Young companies as well as prospective product and textile designers will be presenting refreshing inspirations and innovative textile developments at the international trade fair for home and contract textiles from 8-11 January 2019. With a wide-ranging talent promotion program and a new competition, Heimtextil is placing newcomers in the spotlight.

New talent initiative at Heimtextil: with the NEW & NEXT university competition, Messe Frankfurt is promoting young talent in the industry and giving textile designers of the future their first international platform. ‘The competition offers university graduates the opportunity to present their final dissertations to an international trade audience at Heimtextil and establish contacts with representatives from the industry’, says Olaf Schmidt, Vice President Textiles & Textile Technologies at Messe Frankfurt.

With the NEW & NEXT university competition, Heimtextil is targeting national and international universities that specialise in textile design and related courses of study. The winners of the competition will have a stand at the NEW & NEXT exhibition in the “Textile Design” product area in Hall 3.0. University representatives will be able to register for the competition free of charge at www.heimtextil-newandnext.com from mid-August onwards. The deadline for submission is 30 September.

NEW & NEXT has been synonymous with the promotion of newcomers at Heimtextil for many years now. Under this title, Heimtextil presents young labels that have been active on the market for a maximum of five years. Recently, around 50 newcomers to the market presented fresh design ideas to the international trade fair audience. In the “Textile Design” product segment (new to hall 3.0) in particular, young studios inspire with exciting designs. NEW & NEXT participants will also be offering creative design concepts for bathrooms, beds and tables in halls 9.0 and 12.0.

With “House of Textile”, the Association of the German Home Textile Industry (Heimtex), working in cooperation with Heimtextil and various universities and colleges, has launched a competition for students of architecture, interior design and textile design. The aim is to get an idea of what role home textiles will play in the areas of living, working and travel in 2025. The ten best ideas for a virtual room will be implemented and put on display at Heimtextil 2019 in hall 9.0. The five best textile designs (from students on textile design courses) will also be exhibited here.

As part of the programme for the target group of architects, interior designers and hotel furnishers, Heimtextil is offering a series of lectures aimed especially at up-and-coming professionals. Students of architecture and interior design in particular are invited to attend the “Interior.Architecture.Hospitality Lectures” on Friday, 11 January 2019 to enable them to gain an insight into the furnishing of commercial properties with textiles through lectures and a discussion panel in hall 4.2.

For vocational school classes, master classes, PLW competition participants and the ZVR Junior Circle, which will be reorganised this November, Heimtextil is working with the Zentralverband Raum und Ausstattung (ZVR) to develop its own programme to attract young talent to the world’s leading trade fair. ‘Heimtextil is a must for all young interior designers. This is why ZVR is looking forward to being represented at the trade fair alongside its juniors again in the coming year’, says Heike Fritsche, looking ahead.

Up-and-coming interior designers are invited to the DecoTeam stand on Thursday 10 January 2019 at 5 p.m. in hall 8.0. The young masters will also design a showcase while with DecoTeam. ‘At the world's leading trade fair, prospective furnishers will gain an optimum insight into which trends will be in vogue next season. We look forward to enjoying discussions with the new generation and are looking forward to their product presentation while they are with DecoTeam’, says Ottmar Ihling, DecoTeam spokesperson.