Maison et Objet
Location: Paris
Date: January 19, 2023
Website: https://www.maison-objet.com/en/paris
What to expect: This biannual fair marries home decor with interior design. Think bed linens and glassware, seating and lighting, and lots of other bits of eye candy. Many of the exhibitors are organized by theme, allowing you to skip a hall that is not up your alley.
Who you will see: Rising-star and established designers and artisans at the Paris-Nord Villepinte expo center; head into central Paris and your path may cross with Johnny Depp or a Fashion Week model.
Estimated costs: Round-trip airfare from the U.S. to France is never really cheap—especially in early fall—but fairgoers are eligible for a 15% discount on Air France and its code-share partners if booking via the show website. Expect economy-class flights to cost $500-plus and hotel rooms ranging from $55 (budget hotels) to $1,000 per night.
You should go if: You design or decorate for residential and hospitality markets or are a merchandiser or buyer.
Pro tips: Look for pictograms of a phone sporting an electric bolt, a person in a recliner, a hanger, and a teddy bear. These indicate places where visitors can recharge a device, take a break to give convention-center feet some respite, check in coats or baggage, or drop off one’s child to peruse the floor stroller-free. Still haven’t had enough design? If you’re in town for the winter edition of Maison et Objet, be sure to allow time for Paris Déco Off, one of the world’s premier fabric expos, or, as we’ve noted, “fashion week for the interiors industry.”
London Design Festival
Location: London
Dates: September 17–25, 2022
Website: http://www.londondesignfair.co.uk/
What to expect: LDF takes over much of the city with interior design trade shows (such as 100% Design and designjunction), events throughout 11 design districts, commissioned large-scale projects, and site-specific installations presented by the V&A. Design on every scale is represented: lighting, seating, tabletop, home accessories and decorative objects, textiles, wallpaper, surfaces, and so forth. While most of the festival revolves around furnishings, it also showcases other disciplines, such as fashion and jewelry design.
Who you will see: Local design luminaries like Tom Dixon and both world-renowned and rising-star architects. (Kengo Kuma, for instance, created an installation in a Victoria & Albert Museum plaza last year.) But this is London, so who knows? Maybe you’ll spot the Beckhams or the Queen.
Estimated costs: Expect between $100 (near the airport or budget class) and $1,000 per night at a hotel, or $35 and up for a flat rental, hostel, or university housing (yes, rentable dorms). Round-trip flights run upwards of $400. Everything fills up months before the festival, so book early. Watch out as London can get you with tourist activity, dining, and taxi fees. The prices differ by event. Last year’s entry fee to 100% Design, which is the major trade show, was 15 GBP for the public, free for trade (but 15 GBP at the door), and 10 GBP for students.
You should go if: You’re an architect or designer focusing on residential or hospitality, a design arts aficionado, a buyer, or a contemporary art buff.
Pro tips: Since the festivities are located all over the city, get an Oyster card when navigating the underground, rather than individual tickets—it will save you time and some cash. It’s also a good idea to star the places you want to go on Google Maps, and then download the app…data and wifi can be spotty abroad..”
Cersaie
Location: Bologna
Date: Sept. 26–30, 2022
Website: https://www.cersaie.it/en/
What to expect: The biggest ceramic tile fair in the world, Cersaie exhibits tiles and slabs for every style—traditional, transitional, and contemporary—in a massive multibuilding complex. Trends spotted here often indicate what’s coming down the pike for the U.S., and manufacturing processes in Italy are so high-tech now that faux stone and wood products look and feel like the real thing. (The North American equivalent, Coverings, is a smaller alternative if you’re looking to cut travel time and cost. This year it’s running April 20–23 in New Orleans.)
Who you will see: Mostly other A&D professionals and tile distributors of every age group and from all continents. This is not one of those interior design trade shows where a celebrity keynote speaker is the real draw (although starchitect Norman Foster delivered the 2016 address), but you get to mingle and gorge on gelato with colleagues in a beautiful medieval and Renaissance city.
Estimated costs: While it’s a fraction of the cost of Salone in Milan, this is still a splurge of a trip. Airfare ranges from $450 to $1,400, for example, and depending on hotel class and location, rooms can be $150 to $900 per night. Rentable apartments run between $50 and $1,500 per night.
You should go if: You’re a commercial or residential interior designer or architect, kitchen and bath remodeler, or tile and stone distributor or installer.
Pro tips: Look around for some exhibitors (usually the larger ones) serving free espresso, desserts, cocktails, et al. Many of them also offer free bottled water! And don’t forget to explore the city: This is Italy’s foodie paradise, so mangia e bevi, climb the medieval leaning Torre degli Asinelli (if you don’t suffer from vertigo or fear of heights) for spectacular views and photo opportunities, or visit the numerous historic churches
Heimtextil
Frankfurt, Germany
Dates: January 10–13, 2023
Website: https://heimtextil.messefrankfurt.com/frankfurt/en.html
What to expect: Textile heaven, featuring both home and contract products including bedding fabric, window and wall coverings, furniture-upholstery-grade textiles, fibers and yarns, and textile technology. For the latter, there might even be machines on-site demonstrating digital printing. More than 60 countries participate, offering insight into global, regional, and cultural trends.
Who you will see: Designers, interior architects, hotel specifiers, manufacturers, retailers, wholesalers, and furniture and bedding brands. Estimated costs: Lodging is quite reasonable, from $36 to $300 per night in an apartment or hotel. Flights from New York are another story, at $500 to $900 round-trip. One-day tickets cost 33 euros online or 45 euros at the fair.
You should go if: Young, student, and veteran interior designers and architects, as well as decorators, will discover new dimensional textures, innovative weaves and fibers, whimsical prints, and classic solids and patterns. Specifiers—especially for the hotel industry—and bed and bath brand buyers will also find Heimtextil eye-opening.
Pro tips: Fair admission tickets entitle you to free transportation between the fairgrounds and city center, but only on the RMV (Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund) public transport network. A single-day ticket purchased on-site is valid only for a return trip from the fair using the public transport.