percent of them coming from Europe, with some 25 percent from Asia and 11 percent from the Americas. Attendance from the United States and South and Central America increased. The majority of DOMOTEX visitors were buyers from specialist retailers and wholesalers as well as architects and interior designers and workers from the skilled trades. A strong increase in attendance was particularly evident among home furnishing and furniture stores, architects, interior designers, contract floorers and skilled tradesmen. As usual, DOMOTEX visitors once again demonstrated a high degree of decision-making authority.

Visitors were delighted at the many innovations on display. “SÜDBUND takes part in DOMOTEX every year. This time we organized our first-ever delegation trip to DOMOTEX for our members. We’re thrilled about all the inspiration we were able to gather, including insight into the latest floor covering advancements and trends. It’s already clear to us that we’ll be back with an even larger delegation in 2019,” said Michael Kovac, Purchasing Manager for Floor Coverings & Accessories at SÜDBUND – the Purchasing Association for Home Textiles based in Backnang, Germany).

Strong contributions by architects and designers
The rich supporting program of talks and presentations on the keynote theme provided further inspiration, and met with a very enthusiastic response on the part of exhibitors and visitors alike. Among the featured speakers were such renowned architects as Werner Aisslinger (Studio Aisslinger, Berlin), Andreas Krawczyk (NKBAK, Frankfurt/Main), Chris Middleton (KINZO, Berlin) and Jürgen Mayer H. (J.MAYER.H and Partners, Berlin). Intriguing architecture and design projects were presented and discussed, covering everything from initial conceptualization to the design process and on to production and sales strategies. Daily guided tours led by big-name architects and designers such as Peter Ippolito (Ippolito Fleitz Group, Stuttgart), Jürgen Mayer. H. (J.MAYER.H and Partners, Berlin) and Susanne Schmidhuber (SCHMIDHUBER, Munich) gave visitors special insight into products and the show’s keynote theme while putting them in direct touch with exhibitors of particular interest to them.

The talks given by the internationally acclaimed interior design blogger and author Holly Becker from Decor8 also met with very enthusiastic audiences. Becker explained how DOMOTEX exhibitors could collaborate with bloggers to raise the market profile of their products. Together with other well-known bloggers, she also delved into the topic of tomorrow’s furnishing trends. The use of virtual reality as an interior design tool was an equally exciting topic in Hall 9, where many visitors donned virtual reality glasses to experience the many possible uses and benefits of this new technology.

Further inspiration was provided by the “Art Day Workshops” staged within the context of Framing Trends by Canadian design firm Creative Matters. Participants were invited to experiment with colors, coal, tint and wax on paper to create fresh new designs pertaining to the keynote theme, UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE. At the so-called floorCODES WorkLabs held by the Institute of International Trend Scouting (of the University of Applied Research and Art, Hildesheim, Germany), participants had an opportunity to apply the institute’s “IIT HAWK” method to generate visionary scenarios for the future of floor coverings.

The presentation of the Carpet Design Awards on the Saturday of the show was another highlight in Hall 9. These internationally renowned awards were given in eight different categories, in recognition of the world's most beautiful handmade designer carpets. Also worthy of special mention is that Hall 13 established itself as a new magnet for parquet layers and other floor-laying professionals as well as interior decorators and painters, while the many Treffpunkt Handwerk offerings gave skilled tradespeople a valuable source of tips and tricks for their everyday work.

The next Hannover edition of DOMOTEX will be staged from 11 to 14 January 2019.

Starting in 2019, DOMOTEX will also be staged in North America. The debut of DOMOTEX USA will be from 28 February to 2 March 2019 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

Heimtextil: 2975 companies present design innovations © Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / jochen günther
09.01.2018

Heimtextil: 2975 companies present design innovations

  • As of today, textile interior design is the focus of international attention at Heimtextil in Frankfurt am Main.
  • From 9 to 12 January 2018, representatives from industry, commerce, design, architecture and the hotel industry will gather at the world's leading trade fair for home and contract textiles.

‘With 2,975 exhibitors from 64 countries (2017: 2,949)*, Heimtextil is on a growth course for the eighth consecutive year and is continuing its remarkable success story in a challenging market. Over the next few days, we will be experiencing a globally unique design show with a variety of product innovations and textile inspirations by international market leaders’, says Detlef Braun, CEO of Messe Frankfurt. A high-calibre event programme with well-known guests and renowned industry experts will highlight themes relating to furnishing trends and design, architecture and the hotel industry.

