Ambiente 2017 - centre of the worldwide consumer-goods market

How very British: Great Britain to be new partner country at Ambiente; designer Janice Kirkpatrick will stage the presentation. Unusual product ideas: new ‘Talents’ areas - ‘Ethical Style’ and ‘Fashion Accessories’.

The global consumer-goods platform ‘Ambiente’ will be welcoming buyers from all over the world from 10 to 14 February 2017. During this time, the Frankfurt Exhibition Centre will, for five days, become the trend barometer, as well as the ordering and design platform, for all things relating to table, kitchen, household and luxury foods, as well as to life-style, furnishings and gifts.

Ambiente is divided into three major product groups: Dining, Living and Giving. The entire eastern end of the Exhibition Centre, with Halls 1 to 6, is dedicated to the Dining sector, where it will be exhibiting its latest trends. Giving and Living occupy the western half of the Exhibition Centre. “Ambiente is the epicentre of the worldwide consumer-goods market. Exhibitors from more than 90 countries will be showcasing their new products in Frankfurt and setting the trends for 2017 and beyond,” says Nicolette Naumann, Vice President Ambiente.

A look back at Ambiente 2016

4,367 exhibitors from 96 countries came to Frankfurt am Main in 2016 to promote their new products and innovations for the five days of Ambiente over a gross surface area of 308,000 square metres. In all, 137,000 people from 143 countries came to visit the show. For the first time, a total of 55 percent of the trade visitors came from outside Germany. The top ten visitor nations, after Germany, were Italy, France, the Netherlands, Great Britain, China, Spain, the USA, Switzerland, South Korea and Turkey.

How very British

The new partner country for this leading world trade fair in 2017 is Great Britain. Following on from the Italian Tricolore, the upcoming Ambiente will be held under the banner of the Union Jack. An extensive display - the Partner Country Presentation - will promote products from British exhibitors. This exhibition will be curated and designed by British designer Janice Kirkpatrick. A Scot, Ms. Kirkpatrick is one of the United Kingdom's leading graphic and product designers. In 1986 she, together with architect Ross Hunter, founded the Graven agency, which undertakes design projects both at home and abroad. Their projects include the redesign of the British Airways lounges in Singapore, Edinburgh and Glasgow, the interior furnishings for the BBC's Scotland Headquarters, Glasgow, and for the Radisson Blue Aqua Hotel, Chicago, as well as the development of the Radisson Red brand image worldwide.

As well as the Partner Country display, called ‘Providence & Provenance’, there will again be a café, designed to reflect the Partner Country, this time created by the Bethan Gray Design Studio. On the Monday of the show, there is traditionally a thematic day that is given over to the relevant partner country. The ‘Great Britain Day’ will be organised by British exhibitors, who will be inviting visitors to various events and presentations.

New: ‘Talents’ Areas - ‘Ethical Style’ and ‘Fashion Accessories’

Buyers who are in search of original product ideas will find an abundance of what they are looking for in the ‘Talents’ and ‘Next’ areas. For young up-and-coming designers, the promotional programmes provide an important step on the career ladder.

For the first time, young talents in the profession will showcase their creations in the two sections ‘Fashion Accessories’ in Hall 9.2 and ‘Ethical Style’ in Hall 11.0. The ‘talents’ in the field of Dining / Contemporary Design will, as usual, be presenting their innovations and design-oriented projects in Hall 4.0. The ‘Next’ sections are also a fixed feature of the show's promotional programme for young, creative companies seeking to establish themselves further. These newcomers on the scene will be presenting their first collections in Halls 9.2, 11.0 and 11.1.

Ethical Style Guide

Eco-friendly, fair and socially acceptable; consumers worldwide are increasingly coming to value sustainable products. The Ethical Style Guide provides information for the trade visitors about sustainable and ethically produced consumer goods at Ambiente. Using categories such as ‘eco-friendly materials’, ‘fair & social production’, ‘re/upcycling design’ and ‘handmade manufacturing’, the guide offers orientation in a highly complex global product segment and helps visitors to easily find the stands of exhibitors, who produce their goods by ethical and / or sustainable means.

Hotspot for HoReCa and contract business

Around 270 exhibitors showcased their tailor-made solutions for furnishing hotels and restaurants at Ambiente 2016, thus making the fair a real hotspot for the HoReCa and contract markets. Professionals and decision-makers from the hotel and catering industry, together with project developers, professional buyers, furnishings experts and interior architects and designers, restaurateurs and representatives of the high-end hotel market will be able to find suitable business contacts for commercial and contract equipment and the HoReCa markets here, as well as being able to place specific orders.

The global sourcing platform on the international trade-fair scene

The ‘Passage’, at the heart of Ambiente, has become an established feature in international volume sales. At Ambiente 2016, approximately 1,500 exhibitors from 57 different countries promoted a hugely international and broad range of products over a total of 5 Halls, covering, therefore, some 50,000 square metres. The whole range of volume products from countries such as China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Hong Kong, Morocco, the Philippines, South Africa and Vietnam are within easy reach of one another. The Passage sourcing areas provide opportunities for specifically targeting appropriate contacts and for ordering directly from the manufacturers. Products range from industrially produced goods to hand-worked items sold in large numbers, as well as solutions relating to customisation.

Top-flight complementary programme

This year for the first time, there is to be a lecture area in the Accessories and Jewellery section in Hall 9.2. This will not only cover jewellery and fashion, it will also offer practical business tips for retailers.

As usual, the key trends for table, kitchen, home and gifts will be presented at Ambiente 2017. The well-known and distinguished Trend Bureau, bora.herke.palmisano, will identify four scenarios from their research and will stage these in a large special display.

Visitors will find some clever ideas in the special presentation ‘Solutions’. The designer and curator Sebastian Bergne will be showcasing some creative solutions from Ambiente exhibitors with an emphasis on the dining table, kitchen and household. The selected products, which all have something a little special about them, will be showcased in short video clips.

In 2017, Ambiente also provides the backdrop for numerous award ceremonies. The Design Plus Award honours products that skilfully combine aesthetics and functionality and showcases them in a dedicated exhibition during the trade fair. This year, there will be a special edition on the theme of ‘Ethical Style’. The German Design Award will be presented on the first day of the show. Visitors will be able to see the prizewinning products for themselves in an impressive display. The Kitchen Innovations Award and the negative Plagiarius Award for product piracy will also be presented as part of Ambiente.

Source: Ambiente

Top image: Ambiente 2016 │the Show in Hall 4.1 from above

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