(Editor: Leona)

What are the trends of the coming season? How do people in Austria, Sweden or China live? What do designers have to say about “Das Haus”, the Featured Editions or about their furniture? What are the future trends for fabrics? How could the cradle-to-cradle concept function in the furniture industry? What does my bathroom have to do with my health? And how is the furniture industry dealing with online opportunities? “The Stage” trend forum provides a platform for tabling questions like these. Here, experts talk about living cultures and trends, designers shed light on their concepts and industry insiders discuss future developments.

Once again in 2015, imm cologne will offer an overview of current trend developments at the presentation forum “The Stage”. The international interior show’s established event format has found its home at Pure Village (Hall 2.2). Presentations from a broad spectrum of industry topics will take place here as well as exciting round-table discussions with renowned speakers and international participants. The programme is particularly tailored to the typical audience of the fair’s Pure segment – architects and interior designers as well as designers and journalists. Established formats at “The Stage”: Trend Overview and Book Lounge.

On each day of the fair, the programme opens with an overview of the most important trends at imm cologne, presented by design journalist Frank A. Reinhardt. Another daily programme feature is the Book Lounge, presented in association with Westermann Kommunikation. Here, on the Monday of the fair, Niklas Maak will present his book “Wohnkomplexe” (The Residential Complex) after conducting an interview with the designers of this year’s edition of “Das Haus”, Neri&Hu. On Tuesday, Jochen Eisenbrand, head curator of the Vitra Design Museum will speak about central tenets in the work of Finnish architect Alvar Aalto – on whose work Eisenbrand recently published an overview. In yet another book presentation, Sylvia Leydecker reports on Corporate Design in interiors and, in conclusion, Mariel Marohn and Anita Bauer introduce Frechverlag’s new Do-It-Yourself publishing platform Topp Lab.

Design Travel: From Sweden to India:

One of the main focuses of this year’s “The Stage” programme this year is developments in international design. The Monday programme will start the ball rolling with a true globetrotter as guest speaker: Therese Virserius, who is just as at home in Sweden, China, the USA or France, draws international comparisons between various design trends. American editor-in-chief of Dwell, Amanda Dameron and Swedish designer Björn Dahlström report on the interior design trends in their respective home countries. A spotlight is cast on China and India respectively in an interview with the designers of “Das Haus”, Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu, and in presentations by Poonam Choudhry and Kavita Chaudhary. A look at Germany’s southern neighbour, Austria, is provided by Georg Emprechtinger, Managing Director of Team 7 as well as by journalist Jörg Bertram, who will present his book about living and lifestyle in Austria as part of the Book Lounge presentations.

Design in conversation:

The programme will also feature two round-table discussions again. On Monday, the designers at Featured Editions will present their unusual installations, once again a highlight of the Pure Editions fair format in 2015. On the following day, Detlev Wiedmann will lead the “ md Pure Textile Talk“: in conversation with the editor-in-chief of the md trade magazine, high-level representatives of the textile industry Philippe Baumann (CEO of Création Baumann), Michael Fischbacher (CEO of Christian Fischbacher), Remo Röntgen (CEO of Nya Nordiska) and Andreas Zimmer (CEO of Zimmer + Rohde) reveal what they see as the developments on the horizon for the textile industry.

The inside scoop on trends in furniture, colours, lighting and fashion:

General furnishing trends as well as the popular topic of colour must certainly be covered at a Trend Forum. So this year once again, Mayouri Sengchanh (Exalis) and Ursula Geismann (Association of the German Furniture Industry, VDM) will present an overview of what and who are inspiring interior trends in 2016 as well as introduce the current trends in living. On the topic of colour within interior furnishing, a variety of perspectives will be presented on “The Stage”: colour designer Hildegard Kalthegener (NCS Colours) explains how trends can be predicted, using the interior colour trends of 2015 as an illustration and Hannes Bäuerle (Raumprobe) reports on combining colours and materials. In his presentation, trend researcher Axel Venn (RAL) presents colour trends for office, hotel and living. The presentations by interior designer Susanne Dötsch deal with good lighting for interiors. Finally, interior designer Martina Lorbach draws an unusual comparison between the fast-paced world of the fashion industry and the furniture sector by asking: “Was hat Mode mit Möbeln zu tun? (What has fashion got to do with furniture?)”

Rethinking: cradle-to-cradle, new developments towards the natural in design and healthy bathroom design:

The topics of sustainability and health are of course also dealt with at “The Stage”. In his presentation, Peter Langendorf talks about cradle-to-cradle, a concept, which although developed in Germany, is still wholly underrepresented in this country, delivering an introduction and promotion of the subject. As an expert in the area, Langendorf links this convincing sustainability concept to the furniture industry. In her presentation, “Mitten im Leben” (At the heart of things), Gabi Rottes (DuPont) connects thoughts on sustainability to the current outlook on a mobile society. Michael Schlenke, Managing Director of consulting firm The Caretakers, regards universal design as the incubator for project development and in his presentation, reports on the market opportunities offered by it. Angelika Martina Brüßel (Aqua Cultura) provides an insight into the wellness zone of the living environment in her presentation on the health aspects of bathroom design. On Friday, in their presentation “Der Lack ist ab! (No more varnish!)”, Moritz Zielke (designer) und Wibke Schaeffer (architect) from Design and Interior Design Office Wiederverwandt, prove that new developments promoting ‘the natural’ in design are more than just a trend. Also on Friday, the first day of the fair open to the general public, Malte Lenkheit, Ergonomics Consultant at Dauphin Human Design, brings the ergonomic into the private living sphere and explains how to master the challenge of combining ergonomics with attractive design.

Online: Studies & Strategies

The programme is rounded out by two studies revolving around the online world of furniture. Tanja Burmeister presents the study “Wie wollen Deutsche wohnen?” (How do Germans want to live?), carried out by Houzz.de and the Forsa Institute and reports on the concept of Houzz.de. Daniel Eichhorn of online portal SoLebIch.de (This is how I live) asks: “Facebook, Instagram or Youtube?”. A study carried out in association with the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich explains which social media strategies are most effective for the furniture industry.

All presentations and round-table discussions will be simultaneously translated into English or German, where applicable.