  • As of today, textile interior design is the focus of international attention at Heimtextil in Frankfurt am Main.
  • From 9 to 12 January 2018, representatives from industry, commerce, design, architecture and the hotel industry will gather at the world's leading trade fair for home and contract textiles.

‘With 2,975 exhibitors from 64 countries (2017: 2,949)*, Heimtextil is on a growth course for the eighth consecutive year and is continuing its remarkable success story in a challenging market. Over the next few days, we will be experiencing a globally unique design show with a variety of product innovations and textile inspirations by international market leaders’, says Detlef Braun, CEO of Messe Frankfurt. A high-calibre event programme with well-known guests and renowned industry experts will highlight themes relating to furnishing trends and design, architecture and the hotel industry.

Martin Auerbach, Managing Director of the Association of the German Home Textiles Manufacturers, is pleased about the continuation of the trend towards more materiality in private and public spaces. ‘Home textile products are again significantly more visible than they were a few years ago. This confirms the signals we have observed over the past one to two years,’ says Auerbach happily. ‘The diversity of home textiles products, designs and colours makes the international trade fair platform for home textiles a trailblazing annual event to start the year. Although the economy over the past year is likely to remain below expectations – not all of the figures from German industry are available yet – the overall mood in the sector is good’.

VIP guests: Barbara Schöneberger presents wallpaper collection   

In hall 3.0, DecoTeam is celebrating its 30th birthday and inspiring with a varied programme, exciting trend showcases and renowned guests such as TV presenter Enie van de Meiklokjes and star chef Alexander Hermann. Highlights in hall 3.1 include presentations by international textile manufacturers such as Alhambra / Tormes Design from Spain, Damaceno & Antunes / Evo Interior Fabrics from Portugal, Fryett's Fabrics from the UK, Kobe from Germany and Wind from Belgium. Visitors can also look forward to the world's largest wallpaper presentation with international market leaders and celebrity guests. Star entertainer Barbara Schöneberger presents her first collection for the wallpaper factory Gebr. Rasch.

VDT targets wallpapering world record

In cooperation with Heimtextil, the Association of the German Wallpaper Industry (VDT) is aiming for a world record in continuous wallpapering on a 100-metre-long action area. In hall 5.1 (east side), the area will be wallpapered both day and night from 8 to 12 January. Through this, the audience will experience how wallpaper can create atmosphere and noticeably enhances rooms. Trade visitors, journalists and manufacturers are invited to join in with celebrity guests such as interior designer and RTL presenter Resi Colter.

Upholstery: new presentation area in hall 4.2

The upholstery section in hall 4 will see renewed growth in the number of exhibitors thanks to the participation of well-known manufacturers such as Beaulieu Fabrics from Belgium, Konrad Hornschuch from Germany, Luilor and Vigano from Italy and Dina Vanelli from Turkey. Due to the great demand, presentation possibilities for high-quality upholstery and decorative fabrics have been created for the first time in hall 4.2. Trevira is also present here with a promising highlight. For the first time in several years, the company will take part in a big community presentation with its CS partners. These include Engelbert E. Stieger and Getzner Textil from Austria, Jenny Fabrics and Swisstulle from Switzerland, Pugi from Italy and Spandauer Velours from Germany.

Bed, bath & table: Wide range of ready-made products

The home textiles sector also impresses with its strong range. In halls 8 to 11, around 1,500 suppliers will be presenting ready-made products in the bed, bath and table segments. The bedding offer stands out here as the world's largest range of such products.

Hall 8.0, which is completely booked out, has become the central contact point for the bedding industry. Numerous market-leading companies such as Irisette, Billerbeck and Frankenstolz will be present. Mascioni from Italy and Dún or Fior from Iceland are new to the fair. In Rössle & Wanner, Heimtextil also welcomes a renowned supplier of premium mattresses and a market leader in the field of manually and motor-driven adjustable slatted frames. Rössle & Wanner will exhibit its Röwa brand products in Galleria 1.    

