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| Material Vision Has Significantly More Visitors From Abroad 23,300 trade and professional visitors came to the two trade fairs, Material Vision and Techtextil, in Frankfurt am Main from 16 to 18 June. 19 percent of them gave Material Vision as one of the pivotal reasons for their visit. And some 4, 400 visitors came to see for themselves the range of materials for product development, design and architecture that were on offer. The level of internationality for trade and professional visitors rose from 18 percent in 2007 to 26 percent. "Holding it in parallel to Techtextil resulted in the synergies at Material Vision that we had expected – both for visitors and for exhibitors, " says Detlef Braun, Member of the Board of Management of Messe Frankfurt. "The topic of modern materials attracted more visitors, and significantly more designers, product developers and architects came from abroad. The consistently positive feedback from the exhibitors confirms that we are on the right track with this concept and that, with it, we are offering the sector new prospects for development." 2,034 decision makers visited Material Vision in 2007, a Messe Frankfurt event organised with the cooperation of the German Design Council. Andrej Kupetz, Managing Director of the German Design Council: "I am delighted that Material Vision, in its new context of Techtextil, has enjoyed such great popularity. Given its great thematic variety, which is also in evidence in the winners of the Design Plus competition, I can see outstanding prospects ahead for Material Vision." The fourth edition of Material Vision offered a platform to 37 manufacturers of pioneering materials. Companies made contact with designers, product designers and architects, in order to develop the potential for new applications of their materials together with them. The spectrum of materials on show ranged from polymers, metals, ceramics, wood, concrete, stone and mineral materials, to composite materials, materials derived from sustainable feedstock and nano materials. Nicola Stattmann, product designer and technical advisor to Material Vision, welcomes the fact that it was held in parallel to Techtextil: "Textiles are a really important product for visitors to Material Vision, as they offer designers and architects a great deal of potential for innovation. Techtextil presents many topics which fit outstandingly well with the themes at Material Vision. It is excellent that visitors now have access to this broad range." Great reception for varied complementary programme The lectures that were offered on the first two days as part of the complementary programme at Material Vision met with a great reception. A total of 700 attendees took advantage of the range of information on offer from the exhibitors and the five European networks represented, including modulor – material total, MatériO SAS, Material ConneXion, Architonic and the Materials Archive in Zurich. The speakers gave a good overview of the entire spectrum of their products and services. The subsequent presentation by the Young Professionals and the discussion on the topic of "Materials and Networks", chaired by Helge Aszmoneit from the German Design Council, completed the proceedings. Both special shows, "textiles4design" by the Nicola Stattmann design studio and the "Be inspired by nature" show by the French materials agency matériO, proved to be a magnet for the public on all three days of the trade fair. Another highlight was the award ceremony for the Design Plus Award, conferred by Messe Frankfurt and the German Design Council. 36 products, which stand out because of the combination of innovative materials, successful design and intelligent functionality, were singled out for the Design Award. The prize-winners come from Germany, Belgium, Denmark, France, Korea, Switzerland and the USA. Altogether there were 160 submissions from 15 different countries. This was the third time that the Design Plus Award has been presented at Material Vision. The organisation of the competition lay in the hands of the German Design Council. Lars Contzen, Industrial Designer at Resopal und Glas Trösch, has exhibited at Material Vision several years running and particularly values the cross-sector contacts that are made here: "Material Vision is ideal for reaching new target groups and markets. I think that is particularly important in economically difficult times, since design is increasingly coming to occupy a more prominent place in a large number of products. We meet target groups here that give us new impetus. The fact that the fair is held in parallel with Techtextil seems to me an advantage – as a result we had more international visitors on the stand, for instance." Jan Klingebiel, Sales Manager, Technogel Germany: "We are very happy with the reactions from visitors; we had discussions with qualified professional visitors from a broad range of sectors. We definitely got through to our target groups here and the number of international visitors was markedly high, too, with an estimated proportion of around 40 percent coming from abroad. We see the link with Techtextil as a positive thing. That way, we've had more visitors from industry this year and from the field of technical applications. We hope that this concept will be taken further and continues to grow." Georg Richarz, Director Marketing, Novelis Deutschland: "This is the first time we have exhibited at Material Vision. We were looking for a platform to present our developments to a new public. Specifically to target groups who are interested in new surfaces and new design. We achieved this objective and take away with us lots of ideas about the way representatives of other sectors think, people we otherwise never come into contact with. There was strong interest in our products and we had constructive discussion with visitors from outside Germany, from Portugal, Turkey, Great Britain and France, for example." The next Material Vision will be held from 24 to 26 May 2011, once again in conjunction with Techtextil. write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Exhibition News :: home page |