• Preview of the Kölner Passagen
• The Ciba Modul-box at the Kölner Passagen
• Preview of Passagen 2008
• Invitation to the XYMARA.com Passagen Interviews
• Ciba and XYMARA.com at the Passagen 2008

Kicking Up a Storm in Cologne

By Oliver Spies

Luckily, most of the visitors from out of town had already arrived. Right in the middle of the Cologne Passagen, an event that annually brings together over 130 000 designers and architects from all over the world, everything came to a standstill. The storm of the century made sure that all regional traffic and modes of transport came to a halt.

However, the design world’s first major navel-contemplating extravaganza of the year wasn’t phased by the weather. Most visitors come every year. They are used to bad weather in Cologne and make their way from event to event on foot. Some may not have even realized the true extent of the storm, because the sights at the fair this year were truly all-absorbing.

Studio Aisslinger presents: books, Christuskirche, Cologne

Designers like Werner Aisslinger and Konstantin Grcic were presented in solo exhibitions, and there were group exhibitions with SIDI, OKAYstudio and design offices like Foxmaurice, for example. As in the past, many architects (such as Zaha Hadid) used the date in January to present themselves to a design-enthusiastic public. Others professionals in the field came to make use of the wide selection of exhibitors’ material libraries and the displays of supplier industries.

Overall, the general impression of the Passagen ‘07 clearly shows a move away from the retro tendencies in ornamentation that have been popular these past few years.

Graphic surface design is increasingly being used to give an object its unique identity rather than a decorative design quote. Designers are creating furniture surfaces, which give the object its design value.

Extremis: tools for togetherness, Design Post,  Cologne

What counts now is the authorship of the surface, and this can change with amazing speed. What was on display a year ago in Cologne or nine months ago in Milan is now already well known and ’old hat’. The direction things are going has already clearly taken a different track; one innovation follows on the heels of the next. Decorative style is developing its distinctive look as a watered-down parallel development to a new (or renewed) simplicity that never lost its adherents and that is gaining importance again, especially among interior decorators. Compared to last year, the attitude towards material combinations has changed dramatically. Today, mixing and matching are allowed, now even with plastic: white and brightly colored acrylic boards grace the kitchen surfaces of the high-end segment, replacing stainless steel and natural stone. Surfaces with an unsettling metallic gleam, borrowed from the world of fashion accessories, are experimentally combined with natural materials. Silky leather, shiny textiles and glossy woods attracted the attention of the visitors. The aesthetic of the surface is gaining significance and provides product added value through innovative coatings. This is a new development in German design, at least on this scale, although in Cologne the tenor was decidedly international.

Swarovski, Material ConneXion, Cologne

The visitors to the international furniture fair that took place at the same time were afforded a definitive look at the activities in the young design scene in a hall exclusively reserved for trends and innovation. In stark contrast to the exhibiting manufacturers in other halls, here there was a notably unconventional approach to materials and material combinations. Ecological considerations also played a major role. Students from the Design Academy in Seoul set up an Olive production site for bags and accessories made from used textiles. These kinds of bags are nothing new; what was innovative was that the production process, the cultivated process of recycling, was put on display. Today an ecologically aware lifestyle is what counts. The work of the DJs was just as important as that of the seamstresses and salespeople.  

This kind of display of ecological responsibility was not visible everywhere, but the theme certainly ran throughout the special exhibition. Wooden surfaces are once again en vogue. Massive, honest materials are attracting interest and gaining ground over the technical composite materials of the last few years.

Material ConneXion, Cologne

At the end of the event in Cologne, everyone had recovered their costs. The mood among exhibitors was positive, and the response of the Passagen visitors was overwhelming. The storm over Cologne had passed, and people were even able to travel home by train. Whether there was ONE major highlight this year in Cologne remains difficult to say. What sticks in one’s mind is not the memory of one single, spectacular event, but an impression of the speed of transition, change and shifting styles. By next year, everything will have changed again, and we can’t wait to see what comes next!

Swarovski, Material ConneXion, Cologne