Home collections by international fashion labels such as Joop Living, Marc O' Polo and Esprit can be seen in hall 11.0. In addition, premium providers will also be presenting their new products in a lifestyle-oriented environment. The companies will present their contemporary and modern as well as classic and elegant approaches in hall 11.1. Among those represented with collections of the highest quality are Schlossberg from Switzerland, Collection Stiegler and Curt Bauer from Germany, Kas International from Australia, Martinelli Ginetto from Italy, Sorema from Portugal and Welspun from the UK.

Heimtextil will also be introducing a new product group:

the “All about pets” section presents selected suppliers of textiles and accessories for animals. In Galleria 0, beds for dogs and cats, pillows, cosy blankets and much more are on offer. Darling Little Place and Studio am Meer from Germany, Lex & Max from the Netherlands and Volentis from Switzerland will be among the exhibitors.

“Interior. Architecture. Hospitality”: contract furnishing as a top theme

A central role in the trade fair’s programme is played by the range of contract furnishings and fittings, which Heimtextil sums up under the title “Interior.Architecture.Hospitality”. With the Interior.Architecture.Hospitality Expo, Heimtextil is launching a new event format in hall 4.2. The following renowned suppliers will be presenting their textile products and material solutions in an exclusive setting: Drapilux-Schmitzwerke, Low & Bonar, Gerriets and Maasberg from Germany, Forster Rohner from Switzerland, Chieftain Fabris from Ireland as well as The Cotting Group (Griffine) and Senfa from France. They are aimed specifically at architects, interior decorators, interior designers, project planners and hoteliers. The Expo's offer encompasses both aesthetic and functional answers to questions regarding modern, sustainable design, as well as fire protection regulations and structural requirements. A four-day lecture programme, guided tours of the exhibitors and a special catalogue of exhibitors (the “Contract Guide”) also provide in-depth information on the subject of contract furnishings.

Carpet show reveals benefits of textile floor coverings

Whether in hotels, restaurants, theatres, on trains or in private residences – with textile flooring, rooms can be designed to be comfortable, warm underfoot and individual. The numerous advantages of textile floor coverings will be showcased in a tangible way at Heimtextil 2018. With its presentation in hall 4.2 “Carpet by Heimtex”, the German Association of Home Textile Manufacturers is targeting architects and contract decision-makers in an architectural environment in particular. Employees of the Heimtex member companies such as Findeisen, German Rugs, Object Carpet, TOUCAN-T, Vorwerk and Weseler Teppich will offer advice on acoustics, modularity and design in relation to textile floor coverings.

Heimtextil “Theme Park”: the furnishing trends of the future

The programme highlight for those interested in design is the “Theme Park” in hall 6.0. In this trend and inspiration area, visitors and exhibitors alike can look forward to a wealth of material innovations, colour trends and new designs. The overarching theme is “The Future is urban”. An accompanying programme of talks and guided tours will give far-reaching insights into new design projects. For the 2018/19 season, a team of seven international design studios have isolated the most important themes from various general trends. The London-based studio Franklin Till was in charge of the design of the “Theme Park” in hall 6.0.

(c) Deutsche Messe
14.11.2017

DOMOTEX 2018 to open with an array of new highlights and features

  • New hall configuration and venue layout
  • Keynote theme “UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE” brought to life in amazing immersive display zones by exhibitors, artists and emerging designers 
  • New Friday-to-Monday run of the show
Change to show days
  • New hall configuration and venue layout
  • Keynote theme “UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE” brought to life in amazing immersive display zones by exhibitors, artists and emerging designers 
  • New Friday-to-Monday run of the show
Change to show days
Starting in 2018, DOMOTEX is moving from its traditional Saturday-to-Tuesday format to a new Friday-to-Monday format. This means DOMOTEX 2018 will open on Friday 12 January and remain open until Monday 15 January. The change comes in response to calls from many exhibitors to switch the official DOMOTEX opening day to Friday.
 
DOMOTEX 2018 (12 to 15 January) doesn’t open for another three months, but it’s already becoming clear that the 30th edition of the world’s leading tradeshow for carpets and floor coverings will be a very strong and innovative affair, sporting an extensive lineup of new features. For one thing, the show has a new hall configuration and venue layout that will make it a lot easier for visitors to survey the market and connect with the exhibitors and trends that matter to them. The show will also have a strong overarching focus on the megatrend of product individualization, as reflected in the keynote theme of “UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE”. This theme will find concentrated expression in Hall 9, which will house an inspiring wonderland of creatively staged display zones by exhibitors, artists and budding young designers. “The upcoming show will immerse its visitors in a totally new and captivating world of trends, innovations and lifestyle,” commented Dr. Andreas Gruchow as the responsible Managing Board member at Deutsche Messe. “Exhibitors and visitors alike can look forward to a wealth of concrete ideas that will help them grow their business and keep up with the trends and innovations that are shaping the future of their industry,” he added.
 
