The Future of Design Fairs

Over the last century, the design industry has grown and evolved around a calendar of events – an annual merry-go-round of commercial trade shows, conferences and design weeks, where furniture and lighting companies gather together with their customers, suppliers and the press to socialize, showcase their products and create hands-on experiences. When coronavirus began to take hold across the globe last year, and one by one countries went into lockdown, the machine abruptly ground to a halt.

It began in China when the Design Shanghai trade fair and the Festival of Design architecture conference postponed their March 2020 events as the outbreak disrupted travel and business across Asia. In February 2020, the Salone del Mobile in Milan, the world's largest furniture trade show, announced that it would be postponed for two months – a delay that now, with the benefit of hindsight, seems laughably optimistic. Announcements from NYCxDesign and Chicago's annual office furniture behemoth NeoCon followed, as it became clear that this was a long-term and global problem.

Over a year later, and much time has been spent reflecting on what the future will hold for design events and trade shows. While many have been able to successfully move online and smaller shows have been able to adapt, the viability of some of the industry’s larger and more ostentatious events is looking increasingly uncertain in a post-pandemic world.

In an interview with Dezeen, that was filmed just before Offsite's virtual debut, Sight Unseen co-founders Jill Singer and Monica Khemsurov said that in the future, they would consider holding a physical event alongside a virtual one. “Now we have this framework for an online show it would behoove us not to use it again,” said Singer.

Reflecting on the future of design fairs, Khemsurov added: “In the end you can’t fully substitute for seeing an object in person. A physical show will always have a place in our hearts. It's a social gathering – it's a community. Milan [Furniture Fair] is not just about seeing objects, you go there and meet people, you see your friends and take meetings. There are all of these things that happen around the fair that give it value beyond just seeing the work."

Going forward it seems likely that a hybrid event model that incorporates in-person and virtual elements for attendees will endure, even after restrictions have been lifted. In an editorial on its website, exhibition and event company Rapier Group predicted that by 2050, hybrid events will be the norm.

“While collaborative and networking sessions may be hosted in a physical environment, these may not be the focal point of the event,” it reads. “Virtual sessions that allow the event to transcend geographical boundaries and time will make for a more inclusive experience, with technology allowing a degree of connectivity we can still only begin to imagine. Furthermore, AR will blend the distinction between ‘physical’ and ‘virtual’, throwing the overall event narrative into center stage as an experience that can be felt in multiple ways.”

Smaller, More Affordable, Local

For smaller fairs that are more easily adaptable, such as Belgium's Collectible, the future looks more promising. Renamed this year as Collectible Reformatted, the event is scheduled to take place in May with a program that has been adapted to comply with social distancing measures. Taking the form of a four-day design trail across Brussels with reduced attendance and time-restricted entry, the event will also run online through a digital platform for those unable to attend.

Collectible co-founder Liv Vaisberg told the New York Times that more than ever, design needs “to be shown and experienced physically. People need to feel the materials and textures, see the proportions and assess their functionality.”

Before the pandemic took hold, a trend for smaller design fairs, such as Collectible, held in off-the-beaten-track destinations was already gathering pace. These events eschew the traditional trade show format, replacing sterile, poorly lit convention center booths for spectacular rooms in villas and apartments. Nomad, an art and design event that takes place each year in Saint Moritz, Switzerland, is planning to go ahead with a showcase this summer in Chesa Planta – a 16th century alpine residence in the Engadine mountains.

In an interview in Wallpaper magazine’s October 2020 issue, designer Philippe Malouin expressed relief at being able to launch his products as and when they were ready rather than rushing to finish them for an event. Instead of launching his new seating collection for DeSede during the Salone del Mobile in April 2020, it was launched at an event local to the manufacturer in Switzerland in October. "I really prefer to launch things throughout the year rather than all at once, actually," he said in the magazine’s October 2020 issue. "It gives you a chance to think about how you want to communicate it and launch things when it feels right rather than when you need to."

Petrus Palmér, founder of Stockholm furniture brand Hem is in agreement. "We don't need a design week, we don't need a design fair," he told Dezeen earlier this year after having taken the decision to launch the brand’s collection online only. "We realised that we don't really need to pin our launches to a physical fair."

For many former trade show regulars, travelling internationally to attend a fair is still impossible, while for others it will remain an uncomfortable prospect. The amount of time and money needed to attend a fair, not to mention the environmental impact, is no longer so easy to justify. Organisers will have to reexamine what value they can offer to exhibitors and attendees in a post-pandemic world. Whatever the future, it's time to redress the balance.

Article by Ali Morris