The reports from all fairs continue. Time to talk about Formex. With around 360 exhibitors and 10 000 visitors this is still the largest interior design trade fair in the Nordic region. It was a fair with more colours than usual and a good atmosphere.
My personal perception of Formex was good. I was involved on severel accounts. Of course on stage but also doing guided tours of all halls. I basically went there as a being in my own bubble. Everywhere I went, there was lots of people. But part of the reasons for that was that I was constantly surrounded by people I was touring.
So, to me, it was a busy fair. Also many of the exhibitors I talk to had a good fair with good sales.
But lets be frank. I do understand that people would see this a being smaller than usual, fewer exhibitors and missing a lot of our bigger brands.
Formex brought the best trend installation ever. Curated by Teklan, this was a feast for your eyes. Formex also brought a new focus to sustainability with awards for innovative exhibitors on this topic. I was impressed.
As with all fairs, also Formex is getting smaller. Only two of three halls were open.
I give Formex a grade of seven out of ten. The trend installation was inspiring and the sustainable angle was innovative. I would tweak the trend installation so it had more of the things actually in the fair. Or another solution… And we need to talk about absent friends. We need to bring on som of the large players whe were missing. I don’t know how, but somehow we need to talk about it.
Now let’s talk about the trends I actually saw.
Muted colours with a hint of caramel
Despite the international trends of bringing colour to the table, the majority of the exhibitors brought sandy colours with beige and brown. Regardless of materials. Here at Jakobsdal.
New brand Noori and Jakobsdal talked a lot about inspiration from Southeast Asia.
But overall, we saw a grey hue. Here Kajsa Cramer.
Here Cult Design.
The grey worked well with caramel. Here at Koziol.
Here at Ceannis.
Unik by hand.
Pottery Jo worked with this caramel.
And here from the trend installation by Teklan.
At Klippan.
Paradisverkstaden.
Sandy base. Here at Dbkd
With a hint of blue or green. At Spring Copenhagen.
Sandy and green at Pottery Jo.
Here with a bit of purple at Paradisverkstaden.
Even pink got a bit muted. Here a floor made of salt from Rivsalt.
Sandy and vanilla at the trend installation by Teklan.
And finally cupcake candle holders in glass. From Orranäs Glasbruk.
Surfaces
Surfaces and structures are still happening. And especially weaving. Here a textile sculpture at Jakobsdal.
More weaving at Jakobsdal.
Lindform also worked on surfaces. A new glaze.
And finally from Dixie a new pouff in woven water hyacinth.
Colours
Everyone at Formex talked about colours. Well, that is true to all other fairs too, but we will come back to that. One of the recurring colours is red. And a proper red. Of course it could be mixed with other red hues like pink or burgundy – but red.
Here on a tip of a sock. This is a Moomin pattern, but you have to knit on your own.
Updated William Morris pattern with red. At Estelle.
Proper red with a kind of salmon pink… At Forslundska.
Pictures from Teklan exhibition.
More Teklan.
I personally think that this red needs a bit of blue. A lighter blue, and not “Klein blue”
Reds on reds. At Teklan.
And of course it is all energetic and fun. Here at Bag in Box.
Did we see any other colour combinations? Of course a bit. I would say that purple should come strongly next year. We’ll see…
And speaking of colours. I just love how a sustainable brand like Recycled by Wille manage to get these bright colours at recycled textiles. How? Well they simply sort the textiles before grinding it down to new fabrics. So no added colouring.