Trend Forum Function & Components “Furniture in Change - Shifting Boundaries“

"Furniture in Change - Shifting Boundaries" was the title of the Trend Forum "Function & Components" at interzum 2023 in Cologne.

This special show ventured a look into our near future and outlined how the fittings and lighting industry is preparing for the future with innovations and what topics and issues it is dealing with.

Change is a constant companion these days, our lives are changing rapidly, flexibility and the readiness for change proclaimed by Charles Darwin have never been as important as they are today.

We live together in ever more differentiated contexts, so our way of building will change, along with the way we live. Living is unthinkable without furniture, so there will be changes there as well.

If so much is on the move, how will this be reflected in detail? What does this mean for fittings as the proverbial "cohesion" of the whole on a small scale?

A new togetherness, environmentally friendly and with the claim to solve the future challenges with great innovations is the focus of the trade fair presentation. The special show will be a hot spot for future, circularly conceived product and hardware worlds.

We were able to win over the manufacturer Häfele to disassemble a new drawer system into its individual parts. All materials were checked in order to reassemble them in such a way that the individual components can be easily recycled at any time. The Halemeier company brought solar energy visibly into our living environment and generated the electricity needed for cabinet lighting directly on site. In collaboration with TH Rosenheim, Hettich pushed back boundaries at the special show. With an open approach to innovation, the company was looking into the question of what is needed to transport wardrobes in as small a unit as possible. In this way, transport volumes can be minimised and sustainable concepts implemented.
Linak, the drive specialist, was also breaking new ground with its idea for a chair of the future, which bears the poetic name "Luna". To name just a few partners, many other manufacturers will also be pushing boundaries with us!

We will ask what is possible? Where are the limits of what is feasible in varietal purity for fittings?

Clicking, folding, plugging - the world of fittings in motion, where is the potential for saving material and weight? Circular material, a new material colour circle.

The Trend Forum Function & Components showed a playful approach to these themes and presented a fresh and innovative product aesthetic. The numerous new product ideas stimulate an inspiring and future-oriented exchange of ideas.