31.01.2012 Ambiente 2012: all highlights at a glance

Great ideas, attractive impulses and exciting new products – with around 4,500 exhibitors on 330,000 square metres of floor space in 27 exhibition halls, Ambiente is the world’s biggest and most im­portant consumer-goods trade fair. Its special shows, promotional programmes and awards make it a must for the entire sector. An overview:

New in 2012: Partner Country Denmark
When it comes to design, Denmark has held a leading position for many years and is renowned for avant-garde, attractive and practical products. Now, Messe Frankfurt is proud to present this important design nation as the Partner Country of Ambiente 2012. Organised in cooperation with the Danish Design Centre, the special presenta­tion, ‘10+ Design Forecast Denmark – Future Living’, in Galleria 1 shows product design of the future. It offers ideas for sustainable design solutions and insights into the factors responsible for good design now and tomorrow. With interesting lectures and extra­ordinary activities, Denmark Day invites both exhibitors and visitors to spend time, gather information and participate in discussions in the Galleria between 11.00 and 15.00 hrs on Monday, 13 February 2012. Denmark Day will be rounded off by a guided tour and a recep­tion with representatives of the Danish royal family, business and culture from Denmark and Germany in the special-show area.

New in 2012: Contract Business
Hall 4.1 Foyer
One of the main themes at this year’s Ambiente is the ‘contract business’, i.e., furnishing and equipping complete projects, such as hotels, cruise liners, congress centres and restaurants with products such as tableware, kitchen articles, home accessories, furniture and seasonal decorations. In the foyer of Hall 4.1, there will be a special show curated and designed by Helga Janzon with guided tours, lectures and products of the approx. 180 Ambiente exhibitors of the ‘Contract Business’ segment. Contract-business buyers, such as interior architects, boat builders and restaurateurs can already find companies offering holistic furnishing concepts on the matchmaking platform at http://contract-ambiente.messefrankfurt.com. And, using the digital calendar function, they can quickly and easily make an appointment for a personal meeting at the fair.

New in 2012: Solutions
Hall 4.0 Foyer
The ‘Solutions’ special show is devoted to ‘newness’ – new materials, new technologies and new properties are the distin­guishing features of tomorrow’s consumer goods. Curated and designed by Sebastian Bergne, ‘Solutions’ in the foyer of Hall 4.0 provides an overview and shows genuine innovations.

Talents
New in 2012: Carat: Hall 9.3
Loft: Hall 11.0
Table: Hall 4.0
Every year, the international Ambiente and Tendence consumer-goods fairs help young designers get their careers off the ground. The ‘Talents’ promotional programme holds an established place as a launching pad into the design scene. At ‘Carat’, young jewellery designers have their first opportunity to present their creations in the international setting of Hall 9.3. Newcomers focusing on interior design are to be found in the Loft section of the fair, in Hall 11.0, while young designers with products for the table and kitchen are located in the ‘Table Contemporary Design’ segment, in Hall 4.0.

Ambiente Trends 2012
Galleria 1
Lectures: Room ‘Symmetrie 2’, Hall 8.1
Optimism, lots of colour, exciting contrasts and a focus on essentials – life at home is set to become more colourful and carefree again. And just how colourful and carefree can be seen at the Trend Show in Galleria 1. The designers of bora.herke.palmisano have studied the four trend themes – ‘electric romance’, ‘dark attitude’, ‘light innocence’ and ‘radiant modernity’ – and interpreted them using several hundred products from the latest collections of the 4,500 Ambiente exhibitors. The curators of the exhibition will hold in-depth trend lectures at 12.00 and 15.00 hrs daily.

New in 2012: Plastic Gold
Hall 9.3
The ‘Plastic Gold’ project is based on a technique developed by designer Florie Salnot, which uses old plastic bottles to create unusual pieces of jewellery. All that is needed is warm sand, simple tools and a little paint. The exhibition in Hall 9.3 presents a selection of the most attractive pieces.

Design Plus 2012
Galleria 1
Products that bear the Design Plus seal are genuine eye-catchers. The winning products are characterised by excellent handling, a special feature or innovative technology, and skilfully combine aesthetics with functionality. This year, the international jury of expects has selected 22 products by 18 companies from ten countries and the Design Plus Award will be presented to them during Ambiente 2012 from 10 to 14 February. The jury makes the selection on the basis of strict criteria regarding design, usability and materials. The 22 award-winning products will be on show in a special exhibition in Galleria 1.

