Formex again. Here is the full report.
The Swedish interior fair Formex takes place twice a year, in January and August. It is primarily a trade fair for the Swedish interior and design industry, attracting buyers, brands and other industry professionals. Around 9% of visitors are international, so despite all the talk of Nordic design, this is still very much a Swedish affair.
I have been looking at the numbers behind the fair. The August edition attracted around 8,000 visitors in 2024, followed by 7,822 in 2025. The visitor numbers for August 2026 have not yet been officially counted, so it is too early to say whether this year’s fair grew or declined.
The exhibitor numbers, however, are already available – and they are moving in the opposite direction. In 2024 there were 358 exhibitors. In 2025, that number increased slightly to 360. This year, Formex has announced 375 exhibitors.
So what do we make of this?
The optimistic reading is that Formex is remarkably stable. Visitor numbers have not collapsed, and the number of exhibitors is actually growing. In a trade fair landscape where physical retail is under pressure and many brands are questioning the value of traditional fairs, that is not insignificant.
The less optimistic reading is that 8,000 visitors is still 8,000 visitors. There is no spectacular growth hiding in these numbers.
But perhaps stability is the more interesting story. Formex seems to have found a fairly solid level: roughly the same number of people coming to the fair, while a few more companies want to be there.
Not exactly a boom. But, in 2026, staying remarkably still might be its own kind of success.
Among the exhibitors you find mainly Swedish brands like Ernst, Miljögården, Paradisverkstaden, Himla and Nittsjö. It is a really good portfolio of Swedishness. Sure, we don’t have Orrefors, Skultuna and the others, but still a good portfolio.
The fair shows young talents, sustainability and a big trend installation of the seasonal themes. And they had me on stage. Previously I was invited to do my trend walks showing my favourites among the exhibitors, but they dropped that this whole year. Perhaps it could come back next year?
Besides a seminar, I did a live podcast with Helena for Under Granen.
I get to talk to a lot of people on the floor at Formex. Mainly exhibitors. And I must say – the majority were super happy. First day was packed with people. Logistically that is an issue when there aren’t that many coming the other days. It was difficult to handle all clients. A positive problem. Perhaps people will learn to come the other days, and not just the first day?
From a trend perspective, I would say that other fairs are stronger on trends. Maybe it is because the Swedishness is so uniform and correct? Very little really stand out. But I did appreciate the trend installation done by Eva Andersson. Well done.
Walking around and looking for new things I managed to get a lot of blue hues.
I managed to see a lot of yellow but forgot to document…
A Swedish minimalism is of course present.
Ingegerd Råman for Nittsjö
Skruf
Gustav Oland for Paradisverkstaden
As a summary. Should I be critical? I don’t have to. Formex works. I do believe that the future for fairs is to be more like a festival and encourage more networking. Not only business. Also meeting peers in the industry.
But Formex works. It’s ok. Of course I want it to have a little bit of more surprises and things for me to remember them by. But it is ok. I will of course come back.