Exhibitor registrations trending much higher than expected
The enhanced DOMOTEX format has been well received by the carpet and floor coverings industry – as can be seen from the high level of exhibitor registrations. “We are well up on the number of exhibitors confirmed at the same time in the build-up to DOMOTEX 2017. We’re also significantly above expectation on booked display space,” Gruchow said. “This further underscores DOMOTEX’s importance as a global marketplace and setter of trends for the carpet and floor coverings industry. At this rate, we are on track for around 1,400 exhibitors from over 60 nations,” he added. Apart from Germany, the show’s biggest exhibiting nations in terms of display space are Turkey, India, Belgium, China, the Netherlands, Iran, Italy, Egypt and the USA.
 
New hall configuration boosts market transparency
The revamped hall configuration physically clusters allied product groups, making it much easier for visitors from all professional backgrounds – whether wholesale or retail, architecture, interior design, the skilled trades, or furniture or furnishing retail – to find their way around and survey the market. Getting down to specifics, halls 2 to 4 now house the biggest offering of hand-made carpets and rugs seen anywhere in the world. Halls 5 through 7 are home to a unique selection of machine-woven carpets and rugs. Hall 8 is the gateway to the latest carpet creations from the world’s most innovative designers and labels. The displays of resilient floor coverings and luxury vinyl tiles are concentrated in halls 11 and 12. And halls 12 and 13 house the show’s displays of parquet, wood and laminate flooring. Hall 13 also houses displays of the latest flooring application and installation products and solutions. The convenience factor will be further enhanced by the venue’s excellent integration into the local public transport system and by the new MY DOMOTEX shuttle service, which will transport visitors and exhibitors quickly and directly to wherever they want to go on the exhibition grounds.
 
“UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE” – wall-to-wall individualization
With its keynote theme of “UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE”, DOMOTEX 2018 is focusing on the individualization megatrend and its effects on the flooring industry. In today’s globalized and digitized world, consumers are increasingly looking for ways to express their individuality. Consequently, the products and services they use to shape their lives – including their home lives – are becoming more and personalized and tailored to their needs and preferences. “DOMOTEX is picking up on this trend, because if other products can be tailored to lifestyle preferences, then the same should also be true of floor coverings,” explained Gruchow.
 
Immersive showcase of creative ideas
Hall 9 is the new jewel in the crown of DOMOTEX. It is the home of the “Framing Trends” display area, a richly diverse and immersive showcase in which established companies, industry newcomers and artists will engage with the keynote theme in an array of creatively staged displays. “Framing Trends” comprises four distinct zones, where visitors will be able to experience and interact with all kinds of out-of-the-box ideas and designs.  In the “Flooring Spaces” zone, companies from the floor coverings industry will stage extraordinary product showcases that play with and reflect on the individualization trend. Next-door, exhibitors will partner with interior designers to craft inspiring spaces and lifestyle realms in the “Living Spaces” zone. Then there’s the “NuThinkers” zone, where students and young designers will redefine interior design with a dazzling array of unconventional ideas and product prototypes. And finally, the “Art & Interaction” zone will present the keynote theme of “UNIQUE UNIVERSE” in a sensory feast of exhibits from the worlds of art and design, paired with interactive multimedia displays. To ensure that “Framing Trends” delivers a consistently high-quality visitor experience, the organizers have appointed a panel of experts under the leadership of Peter Ippolito, of Büro Ippolito Fleitz Group (Stuttgart, Germany), who will determine which of the ideas and designs submitted are worthy of going on display.
 
As its name suggests, the “NuThinkers” zone is for alternative thinkers who can envisage a world beyond the main stream. The exciting new ideas on display there will include a new kind of floor heating system inspired by reptilian thermoregulation, a self-driving robotic painter that can create personalized floors, and a virtual reality software that uses body movement to create individualized spaces in real-time. When it comes to exploring the keynote theme, the sky is – literally – the limit in the “Art & Interaction” zone. “Meanwhile in the Universe”, for instance, is an installation in which visitors can open a window to catch their own little glimpse of infinity – in the form of a live feed of outer space from NASA.
 