German Design Award 2012
‘The Best of the Best’ – 50 awards will be presented in ‘Panorama’ Hall at 14.00 hrs on Friday, 10 February 2012. Only products that have already won a design award can be nominated for the German Design Award. In addition to products, achievements in communica­tion design are also singled out for this honour. The exhibition is bigger than ever before and the winning products and achievements of this interdisciplinary award will be on show on an area covering almost 800 square metres of the new ‘Portalhaus’ building for the duration of the fair. Beginning at the entrance, the exhibits of the gold and silver winners radiate outwards to occupy the entire western section of the ‘Portalhaus’.
www.german-design-award.com

Next
Loft: Hall 11.0
Carat: Hall 9.3
The next step up on the career ladder: ‘Next’ is aimed at young companies with a background in design, which have been able to gather initial business experience and now want to become firmly established in the consumer-goods sector. 14 participants are making presentations in the Loft section, in Hall 11.0 and eight at Carat in Hall 9.3.

Plagiarius
Hall 5.1/6.1 Foyer
Ambiente not only spotlights creativity. It also subjects imitations and forgeries to the glare of publicity when the ‘Plagiarius’ campaign awards its negative prize to intellectual property thieves in Room ‘Illusion’ of Congress Centre Messe Frankfurt at 12.00 hrs on the opening day of the fair. The most blatant copies are officially unmasked by the dwarf with the golden nose and can be seen – together with the original products – in an exhibition in the foyer of Halls 5.1 and 6.1.
www.plagiarius.com

Kitchen Innovation of the Year 2012
Hall 5.1/6.1 Foyer
The ‘Kitchen Innovation of the Year’ award of the ‘LifeCare’ initiative honours innovativeness and outstanding quality in kitchen products and tableware. The award will be presented in the Foyer of Halls 5.1 and 6.1 at 15.00 hrs on Saturday, 11 February 2012. All award-winning products will be on show in a special exhibition.
www.kuecheninnovationspreis.de

A Mano
Hall 4.1
The focus of ‘A Mano’ in Hall 4.1 is on individual, hand-made products and small series from traditional manufacturers and small workshops and companies. With the ‘Table Prestige’ section and its high-grade exhibitors, such as Dibbern, Fürstenberg, Herend, Riedel and Robbe & Berking, Hall 4.1 is the ideal setting for participants wanting to make international business contacts.

Pro-K Product of the Year, 2012
Hall 5.1
The best products made of plastic – the candidates for the Pro-K Product of the Year competition of the ‘pro-K Industrieverband’ for semi-finished products and consumer-goods made of plastic are subjected to a strict judging procedure during which expert jurors assess them in accordance with criteria, such as functionality, design and innovativeness, and choose the winners in nine categories. The award winning products are explained and presented in an exhibition in Hall 5.1.
www.pro-kunststoff.de

Numerous cafés and restaurants ...
… are available for visitors wanting to take a break. For example, Café ‘Manufaktur’ in Hall 4.1, designed by Petra Strickstrock, or Café ‘Flowers in Scene’ in Hall 9.3, the work of Phoenix Flowers from Frankfurt. Danish delicacies, such Smørrebrød and sausages await guests in Hall 8.0. Created by Transparent Design, Frankfurt, the three cafés – ‘Dannebrog & Fisk’, ‘Dannebrog & Smørrebrød’ and ‘Dannebrog & Pølser’ – are sure to be a magnet for all visitor and not just Scandinavia fans.

Note for journalists:
You will find further information about Ambiente and high-resolution photographs on the internet at www.ambiente.messefrankfurt.com/journalisten

Background information on Messe Frankfurt
Messe Frankfurt is Germany’s leading trade fair organiser with € 457* million in sales and 1,769* employees worldwide. The Messe Frankfurt Group has a global network of 28 subsidiaries, five branch offices and 52 international Sales Partners, giving it a presence for its customers in more than 150 countries. Events ‘made by Messe Frankfurt’ take place at more than 30 locations around the globe. In 2011, Messe Frankfurt organised 101 trade fairs, of which more than half took place outside Germany.
Messe Frankfurt’s exhibition grounds, featuring 578,000 square metres, are currently home to ten exhibition halls and an adjacent Congress Centre. The company is publicly owned, with the City of Frankfurt holding 60 percent and the State of Hesse 40 percent.
For more information, please visit our website at: www.messefrankfurt.com
*Provisional figures (2011)