One of the most important things after a fair is the follow-up of the visitor’s comments.
The data show that no less than 80% of the visitors are satisfied about their visit and in doing so, they keep asking for trends and innovation at the same time. 84% want to be specifically informed about trends, colors and designs. 72% demand innovations.
The MoOD visitors also appreciate the high quality of the collections. To these visitors, quality is much more important than the size of MoOD. About 76% visit Brussels to see upholstery fabrics, 50% come for the window coverings and 35% are present for wall coverings. These figures are a perfect match with what is on offer.
Who is visiting MoOD?
The visitors are mainly general managers, design and styling professionals and sales people. They represent companies in the fields of wholesale /agent/ import-export, furniture manufacturing, design, interior decoration and product development.
4 TRENDS AT MoOD
1. Finishing is becoming increasingly important
In order to turn an ordinary fabric into a special fabric, more and more designers are looking for a special finishing. They treat the fabric like a raw material that goes through different stages before it gets its final appearance.
Philip Bruggeman, from Bruvatex, a Blue Drop Award winner explains: “A good finishing adds emotion to a fabric. The velvet that won the Blue Drop Award for Contract is basically a simple viscose velour, but after the finishing it is so ‘soft in the hand’ and ‘fluid’ you can hardly believe this is in actual fact viscose. The follow-up treatment does consist of different steps. First we die the fabric in a dark grey color and we literally strip the color from the surface. We can also ‘emboss’ this fabric which gives us some rather special patterns.” For the next collection Bruvatex is planning a new set of experimental follow-up treatments that will really destroy the fibers. Velour is very well suited to special follow-up treatments. JB Martin and Vigano were also looking for, and found, a very soft touch for the beautiful velour they brought to MoOD. The Belgian De Poortere Frères even used a laser treatment of the piece dyed fabric. This way the company changed a volume product into a custom product which evidently appealed to the textile pros at MoOD.
2. Preciousness is the new luxury
The overload of products in the western world often ignited the desire for valuable, often slowly produced products. Particularly for interiors, the consumer is often led by the emotion of a product. How precious such a product is, depends on many factors.
This can be related to the production, the rarity of the product or the raw material. But it is also the story related to the product that determines whether it is valuable or not. Luxury today is more and more related to finding and obtaining such products. Even in the world of fabrics these values seem to surface increasingly. The people atAlbatros are experts in the field. Their sophisticated fabrics are developed from the most beautiful yarns, and slowly and accurately combined as work of art. The colors are harmonious without ever becoming boring. Audejas also showed a beautiful fabric at MoOD with gorgeous colours. Simple and touchingly beautiful. For those who never heard of Universal Textile Mills, they where hard to miss at MoOD. They took home the Blue Drop Award for Window covering. The Indian company produced a fabric to cherish in lovely, hand embroidered silk. Preciousness was also on the menu at Flocart who, together with top designer Daniel Henry, developed the ultimate wallpaper. Daniel Henry has developed fabrics for many important fashion houses and took on the challenge of this unique wall covering, playfully integrating embroidery and soft matted gold on a non-woven. In other words, every company which is aware of the new luxury, is doing it their way. As a result we discovered a breathtakingly beautiful fabric at Torri Lana, woven from a hand carded and hand spun wool. Small impulses which only increase the astonishment and stress that preciousness is becoming the new luxury.
3. Innovations to save energy or technically amazing innovations
Innovation is not always directly visible. We observed this at various exhibitors at MoOD. Svensson Markspelle, for example, developed NUOVi, a window covering for large window bays that tend to convert a building into a greenhouse.
The technology behind NUOVI is unique to Svensson Markspelle. NUOVI has subtle perforations, and an extremely thin layer of aluminum on the outside, giving an opening factor of 5%, very high reflectivity and optimal glare control. NUOVI is recommended where the focus is on saving energy, combined with aesthetics. And Konrad Hornschuch was also inspired by the energy trend and developed a dark skai® that reflects the infrared radiation of the sun. These so-called ‘cold blacks’ are remarkably cooler than ordinary vinyl. They are a welcome development for outdoor applications, particularly in the contract business.
More innovation on the looms confirms the growing importance of technological knowhow. “Some companies really work magic with a loom”, according to Johan Vandamme, member of the jury and textile engineer at machine constructor Vandewiele Bonas. He predicts the merger of loom related technical insights and aesthetics will become a big challenge for the new generation of designers. Gebr. Munzert has already excelled in the field. The company is known for its incredible expertise on the loom. This time they hit it spot on again and took home lots of awards. The basis of the latest creation is a jacquard on which the pattern is generated by variations of the weft. Because they use shrinking yarns, a special 3D effect is created in the post-processing.
4. Room high reports in wall coverings
The trend has been brewing for some time, but at MoOD last September it become very clear. Wall coverings are the way to add personal accents to a room. The new digital print techniques, as shown by exhibitor HP for example, already illustrated the many possibilities of digital printing on various media.
HP is focusing primarily on wallpaper, where unique creations are henceforth within everybody’s reach. But even high-end brands like Fibertex and Calcutta showed beautiful examples of reports reaching from floor to ceiling. They used a textile on a non-woven for this. Striking was the overwhelming presence of gold in wall coverings, both matt and glossy. Whereas Fibertex is playing with the optical creation of the 3D effect via a combination of matt and glossy, Calcutta turned to a confrontation with different classical styles. The effect was surprisingly innovative