The “Endless Uniqueness” installation offers a similarly interactive perspective on the keynote theme. For this, 50 creatives, including Germany’s ten best interior designers, were each asked build their own personal interpretation of the “UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE” keynote theme in the form of their favorite items and flooring staged inside an open mirror box. The boxes are arrayed opposite a giant mirror kaleidoscope that reflects the boxes and the visitors walking among them. As they walk through this mirror installation, visitors can change and rearrange the materials in the boxes, thereby creating their own unique design universe.
 
Captivating supporting program in Hall 9
To add to the inspiration on offer, the upcoming show will feature a captivating program of speaking events – the DOMOTEX Talks – inspired by the “UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE” keynote theme. Among those to speak are renowned architects such as Jürgen Mayer H. (J.MAYER.H und Partner, Architekten MbB, Berlin), Andreas Krawczyk (NKBAK, Frankfurt/Main), Chris Middleton (KINZO, Berlin), Werner Aisslinger (Studio Aisslinger, Berlin) and a number of founders of amazing startups and trailblazing next-generation designers. Held on the “Framing Trends” stage in Hall 9, each day’s Talks will comprise three speed presentations followed by a moderated discussion panel. The Talks will explore a range of highly topical and innovative projects and ideas from architecture and design. They will be grouped into three main theme areas: “Modular design: individual versus mass-produced?”, “New one-off originals: handmade versus digital?” and “Retail interactive: virtual versus real?” The Talks are aimed primarily at architects, interior and product designers, but are also of interest to forward-thinking exhibitors and visitors. There will also be daily Guided Tours of the show, led by big-name architects and designers. For visitors, the tours are a great way to gain deeper insights into the keynote theme and the products on display and, of course, to make contact with key exhibitors. In the center of the “Framing Trends” area, visitors and exhibitors will find lounge-style meeting areas and a café – the ideal settings for relaxed, informal dialogue.
 
The Carpet Design Awards are another Hall 9 highlight. The internationally coveted award honors the world’s best new designer carpets in eight categories. The 24 carpets shortlisted for the award will be on display in Hall 9 for the duration of DOMOTEX. Hall 9 will also have a key focus on the exciting promise of virtual reality as an interior design tool. Virtual reality is set to transform the way we shop for floor coverings and furnishings and how we connect with one another and perceive the world. On the subject of virtual reality, it is worth noting that DOMOTEX’s organizer, Deutsche Messe, has developed the “hackvention event series” – a new international series of events in which, among much else, companies from the skilled trades, commerce and industry can use virtual and augmented reality to develop concepts and prototypes for individualized products. The series runs in August and November 2017, and a number of DOMOTEX exhibitors are taking part. The fruits of their foray into VR and AR will be on show at DOMOTEX 2018.
 
More information:
Domotex
Source:

Deutsche Messe

Interior.Architecture.Hospitality Expo at Heimtextil 2018 © Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH
29.08.2017

HEIMTEXTIL 2018: NEW EVENT FORMAT FOR INTERIOR DESIGN

  • New event format for interior design:
    Interior.Architecture.Hospitality Expo
  • Exhibitors showcase their range of services relating to the focal theme “customised”

Textile solutions for interior design, architecture and hotel furnishing convince above all in terms of their flexibility, functionality and sustainability. With the Interior.Architecture.Hos-pitality Expo, there is now a new exhibition format dedicated to this issue. The Expo will take place in Frankfurt from 9 to 12 January 2018 within Heimtextil, the world's leading trade fair for home and contract textiles.

  • New event format for interior design:
    Interior.Architecture.Hospitality Expo
  • Exhibitors showcase their range of services relating to the focal theme “customised”

Textile solutions for interior design, architecture and hotel furnishing convince above all in terms of their flexibility, functionality and sustainability. With the Interior.Architecture.Hos-pitality Expo, there is now a new exhibition format dedicated to this issue. The Expo will take place in Frankfurt from 9 to 12 January 2018 within Heimtextil, the world's leading trade fair for home and contract textiles.

