Scandinavia’s largest interior design fair. In August we saw the return of Formex after a few years of pandemic pause. Here is my review.
It is very difficult to give some kind of review of Formex. A lot of expectations. And emotions.
Some of the things I struggle with:
* Formex had officially 434 exhibitors (compared to 7-800 a normal year), making it just slightly bigger than Formland with 412 exhibitors. It was small. Formex 2022 was really small…
* Zero large, established brands. No Iittala, Kosta Boda, House Doctor… If the larges brands aren’t here – what does that mean?
* Unclear trend guidance.
I spend two whole days at Formex and I must say that the majority of everyone was optimistic. Obviously there are people complaining, but Formex had a positive energy. Fewer exhibitors ment less competition. Most exhibitors I talked to mentioned sales record. Comments like “We sold more stuff on the first day than we did during the whole fair of 2019”.
It is really difficult to talk about how Formex was. It wasn’t like before. But perhaps not worse? However – was it better than before? I hope we will see more exhibitors and more guidance from the fair. Next year I want it to be younger and more focused on retail.
Walking the aisles of Formex you still find some fun stuff. One of my favourites was Sanderson Archive that had updated their old prints. Swedish Bergo made lampshades.
US brand Slow Down Studio had artists do throws. Pretty expensive but very nice. Why not frame them??
It is of course difficult to look at trends here. There are many important players missing. I have for instance been reading about how fringes are coming back. Didn’t really see a lot of that. Here at Jakobsdal.
Many of the Danish important brands were missing. Here Madam Stoltz and a beautiful shelf in a retro feeling.
Hands. I saw a start of a hand trend earlier and saw some here at Formex – but not a lot.
But let’s get deeper into trends.
Colours
Over all Formex brought a warm colour palette. Pink, terracotta and yellow. Here at Affari.
Here at IO Scandinavia.
More throws from Slow Down Studio.
Affari again.
Affari
Madam Stoltz
Orange glass from Byon (exhibiting in the city and not at the fair)
Speckled glass again from Byon. Here in green.
Speckled glass from Magnor.
Yellow
I must say that the most dominant colour of Formex was yellow. Here a burned yellow at Affari.
Here at Cult Design.
Yellow flowers at Madam Stoltz.
A mix of yellow hues at Aveva.
Christmas ornament in yellow. By Aveva.
Yellow at Afro Art
I thought we would see more of a lighter yellow. I call it a kind of vanilla yellow. But absolutely lighter. Here also at Afro Art.
Here at Pottery Jo.
Yellow tin cups at Kockums.
More yellow at Aveva.
Black and white graphics
I saw a hint of graphical prints, especially on textiles. Maybe something that will grow later? Here at Jakobsdal.
Here at Stackelbergs
Here at Fine Little Day.
And a cup at Byon.
Surfaces and tactility
The checkered pattern on the coffee cup above returns on this cup at Paradisverkstaden – but I want to talk about surfaces and tactility. Kind of an artistics look. Water colour… Here at Paradisverkstaden.
More at Paradisverkstaden.
Surface with a tactile feeling. Here at DBKD
Lamps by Watt & Veke.
Two coloured vase at Madam Stoltz
Most often one coloured like here at Wikholm Form.
Tactile surface and partly made of paper. Jakobsdal.
Jakobsdal again.
Paper lamps at Afro Art.
Also Afro Art
And finally glass with a tactile surface. Here recycled glass at Formgatan.
Tactile glass at Byon.
To sum it up. Formex happened. I am glad. Content was OK. I do hope we will see more and larger players next time. I hope we will see a younger Formex next time…
I give this fair a 3 out of 5.