GERMANY – The leading international trade fair for the furniture and interior construction industries’ supplying sections, interzum, is traditionally divided into three segments: Textile & Machinery, Function & Components and Materials & Nature. 

In this way, the entire spectrum of components used in furniture manufacturing and interior construction is presented in a concise yet comprehensive way. Alongside the exhibitors’ presentations, every segment offers its own Piazza, providing an area that has been designed to focus on a specific theme and which serves as a meeting place and source of inspiration. In this year’s Materials & Nature segment, there will for the first time be two Piazzas, one in Hall 6 and the other in Hall 10.2, inviting visitors in – and they will again be conceived and designed by the interior architect Katrin de Louw. The theme for the Piazzas will be “individuality”.

The desire for individualized design of living spaces is one of the big trends to have been shaping the furniture industry for years. In the search for scope to create individualized designs, the choice of materials for furniture and interiors plays a decisive role today, and will continue to do so in the future. New materials, machining processes and surfaces are being brought to market within ever-shorter development cycles. Alongside their variety, the opportunities to combine these different materials are also growing at an exponential rate, so planners and fabricators gain enormous scope to be creative, which allows them to fulfill the most varied of customer wishes. The only difficulty is keeping track of it all. This is where the Piazzas in the “Materials & Nature” segment becomes invaluable with their comprehensive overview of exhibitors’ highlights and coming trends in this segment.

“We are happy to have Katrin de Louw’s support again this year”, says interzum Project Manager, Matthias Pollmann. “As an interior architect and renowned trend expert in the furniture and materials industries, Katrin is perfect for this position.”

Alongside the relaxed, meeting-place atmosphere of the Piazzas, there will once again be a comprehensive program of lectures this year: just as trends in design and color will be discussed by experts from business and science, so will technical questions, current industry standards and quality seals. One of the daily highlights will be the “Trendespresso”, a short lecture by Katrin de Louw about current trends in design. This format has already proved to be a crowd-puller at recent events. And, talking about espresso: in 2017, both areas will again be rounded off with a catering offering. So everything that belongs in a real piazza will also be in place at the fair: culinary treats, the exchange of ideas and certainly one or two business transactions.