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Preview Smörgåsbord - ZOW and the Stockholm Furniture Fair
Previews
By Ania Dardas
ZOW - the annual fair for components and accessories for furniture and interior design is just days away!
| From February 8 to 10 in Bad Salzuflen, ZOW (“Zuliefermesse Ost-Westfalen”) offers visitors the chance to visit the stands of more than 600 exhibitors from Germany and Central Europe spread over 35,000 m2. The trade fair has done away with unnecessary distractions so that it can focus on what is important: direct contact between exhibitors and visitors. |  |
The uniform stand size and design and absence of walls give the exhibition an uncluttered feel and good access. The show is a business-to-business event aimed at decision-makers and has proved itself as a key market place for the best ideas and products and making the right contacts to do business.
| The TrendLab, with its architectural lounge in hall 23.1, is always a popular destination as a forum for material and design expertise. The focus this year is on universal design; with a lightweight construction show by and with igeL; the material show, MaterialZ; and presentation of the winners of the M Technology Award 2009. As always, the aim is to support the transfer of knowledge and know-how in relation to topics on the future for the furniture industry, interior design, architecture and design. |  |
Established in 1995, ZOW is now an international show with venues in Italy, Spain, Russia and Turkey in addition to its home in Germany.
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The long dark days of Sweden in February may not seem too inviting at first glance, but any absence of light is made up for by a wealth of ideas and innovation at the Stockholm Furniture Fair (and the parallel Northern Lights Fair, running concurrently) from February 9 to 13. The focus in 2010 is on sales, not just providing the end customer with great furniture, but also providing ideas on how best to present and draw attention to it.
The show is offering simple and advanced signage solutions that put the cubic meters available to best possible use. Camilla Näslund from Designmäklarna is heading up the 250 m2 sales exhibition. |  |
Sales may be the theme, but the content involves new ideas and innovations such as the new textiles from Kvadrat and Väveriet and entirely new ways to work with vinyl in collaboration with Armstrong World Industries.
The exhibition is just one aspect of the Furniture Fair; the seminar program with its panel of distinguished speakers is an attraction in itself. The guest of honor this year is Sir Paul Smith, who will be giving a talk entitled “Observations and other stuff”. He will be joined by Henrietta Thompson from the magazine Wallpaper*, who will be talking about “Norway: a new design nation”. The successor to the light bulb is a topic that interests many and will be tackled by Magnus Frantzell, CEO of Belysningsbranchsen and Föreningen Hemljus. There will also be a color trend seminar entitled “The how and why of color trend. How trends are created and how these trends are implemented for Autumn Winter 2010/2011” from Global Color Research. Visitors will be able to choose from more than 70 seminars targeted at specific groups but open to all visitors. As entrance to the seminars is included in the exhibition entrance fee, it’s a first-come-first-served situation and therefore worth arriving early.
