Heimtextil from a B2C perspective: Which trends are finding their way into people's homes?

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Can home textiles stimulate our five senses? Can upholstery fabrics, curtains, wallpaper, bed and table linen etc. trigger feelings in us and inspire us emotionally? "Yes!" says the international Designer Team of Heimtextil, the International Trade Fair for Home and Contract Textiles in Frankfurt am Main (14-17 January 2015). When private customer decorate their homes, they don't just do so without thought. They create an entire world of experience. The Heimtextil Designer Team has compiled the latest trends for anyone who is looking for new products and surprising developments.

The overarching theme of Heimtextil 2015/16 is therefore "Experience". Everything revolves around our sensory experiences of textile worlds. This includes four major trends which have been defined by the Heimtextil Designer Team for next year's new season: The Sensory trend comprises delicate, somewhat clinically cool colours with beautiful names such as Whisper White, Spa Blue and Moonstruck. The Mixology trend is marked by contrasting dynamics, bright colours and ethnic patterns. The Discovery trend seeks to create profound feelings with pronounced fabric structures and colours such as black, purple and silver. And the Memory trend emphasises the picturesque and the romantic, with saturated colours such as True Navy and Scarlet Sage, floral still lives and themes borrowed from history. All these textile trends have one thing in common: a yearning to satisfy one's desire for well-being and luxury. But they also fulfil the principle that aesthetics and functionality always go hand in hand. The one can never be found without the other.

Sensory textiles are clever, as they act and react – to light, to touch, to heat and cold, and in the future perhaps also to feelings. The more we experience the digital world as sterile and aloof, the more we long for an environment where we can feel good. The materials that can make this happen are light and transparent, so that they can easily accommodate the electronic elements required for sensory stimulation: filaments, LED yarns and wearable electronics have been worked into fabrics that are translucent, iridescent and smooth. One place where textile designers work very creatively on the materials of the future, using high-tech equipment, is the TextilLab at the Textile Museum in Tilburg (Netherlands). The Sensory theme, for instance, can be found in the Gerster Collection by Gustav Gerster, where open work and textile techniques add a creative mix of poetry and urbanity to materials in light beige and other delicate colours. Similarly, Velvet Cascade is a high-quality blanket from Thomas Albrecht with a foxy edge, combined with soft materials. Eijffinger offers wallpapers in reflective, shiny materials, in pastel colours such as light turquoise and pink and with geometric structures.

The Memory trend puts the emphasis on reflection and rethinking, and the designers have combined craftsmanship and tradition with their innovative sense of modernity. Nostalgic elements have been re-interpreted, and highly sophisticated, skilfully artistic reworking techniques have been used in the creation of cutting-edge textiles. A range of manufacturers have followed this trend, including Rasch with its wallpapers featuring hand-painted flowers and rose patterns, Apelt with bouquets and floral patterns on bed and table linen, and UAB Silkeborg from Lithuania offering high-quality woollen blankets with square patterns in ever new variations and combinations of colours. Christian Fischbacher from Switzerland presents collections of bedlinen with delicate floral motifs, inspired by botanical paintings from old masters. Floral prints are also offered by the textile manufacturers Zimmer and Rohde. The Portuguese manufacturer Lameirinho uses a rose motif in its collection of terry cloth products.

How can we use the resources of our planet in the future? And how will the virtual world impact the world of materials and aesthetics? Those are key questions which have led to the current Discovery trend – a trend based on sculptural structures and extravagance, with a major emphasis on light. The Discovery trend includes, for instance, the synthetic upholstery from Hornschuch, with virtual seams, which not only look real but which also feel real – in metallic shades that change with the incidence of the light. Then there are wallpapers from the French company Élitis, wall hangings which emphasise a dramatic aspect, with a metallic or pearly shine and pleated like extravagant evening dresses. Teba offers vertical blinds with richly textured materials and, in its Art Edition, macro-knitted stitches in braided patterns on its blinds. Decobel from Italy has entered the market with relief-like designs and smoked surfaces, interwoven with metal threads.

Mixology is the clash and fusion of different cultures – an intercultural exchange which leads to experiments in the re-use, re-montage, recycling and upcycling of new fabrics and patterns. The main model for ethnic trends is currently Africa, in particular, with its intensive colours and patterns. Examples of the Mixology trend can be found in the Dimora collection from Punikim, whose materials are inspired by the work of craftsmen and have modern surfaces, combined with trendy colours and patterns. Likewise, the blanket manufacturer Biederlack has a series entitled Emotions with animal prints and ornamental motifs. Tecido from Japan is set to showcase wallpapers with ethnic designs and modern interpretations of motifs, such as birds and feathers as well as modern materials. Pleasantly colourful ethnic patterns also feature in the collection of bedlinen and bedspreads from the Australian exhibitor Kas.

Heimtextil visitors can obtain a quick overview of the coming seasonal trends at the new Theme Park, the central inspiration area in Hall 4.0. The creative head of the Heimtextil Designer Team and also the new Theme Park is the Dutch designer Anne Marie Commandeur from the Stijlinstituut Amsterdam – a strategist and visionary who works within an international network of multidisciplinary trend researchers.

Private customers will not have access to this trade fair but will experience the latest trade fair trends when they visit their interior designers or trusted bed retailers. Very soon after Heimtextil those stores will be offering the latest items from the manufacturers' collections, with advice for anyone interested in interior decoration.

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