Dec 4, 2012

Ambiente Talents Reveal the Playful Joy of Experimentation for Modern Living Concepts

Experimental, surprising, forward-looking: one of the strengths of young designers is their willingness to accept creative challenges unconditionally. At the Frankfurt Ambiente Fair, from 15 to 19 February 2013, these talented people will show that conceptual strength and creative lightness harmonise perfectly.

This year, 18 young designers and design studios will be presenting themselves and their work in the special area in Loft Hall 11.0. They come from China, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and Portugal and will bring with them to Frankfurt their fresh ideas, designs and prototypes. “Talents 2013 reflects the current trend towards creating new areas of development. Their exciting designs are therefore concerned with the involvement of the consumer in the individual design process as well as sustainable approaches for a future-pointing lifestyle”, says Nicolette Naumann, Vice President Ambiente/Tendence.

The need to rethink
The young creative talents are free to interpret tradition, identity, material and technology the way they please. For example, under the premise of ‘recycle, reuse, rethink’, Margarida Valente, from Portugal, transforms the paraphernalia of everyday life into new products. At Ambiente, she will be showing creations that the visitor will often need to look at twice before working out what they are: among them seating furniture made of multi-coloured hair ties. With the future in view, regeneration and recycling form the nucleus of Yinka Ilori’s approach to design. Here, the designer from London reworks old and damaged chairs into new, regionally or even globally inspired items with the potential of becoming genuine favourites once again.

Space for body and soul
The approach taken by Kaschkasch, the design duo, is a playful one. Among other objects that the denizens of Cologne will be presenting is their Hopper, a storage system inspired by the Japanese wappa box, which leaves a great deal of freedom of movement. On the other hand, Frenchwoman Geraldine Husson uses unusual clothes and micro-architectures to create hybrids that have shed all formal constraints and yet still guarantee protection. One example can be seen in the multifunctional poufs, whose elastic material adapts to the shape of each individual user and sinuously flows around him. The symbolic meaning of time is what concerns the German product designer Meike Harde in the design of a wall clock: in it, the separated body of a graceful ballerina forms the hour, minute and second hands with the figure sometimes poised as if to jump, or doing the splits or even turning a pirouette. The metaphorical shape of the seemingly ever-young dancer gives cause for reflection on the ephemeral nature of life.

Experimenting
In another project, Harde embarks on new possibilities for textile design and in ‘Zieharsofika’ [approx equivalent to ‘Sofaccordion’] translates the aesthetic of a controlled arrangement of folds into a larger dimension. Among other things, Lina Patsiou is also concerned with materials and production processes. The talented lady from London experiments with the particular possibilities offered by the technique of flocking. In her ‘Fiberland’ collection, Patsiou creates extraordinary sculptural furniture designs. For her ‘Muscar Light’, a light that can be stroked, she uses insulating and haptic properties of the material. The German ‘SHAPES iN PLAY’ design studio on the other hand is dedicated to 3D printing techniques. In the case of the ‘Soundplotter’ vase the user’s voice is incorporated into the design process, thereby creating a unique specimen in which the person himself has been involved.

Elle Decor Award winners from China, Japan and India
In cooperation with Elle Decoration, Ambiente will present selected winners of the ‘ELLE DECO International Design Awards (EDIDA)’ from various countries. In 2013, three prize winners in the ‘Young Designer’ category, will be introduced and among them the winners from China and India as well as product designer Yota Kakuda from Japan. During his career, some of the people he met were Ross Lovegrove and Shin and Tomoko Azumi. Most recently, he worked for MUJI in Tokyo before opening his own studio in 2011. His designs combine Japanese craftsmanship and a clear, future oriented approach to the language of form.

An overview of all the participants in Loft Halls 11.0 and the Talents in Dining Hall 4.0 with fresh ideas for table and kitchen can be found at: www.ambiente.messefrankfurt.com.

Talents promotion programme
“With our own curated promotional programme we help particular design talents to present their creative talents and skills to an international trade public, to establish contacts to manufacturers and to set up or maintain a network of their own”, says Nicolette Naumann, who was responsible for launching the programme. The special point about her approach: participants who make it to the final selection stage not only exhibit in Frankfurt free of charge, but also receive professional support during their entire trade-fair presence. Since 2001, successful Talents have included Mark Braun, Ding 3000, Tal Gur, Sebastian Herkner, Speziell® and Walking Chair. At Tendence 2012, as part of the special ‘Talents 10+1’ show they presented their initial drafts as well as current projects.

Ambiente, the leading international trade fair
Ambiente is the leading international trade fair for products for the table, kitchen, household, giving and decorating, as well as for home and furnishing accessories. For five days at the beginning of the business year, around 4,500 exhibitors occupy 27 exhibition halls to show what consumers will be able to see in shops around the world throughout the year. However, Ambiente is a must not only for the range of products, which is unrivalled in terms of both depth and breadth. The world’s leading consumer-goods fair is also distinguished by a wide variety of events, promotional programmes for young people, trend presentations and awards ceremonies.

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

Background information on Messe Frankfurt
With a turnover of € 467.5 million and 1,725 employees worldwide, Messe Frankfurt is Germany’s biggest trade-fair organiser. The Messe Frankfurt Group has a global network of 28 subsidiaries and around 50 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 100 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