Selected suppliers will present their textile products and material solutions in the exclusive surroundings of the new Expo in hall 4.2. In this way, they can position themselves to specifically target interior designers, hoteliers and project planners. The Expo's offer encompasses both aesthetic and functional answers to questions regarding modern, sustainable design, as well as fire protection regulations and structural requirements.
Exhibitors at the Expo will present their products relating to the “customised” theme in the form of individual customer-oriented solutions. New products and innovations in acoustic textiles, modular carpets and wall coverings are also included. Trade visitors can discuss their current projects directly with the exhibiting companies in order to find solutions for their concrete design or application-related questions. The first brand companies to announce their participation include Drapilux and Low & Bonar.
 
Interior.Architecture.Hospitality – focal theme: contract furnishing
With the Expo, Heimtextil is expanding its range of offers for the contract segment, bundling them under the title “Interior.Architecture.Hospitality”. In addition to the Expo, this also comprises a high-quality presentation and training program for interior designers, architects and hotel furnishers, the Architecture.Hospitality Lectures and Interior.Architecture.Hospitality Tours, and guided tours of the trade fair that are tailored to the specific interests and requirements of architects or hoteliers. The starting point for the guided tours is the Interior.Architecture.Hospitality Salon in the centre of hall 4.2, which also invites colleagues to network with each other. Well-known industry partners have been secured both for the tours and lectures, such as the Association of German Interior Designers (BDIA), the industry event organiser hotelforum management, trade magazine AIT, the Allgemeine Hotel und Gaststättenzeitung (AHGZ) and, for the first time, the international architect network World Architects.

Inspiration and innovation within the vicinity of the Expo
Hall 4.2 is also the location for a new special presentation on textile floor coverings initiated by the Association of the German Home Textiles Industry (Heimtex). The themes of modularity, acoustics and design are showcased in an architecture-focused environment using textile floor coverings. Architects and contract furnishers will receive comprehensive and expert advice on these three main themes as well as all other issues relating to carpets.
The innovative fibre manufacturer Trevira will also be present in hall 4.2 for the first time as part of a big community presentation comprising 18 participating firms, including Engelbert E. Stieger, Johan van den Acker, Pugi, Spnadauer Velours, Swisstulle and Torcitura Lei Tsu.
A globally unique range of upholstery and decorative fabric offers with over 400 exhibitors can be found in hall 4 in the direct vicinity of the Expo. Visitors to the Expo will benefit from its proximity to the stands of high-quality international suppliers such as Deltracon and Muvantex from Belgium, Erotex from Israel, Loro Piana and Tali from Italy and Blom Liina Maria from Finland. The upholstery and decorative fabrics provide a comprehensive product offer that meets the highest aesthetic and functional requirements of interior design.

 

Ariane5 © ESA_Stephane Corvaja 2016
09.05.2017

BAGS PACKED FOR SPACE: TEXTILES NEEDED FOR A MISSION TO MARS

  • Techtextil and Texprocess present ‘Living in Space’ in cooperation with ESA and DLR 
  • Nutrition, mobility, fashion and living: technical textiles make settlements in space possible

Beam me up, Scotty: a large amount of material has to be transported for a journey into space – and technical textiles account for a large proportion of them. Examples of the parts and products in which they are to be found will be on show at the ‘Living in Space’ exhibition during this year’s Techtextil und Texprocess (9 to 12 May 2017), which has been organised by Messe Frankfurt in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). Among the exhibits to be seen are materials and technologies from Techtextil and Texprocess exhibitors in a ‘Material Gallery’, architecture for space by Ben van Berkel, space-inspired fashions and an original Mars Rover.

  • Techtextil and Texprocess present ‘Living in Space’ in cooperation with ESA and DLR 
  • Nutrition, mobility, fashion and living: technical textiles make settlements in space possible

Beam me up, Scotty: a large amount of material has to be transported for a journey into space – and technical textiles account for a large proportion of them. Examples of the parts and products in which they are to be found will be on show at the ‘Living in Space’ exhibition during this year’s Techtextil und Texprocess (9 to 12 May 2017), which has been organised by Messe Frankfurt in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). Among the exhibits to be seen are materials and technologies from Techtextil and Texprocess exhibitors in a ‘Material Gallery’, architecture for space by Ben van Berkel, space-inspired fashions and an original Mars Rover. And – even without having completed a dizzying astronaut training programme – visitors can take a journey through space to Mars via virtual-reality glasses.

