Leading trade fair for floor coverings Domotex 2019, which will be held in Hannover, Germany, from 11-14 January, is expected to feature around 1,400 exhibitors from more than 60 nations. The new keynote theme Create’n’Connect will be an opportunity for floor covering manufacturers to distinguish themselves as industry trendsetters: The connectivity megatrend should be presented by them in inspiring visualisations in the special Framing Trends showcase, which is a real visitor draw, according to organisers.

The redesigned Domotex – with its more transparent clustering of allied products and the visually stunning Framing Trends showcase – has been warmly embraced by the market and is now gearing up for its second season. Domotex 2019 will run under the banner of Create'n'connect, a keynote theme that puts the spotlight on innovative flooring industry developments and ideas inspired by today's connectivity megatrend.

“Powered by advanced technology and digital change, being connected is a tremendously important aspect of our daily lives and interaction at home and on the job. Connectedness is an important aspect of flooring in the sense that floors are unifying, connecting elements of room design. Floors and flooring provide the very foundation for the rooms in which we live and work. Floors inspire us, give us orientation and set the stage for human interaction,” organisers explain.

Framing Trends

As a major highlight of Domotex, the Framing Trends special area is one of the main stops on the show's special Guided Tours for architects and journalists. This premium exposure is further enhanced by the area's strong presence in the organiser's social media channels and on the Domotex website. As in 2018, the Framing Trends showcase at Domotex 2019 will have a Blogger Lounge where bloggers and visitors can meet up, talk and collaborate.

The area includes the Flooring Spaces zone – a series of spaces where selected exhibitors and companies from the flooring industry can stage their unique, creative visions of the Create'n'Connect theme in the form of physical installations, interactive display circuits or workshops.

Creative flooring-related connections

"The connectivity theme can be creatively expressed in many wonderful ways, as the following examples from the flooring and various allied industries show," organisers continue.

In teamwork with the studio Lotta Agaton Interiors, Austrian carpet maker Tisca Textil staged a home environment collage at Domotex 2018 combining handmade woolen rugs with furniture by Vitra, Artek and Team7.

The lively graphic motifs used in the Infused Collection by Mannington Mills conjure up various aspects of five different US metropolises. This LVT tile collection's mix-and-match approach lends itself to the creation of imaginative mosaics using any combination of tiles desired.

The large-format plank segments used in the 4706 Skagen laminate flooring offered by Kronotex in its Mega Plus collection create a bold herringbone pattern. The juxtaposition of woodgrain textures and colors in each element creates a cohesive overall "used" look, in which the boundaries between the individual elements virtually dissolve.

In the open-plan kitchen/living room of an apartment in Barcelona, design studio Egue y Seta connects different functional zones to create an integrated space by having different floor coverings flow directly into one another. The floor in the kitchen zone is tiled in hexagonal ceramic tiles, while the dining area is delineated by wood parquet.

www.domotex.de