- imm cologne successfully promotes young designers from all over the world
- In January 2012, the D3 Talents platform with the D3 Contest exhibition and the presentations of the D3 Professionals will again be a magnet for design-savvy trade visitors
- 28 of the 689 entries for the D3 Contest selected for the exhibition in Pure Village (Hall 3.2)
On January 16, the imm cologne furniture show, Cologne, Germany will bring furniture retailers manufacturers, furniture designers and interior designers together for the four day international furniture market. A featured attraction at the show will be the D3 Talents Platform and D3 Contest Exhibition.
At the D3 talent forum, visitors can discover experimental designs, original creations and clever new construction principles developed by the most promising newcomers the design scene has to offer.
“With D3, we deliberately offer young designers a unique opportunity to present themselves to international experts, the media and companies,” says Gerald Böse, CEO of Koelnmesse. “Our commitment goes down well with the international design scene too. At the end of the day, it’s precisely this encounter between experimental design and the market-driven offerings of the furniture industry, the contrast between the commercial and the experimental, that makes the imm cologne so attractive to so many people,” adds the imm cologne’s Creative Director Dick Spierenburg.
The curated exhibition of winning entries submitted for the D3 Contest, 2 which is held in collaboration with the German Design Council, has been drawing crowds for years. Only students and graduates who qualified less than three years ago are eligible to enter the competition. This year, young designers from all over the world submitted no fewer than 689 entries. Only the best 28 products will be shown at the imm cologne 2012, of which only three will be presented with the sought-after Interior Innovation Award by an international jury. The participants come from Germany, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Great Britain, the USA, Canada and Korea. The diversity of the design scene they represent is echoed by the mix of highly imaginative product ideas, which range from innovative seating furniture to hall stands and from recycled materials all the way to a specially developed plastic.
The designers who presenting their work here are not yet established and are seeking new perspectives and solutions unfettered by the dictates of the market. With the D3 Contest, the imm cologne provides them with a unique presentation forum and gives visitors the opportunity to take some surprising ideas home with them – along with a concise picture of the creative potential inherent in the next generation of designers.
The lively, heterogeneous setting is important to visitors and exhibitors alike, as Elisa Strozyk emphasises. At the last imm cologne, she presented her Wooden Carpet as a ready-for-market product. “The contact with trade visitors and other designers was a huge help.” Thanks to its central position and communicative presentation concept, Pure Village is an ideal location for the experimental designs, for instance when major players like Pierre Roset walk through Pure Village and notice the D3 Contest exhibits. His company Ligne Roset often collaborates with young designers: “Especially in the field of decorative accessories,” explains CEO Pierre Roset. “That’s often the first step for them towards making a name for themselves. You could say we hold the stirrup for them and try to get them into the saddle. Although we don’t have any absolute rules in terms of what kind of job we offer up-and-coming designers, it’s true to say that the younger designers start out with products which, although they aren’t necessarily any simpler, nevertheless call for a smaller investment.”
But a visit to D3 Professionals is a must for trend scouts too. The young, independent designers and small design studios attract a lot of attention with their unusual ideas and “author’s editions” and make the most of their time at the imm cologne by making contact with dealers and manufacturers from all over the world.