• Review of The Design Annual 2007, Inside: Private Identity, Part 1 – Design & Identity
• Review of The Design Annual 2007, Inside: Private Identity, Part 2 – Design & Materials
• Previews of The Design Annual - Inside: Showtime and Decorate Life: Tendence Autumn and Winter
• Review of Decorate Life: Tendence Autumn + Winter 2008
• All the Fun of the Fair - a Review of Decorate Life: Design Annual – Inside: Showtime

By Ania Dardas

As an intersecting and overlapping pattern of axes, tartan perfectly represents the interaction between elements of the design community within the framework of form and content for high-end design. The second ever Design Annual will once again take place at the Frankfurt Festhalle in Germany, organized by the Frankfurt Trade Fair and Stylepark.

The exhibition has taken as its theme “private identity” and will use it as the context within which to show the latest in the high-end design segment in the fields of furniture and outdoor furniture, textiles and floor coverings, bathrooms and kitchens, office furniture, lighting, accessories, flatware, electro-installations and home entertainment.

Responsible for the architectural staging of Design Annual 2007 are Milan designers Patricia Urquiola and Martino Berghinz. They have chosen to highlight individual creative approaches to design through recognizable strategies in production and design processes presented in the form of special exhibitions. Design Annual 2007 is presenting nine different procedural methods to show how meaning emerges through the creation of references in design. Manufacturers are being grouped according to their corporate philosophy and methodology applied to product design.

While “private identity” is the perspective the exhibition takes to present the latest in design for living, it manages nevertheless to present a broad overview of all that is exciting in design today. Each year Design Annual aims to kick-start a discussion between those involved in the process that will continue long after it closes its doors at the end of the event.

Curated by an independent advisory board, the selection of participants guarantees visitors a high quality, exclusive and innovative event experience.