“At the ‘Living in Space’ exhibition, Techtextil and Texprocess visitors can see examples of textile materials and processing technologies in an application-oriented setting. In cooperation with our partners and exhibitors, we have created an informative and entertaining area, the like of which has never been seen before at Techtextil and Texprocess”, explains Michael Jänecke, Brand Manager, Technical Textiles and Textile Processing, Messe Frankfurt. Given that technical textiles are to be found in almost every sphere of human life, the materials and processing technologies shown are oriented towards the ‘Architecture’, ‘Civilization’, ‘Clothing’ and ‘Mobility’ areas of application.

Ideal homes in space

Visitors can get an idea of how building in space could function at the ‘Architecture’ area curated by Stylepark architecture magazine. Lightweight construction and canopy specialist MDT-tex joined forces with star architect Ben van Berkel of the international UNStudio firm of architects to create a ‘Space Habitat’ especially for Techtextil. Comprising 60 individual modules, each of which is double twisted and under tension, the lightweight pavilion has an area of 40 square metres and consists of specially designed aluminium profiles covered with PTFE sheets. MDT-tex designed the fabric especially for the pavilion in an extremely light grammage without sacrificing its high-temperature resistance and technical properties.

Ultra-lightweight materials play a leading role in space travel because the lighter the space capsule’s load, the cheaper the transport. Reclining in comfortable seats, visitors to the Space Habitat can also travel to Mars using virtual-realist glasses and, at the same time, find out more about technical textiles and their processing in space.

Hightech-Fashion in orbit

No one likes to be too hot or too cold. Space-wear should not only protect the wearer from extreme temperatures but also regulate their body temperature, drain off moisture and be durable and easy to clean. All the better, then, if it also looks good, as shown by the designs in the ‘Clothing’ segment of the exhibition. The ESMOD Fashion School from Berlin presents outfits made by students within the framework of the ‘Couture in Orbit’ project (2015/2016), which was organised by ESA and the London Science Museum. Additionally, the POLI.design centre of the Politecnico di Milano (Milan University) presents outfits from the followup project, ‘Fashion in Orbit’ under the scientific supervision of Annalisa Dominoni and the technical supervision of Benedetto Quaquaro in cooperation with ESA and garment manufacturer Colmar.

The Hohenstein Textile Institutes present two models from the Spacetex research project, within the framework of which astronaut Alexander Gerst tested the interaction of body, apparel and climate under conditions of weightlessness during the ‘Blue Dot’ mission. In this connection, the model, ‘Nostalgia’ by Linda Pfanzler (Lower Rhine University) reminds the wearer of the earth with an integrated library of fragrances. The suits of the ‘Dynamic Space’ collection by Rachel Kowalski (Pforzheim University) contain electrodes that stimulate important muscle groups under conditions of weightlessness. The outfits by Leyla Yalcin and Sena Isikal (AMD Düsseldorf) come from the ‘Lift off’ collection created in cooperation with Bremen-based silver-yarn manufacturer Statex. They include a sleeping bag for astronauts made from silver-coated textiles, which can also be used as an overall and protects the wearer from electro-magnetic radiation. Thanks to the silver threads, another garment, a raincoat reflects light and stores the wearer’s body heat.

Material Gallery: fibers for space

In addition to the exhibits at the special exhibition, around 40 Techtextil and Texprocess exhibitors offer ideas for fibre-based materials and processing technology suitable for use in space in a ‘Material Gallery’. For the ‘Civilization’ segment, they include spacer fabrics for growing vegetables, for ‘Mobility’ a carbon yarn, which was used to make a fairing for the solid-fuel booster rocket of the Ariane 6. The Material Gallery also shows fibre-composite structures made of carbon fibres, such as a robot arm, a whole-body suit that transmits the wearer’s movements to a 3D model in real-time, functional apparel textiles with flame-retardant, anti-bacterial and temperature-regulating properties, and membrane systems for ventilating aircraft.

Exhibits from ESA, DLR and Speyer Museum of Technology, including an original Mars Rover and space suits, make the exhibition an extraordinary experience. The exhibits are supplemented by impulse lectures by ESA experts for technology transfer throughout the fair.