With Toward Utopia, Heimtextil is setting the course for the new trend season 2019/2020. As part of the official Heimtextil Trend Preview on 4 September in Frankfurt, London-based studio FranklinTill presented the design themes for the upcoming international trade fair for home and contract textiles, which takes place in January.

In addition to the British trend researchers, Anne Marie Commandeur from the Stijlinstituut Amsterdam and Anja Bisgaard Gaede from SPOTT Trends & Business also participated in the forecast for perspective-related interior design, which applies globally.

Together with the Heimtextil management team, they provided initial insights into future style worlds. Stefan Weil from Atelier Markgraph, the studio that designs the spatial staging of Heimtextil trends, gave a preview of the new Trend Space and emphasised the importance of spatial communication for Heimtextil.

New standards

The Heimtextil trends 2019/2020 describe a world, in which we live according to new standards. “We live in an era of uncertainty and mistrust in the established order. As a reaction, we try to live a meaningful, conscious life based on positive relationships. We take responsibility for our lives and look for ways of life that fulfil our value system in search of a new utopia – a society that aims at promoting the well-being of all its citizens,” explained Caroline Till, co-founder of FranklinTill Studio.

Toward Utopia shows which individual routes we can take on the way to finding a modern utopia: those who seek temporary time-out from the internet to reconnect with nature and defy the elements (Go off-grid), while others escape from the real world into a virtual world (Escape Reality). Some withdraw and find security in pure, minimalist rooms (Seek Sanctuary). Embrace Indulgence offers a nostalgic answer to today’s uncertain times and surrounds us with beauty and luxury. And the unconditional hedonistic desire for play (Pursue Play) is probably hidden in all of us.

Trend Space

In the newly designed Trend Space, Heimtextil will be demonstrating how the various scenarios can be lived out. Here, the trade fair presents five trend themes that represent a combination of inspiration, interaction and knowledge transfer and showcases trailblazing projects and design initiatives. The Trend Space also presents current colour trends. The immersive staging on site and the Trend Book, which is available as of now, document the poetic properties of colour as well as its inspiring, artistic and aesthetic power in design.

“The new Trend Space at Heimtextil convinces with interactive and tactile worlds of experience. Visitors are playfully inspired, involved and motivated to get to grips with futuristic, spatial design concepts,” said Olaf Schmidt, Vice President Textiles & Textile Technologies at Messe Frankfurt. “This creates a comprehensive picture of the design of future spaces and we can get some answers to the questions of how we will interact, consume, live and work in the future.”

www.heimtextil.messefrankfurt.com