DOMOTEX 2018 to have Unique Youniverse as keynote theme

DOMOTEX 2018 will be held in Germany from January 12-15, 2018. The talent lineup will include students from the universities of Mainz, Hannover and Saarbrücken, who will present their own unique interpretations of the individualisation megatrend.

"NuThinkers is a platform for creative ideas and experimental design. It is a key highlight and meet-up zone for all DOMOTEX visitors who want to experience life beyond the mass market and sample some of the more out-of-the-ordinary creations and directions being pioneered by the next generation of designers," commented Susanne Klaproth, the director in charge of DOMOTEX at Deutsche Messe.

The Nuthinkers showcase mounted by the students from Hannover University of Applied Sciences and Arts is called 'Innovative Flooring'. Fourteen students from the university’s interior architecture and design programme are currently designing creative new floor coverings that they will be presenting at the show in a prototype form.

The students have been given a choice between two potential approaches to developing their innovative floor coverings. They can either draw inspiration from the plant or animal kingdoms, or they can focus on renewable materials and ecological sustainability and work from there to develop a new type of floor covering. A key part of the brief is that their prototypes should still be in the experimental phase. The idea behind consciously avoiding production-readiness is to create an inspiring and visionary study of product individualisation. Thus, in terms of its staging at DOMOTEX, the project will be a blend of research lab and design workshop and will provide insights into the work processes used by the students in developing their creations.

Meanwhile, the students from the 'Communication in Space' master’s programme at Mainz University of Applied Sciences’ design school are working on spaces in which communication and information play a special role. For their project, 'Individual Motion Space', the students are developing a virtual reality application that enables users to design individualised spaces in real-time using their own body movements and then translate their designs into real, physical spaces using digital production technologies. The project is headed by Professors Klaus Teltenkötter and Bernd Benninghoff.

Saarland University of Art and Design (HBKsaar), Saarbrücken, will also have a presence in the NuThinkers zone. Under the leadership of Professor Katrin Greiling, faculty of product design, the NuThinkers students are currently working on 12 individual projects. They include modular, eco-friendly carpet solutions that enable users to individually configure their own constellation of materials, patterns and shapes; a carpet that can be transformed from its normal two-dimensional form into a three-dimensional object and thus combines elements of traditional weaving with modern 3D printing; and a simple tool that can be used to individually tailor carpet dimensions, texture and pile.

The 12 projects will be presented to a selection jury on July 24. The jury, headed by the renowned architect Peter Ippolito, of Büro Ippolito Fleitz Group, Stuttgart, will select the five finalists that will be exhibited at DOMOTEX. The students will then be given support to find manufacturers with the requisite skills and technologies to transform their ideas into reality.

The NuThinkers zone is part of Framing Trends – an exciting new showcase that is sure to be an absolute visitor magnet at DOMOTEX 2018. Framing Trends is an immersive, emotionally charged showcase that will bring the show’s Unique Youniverse theme to life in a celebration of innovation, inspiration and international collaboration.

There are also three other zones in the Framing Trends area: Flooring Spaces is where companies from the floor coverings industry will stage highly creative product showcases. Then there’s the Living Spaces zone, where exhibitors will team up with partners from the interior design sector to stage unique interior spaces, inspiring designs for future living, and innovative lifestyle realms. And, finally, there’s the Art & Interaction zone, which will provide an artistic perspective on Unique Youniverse. The lineup will also include tried and tested formats such as talks and guided tours. (KD)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India