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Floor Power to You

Domotex, the leading international flooring fair, hits the ground running again next January in Hannover, with an optimised layout and its first ever keynote theme UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE – which focuses on the burgeoning trend in product and service individualisation.

So put it in your work diary now. Because everyone’s invited. Top architects, designers and industry experts are booking their flights, while manufacturers from around the globe have long since signed up – with big plans to reveal the latest product innovations and bespoke solutions.

The floor is yours.

DOMOTEX 2018 TO OPEN WITH AN ARRAY OF NEW HIGHLIGHTS AND FEATURES
Text: Domotex

Only three months to go until the start of DOMOTEX 2018 (12 to 15 January), but it’s already becoming clear that the 30th edition of the world’s leading tradeshow for carpets and floor coverings will be a very strong and innovative show, sporting an extensive lineup of new features.

The show has a new exhibition layout and hall restructuring that will make it a lot easier for visitors to survey the market and connect with the exhibitors and trends that matter to them. The show will also have a strong overarching focus on the megatrend of individualization, as reflected in the keynote theme of “UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE”.

This theme will find concentrated expression in Hall 9, which will house an inspiring world of creatively staged display zones by exhibitors, artists and budding young designers.

“The upcoming show will immerse its visitors in a totally new and captivating world of trends, innovations and lifestyle,” commented Susanne Klaproth, the director in charge of DOMOTEX at Deutsche Messe, Hannover. “Exhibitors and visitors alike can look forward to a wealth of concrete ideas that will help them grow their business and keep up with the trends and innovations that are shaping the future of their industry,” she added.

DOMOTEX 2018

EXHIBITOR REGISTRATIONS TRENDING MUCH HIGHER THAN EXPECTED
Text: Domotex

The enhanced DOMOTEX format has been well received by the carpet and floor coverings industry – as can be seen from the high level of exhibitor registrations.

“We are well up on the number of exhibitors confirmed at the same time in the build-up to the previous year. We’re also significantly above expectation on booked display space,” Klaproth said. “This further underscores DOMOTEX’s importance as a global marketplace and setter of trends for the carpet and floor coverings industry. At this rate, we are on track for around 1,400 exhibitors from over 60 nations,” she added.

Apart from Germany, the show’s biggest exhibiting nations in terms of display space are Turkey, India, Belgium, China, the Netherlands, Iran, Italy, Egypt and the USA.

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NEW HALL RESTRUCTURING BOOSTS MARKET TRANSPARENCY
Text: Domotex

The new hall restructuring physically clusters allied product groups, making it much easier for visitors from all professional backgrounds – whether wholesale or retail, architecture, interior design, the skilled trades, or furniture or furnishing retail – to find their way around and survey the market.

Getting down to specifics, halls 2 to 4 now house the biggest offering of hand-made carpets and rugs seen anywhere in the world. Halls 5 through 7 are home to a unique selection of machine-made carpets and rugs.

Hall 8 is the gateway to the latest carpet creations from the world’s most innovative designers and labels. The displays of resilient floor coverings, design flooring / LVT and laminate flooring are concentrated in halls 11 and 12. And halls 12 and 13 house the show’s displays of parquet and wood flooring. Hall 13 also houses displays of the latest flooring application and installation technology.

The convenience factor will be further enhanced by the venue’s excellent integration into the local public transport system and by the new MY DOMOTEX Shuttle, which will transport visitors and exhibitors quickly and directly to wherever they want to go on the exhibition grounds.

'UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE' – WALL-TO-WALL INDIVIDUALIZATION
Text: Domotex

With its keynote theme of “UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE”, DOMOTEX 2018 is focusing on the individualization megatrend and its effects on the flooring industry.

In today’s globalized and digitized world, consumers are increasingly looking for ways to express their individuality. Consequently, the products and services they use to shape their lives – including their home lives – are becoming more and personalized and tailored to their needs and preferences. “DOMOTEX is picking up on this trend, because if other products can be tailored to lifestyle preferences, then the same should also be true of floor coverings,” explained Susanne Klaproth.

MORE ON THE KEYNOTE THEME 'UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE'

IMMERSIVE SHOWCASE OF CREATIVE IDEAS
Text: Domotex

Hall 9 is the new jewel in the crown of DOMOTEX. It is the home of the “Framing Trends” special display area, a richly diverse and immersive showcase in which established companies, industry newcomers and artists will engage with the keynote theme in an array of creatively staged displays.

“Framing Trends” comprises four distinct zones, where visitors will be able to experience and interact with all kinds of out-of-the-box ideas and designs. In the “Flooring Spaces” zone, companies from the floor coverings industry will stage extraordinary product showcases that play with and reflect on the individualization trend.

Next-door, exhibitors will partner with interior designers to craft inspiring spaces and lifestyle realms in the “Living Spaces” zone. Then there’s the “NuThinkers” zone, where students and young designers will redefine interior design with a dazzling array of unconventional ideas and product prototypes. And finally, the “Art & Interaction” zone will present the keynote theme of “UNIQUE UNIVERSE” in a sensory feast of exhibits from the worlds of art and design, paired with interactive multimedia displays.

To ensure that “Framing Trends” delivers a consistently high-quality visitor experience, the organizers have appointed a panel of experts under the leadership of Peter Ippolito, of Büro Ippolito Fleitz Group (Stuttgart, Germany), who will determine which of the ideas and designs submitted are worthy of going on display.

As its name suggests, the “NuThinkers” zone is for alternative thinkers who can envisage a world beyond the mainstream. The exciting new ideas on display there will include a new kind of floor heating system inspired by reptilian thermoregulation, a self-driving robotic painter that can create personalized floors, and a virtual reality software that uses body movement to create individualized spaces in real-time.

When it comes to exploring the keynote theme, the sky is – literally – the limit in the “Art & Interaction” zone. “Meanwhile in the YOU-niverse”, for instance, is an installation in which visitors can open a window to catch their own little glimpse of infinity – in the form of a live feed of outer space from NASA.

The “Endless Uniqueness” installation offers a similarly interactive perspective on the keynote theme. For this, 50 creatives, including Germany’s ten best interior designers, were each asked to build their own personal interpretation of the “UNIQUE YOUNIVERSE” keynote theme in the form of their favourite items and flooring staged inside an open mirror box. The boxes are arrayed opposite a giant mirror kaleidoscope that reflects the boxes and the visitors walking among them. As they walk through this mirror installation, visitors can change and rearrange the materials in the boxes, thereby creating their own unique design universe.

Special: Domotex 2018