Decorex Means Business - Decorex 2006 reports excellent attendance and a successful show
The organisers of Decorex International 2006 have reported a successful 29th edition which took place 24-27 September. Well attended by visitors from the UK and around the world, the 260 exhibitors at the prestigious interior design trade show were delighted with the response their collections received and by the quality of the visitors. With approximately 30 fabric houses, 60 furniture companies, 35 lighting companies, 30 floorcovering suppliers, 30 antique dealers and a host of specialist service companies among the exhibitors, the Decorex organisers once again showed their skill in bringing the highest quality exhibitors and the cream of international interior design professionals together for its four day design fest.
Aisles and stands were busy throughout the show and visitor figures saw a small but pleasing increase this year, with 11,297 registered trade and professional visitors attending, who made 14,263 visits. 14% of visitors were from outside the UK, with the largest groups attending coming from Ireland, the Russian Federation, the USA, France, Germany, Spain and Belgium.
Notable new launches this year included: Drummond’s new and exclusive range of classically styled bathroom suites; the Bradley Collection’s striking bronze collection of curtain pole systems; a range of outdoor furniture designed by Vladimir Kagan for Barlow Tyrie; designer Emily Todhunter’s new lamp collection for Best and Lloyd; Chelsea Textiles’ first range of contemporary embroidered fabrics; Vanderhurd Studios new collection of rugs and upholstery weight carpet; and an elegant first furniture collection from leading interior designer, Helen Green.
‘We were thrilled at the response we had from showing at Decorex,’ Helen Green said. ‘This was the ideal platform to launch our first collection and without question has generated interest from both trade and press. Launching this collection was very exciting for us and being a part of Decorex and receiving such positive comments has been truly encouraging.’
Decorex has a particular interest in finding new suppliers, often small, young companies, which have unique products or services which busy designers find difficult to research themselves. This year’s show was no exception and among these were Handmade Wallpaper, with its quirky hand-printed designs by Hugh Dunford Wood, Caramella Chairs (elaborately embellished upholstery), Certain Design (bold riveted metal furniture), Lindsey Devine (architectural glass designer), O Eco Textiles (sustainably sourced organic furnishing fabrics) and McCollin Bryan, a design duo who use craft-based techniques to fashion their highly inventive and contemporary furniture designs.
These exhibitors were also full of praise for their experience at this year’s show. ‘Decorex was a blast. We did not draw breath for four days,’ said Hugh Dunford Wood of Handpainted Wallpaper. ‘From the starting point of having no experience, and no business at all, Handmade Wallpaper was recognized and established through the enormous range of contacts and opportunities encountered at Decorex. The response was beyond all our expectations.’ Claudia Newbury of Caramella Chairs felt that the quality of visitors made Decorex the success it was. ‘Everyone who attends is a professional who know what they’re looking for and wants to make interiors purchases. No advertisement in any publication could possibly reach such a large and willing audience,‘ she commented.
Newcomers at Antiques & Audacity also praised the show for the quality of visitors. ‘The quality of decorators, architects and designers who visit the show are second to none. There are no time wasters: all clients we spoke to know exactly what they want and don’t waste one’s time,’ Edward Reily Collins of Hallidays observed.
The exhibitors’ own stands contributed enormously to the overall atmosphere, with spectacular and complicated exhibition stands. Style-wise, Thirties and Fifties glamour was a popular design theme. Andrew Martin took the biggest stand and dressed it with giant images of Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant, with a tower of televisions looking down on busy meetings going on below. Close by, Helen Green Design created a very elegant bedroom setting, with elements of Thirties and Fifties glamour. Harlequin Tabletop also produced a beautiful banquet setting which was much admired. English Looking Glasses used large scale mirrors and console tables to create a stand design in eighteenth century style, while One Grafton Street’s design incorporated classical elements, accented with Deco lines in some of the furniture and with bright contemporary colours to such brilliant effect that the British Interior Design Association gave the company its Best Stand Award, an elegant swing tag in sterling silver, made by its Awards sponsor, the jewellers Hamilton & Inches. Decorex exhibitors voted Clock House Furniture winner of the Decorex Challenge Cup for Best Stand, for its highland hunting lodge, complete with antler furniture and tartan furnishings.
There were also awards for merchandise which were sponsored by some of the UK’s leading trade and consumer magazine titles. The House & Garden Award for Best Merchandise was presented to Sterling Studios for the company’s variety of tailor-made decorative finishes for walls and furniture; the idFX Award for Best Contemporary Product went to McCollin Bryan for its scagliola Longbeam console table and The World of Interiors Award for Innovation was won by the New England Shutter Company for its new conservatory shutter design.
The Decorex Lecture Series had a fascinating programme of lectures and seminars devised and presented in close collaboration with the British Interior Design Association, KLC interior design school, show sponsor Homes & Gardens magazine and leading UK trade magazines idFX, GS and Selvedge. Speakers included internationally renowned figures such as Vladimir Kagan, who spoke on work in modern furniture design over a fifty year career: Simon Bray, idFX Interior Designer of the Year on kitchen design; Mary Fox Linton and Martin Hulbert of Fox Linton Associates on their inspiration and approaches to hotel design projects. Other lectures by key figures in their fields covered a variety of pertinent topics, including unlocking creativity, trends for the year ahead, lighting design, garden design trends, and textiles in contemporary interior design.
The organisers of Decorex 2006 attributed the show’s continuing success to one thing. ‘We’ve never compromised on our principle of ‘quality over quantity’ for both exhibitors and target audience,’ Ian Thompson, managing director of Decorex International, explains. ‘Our visitors know that they will find high quality merchandise which is just right for their projects, showrooms or stores. In turn, our exhibitors are delighted to find that four days here – not to mention the preparation for the show – bear fruit as the serious leads made at the show turn into real sales. By sticking to this formula, Decorex 2006 did it again.’
