How do trendsetting flooring concepts come about? Simple: just take creative thinkers from five countries and renowned designer Stefan Diez as their mentor and organise a workshop in Diez's studio in Munich. Following an invitation by Deutsche Messe and Stefan Diez, a group of pioneering designers came together in July to work on DOMOTEX's new "Young Designer Trendtable" venture. Since then, the team has done a lot of research and experiments to identify new trends for the flooring industry and to provide fresh impulses.

At DOMOTEX 2017, visitors can take inspiration from the results of the international designers' work, exhibited in Hall 9. In five individually designed exhibition areas, the young talents will be showcasing their trend statements for 'future flooring', implementing their visions in the form of an installation. The Trendtable will not only be a magnet for industry visitors, but also for exhibitors looking for inspiration.

On Sunday, 15 January 2017, the Young Designer Trendtable will be the focus of DOMOTEX-Dialogues: design critic Dr. René Spitz will interview the young designers and discuss their approaches to flooring design (12:15 to 13:00 – Innovations@DOMOTEX area in Hall 6). From 13:00 to 14:30 the designers will introduce their installations in a guided tour on the subject of 'Trend Spotting', moderated by Melanie Seifert (World-Architects).

DOMOTEX-Young-Designer-Trendtable 2017 – Trend Statements

Bilge Nur Saltik from Turkey and the UK:
"Hard and soft, industrial and artisan – playing with contrasts"

Bilge Nur Saltik from Istanbul has a vision for the flooring of the future that combines hard with soft materials, and industrial with artisan joining methods. This leads to an unusual floor covering with a unique haptic quality. She draws attention to the transitions between different materials as an element of design.

Jane Briggs and Christy Cole (Briggs&Cole) from Scotland:
"Merzing" – reformulating contemporary and site-specific spaces

The vision of Jane Briggs and Christy Cole takes inspiration from Kurt Schwitters' Merzbau in Hanover, in which a whole-room installation covers the floor, walls and ceiling. In the same way, the floor covering by these two Glasgow designers is to be suited to all surfaces, combining craftwork with digital printing and high-tech materials. The idea of personalising digital printing and creating individual, high-quality collages makes it possible for users to commission "their" exclusive floors.

Klaas Kuiken from the Netherlands:
"The user makes the floor"

Klaas Kuiken sees the future of floors in constant change of the surface. His design is about interaction with the floor: when users walk on tile-like elements that are connected to each other but react individually to pressure and shift slightly as they do so, colours or optionally light become visible at the edges. As with a high-tech track, people leave traces on the flooring and change it.

Hanne Willmann from Germany:
"Celebrate craft heritage, create new authenticity"

The vision of the Berlin designer Hanne Willmann for the flooring of the future is about a new authenticity, and about increasing appreciation of craftwork and making it visible again. Her project puts the spotlight on the processing and manufacturing methods of various floor coverings. She takes inspiration from experiments with colours, materials, tools and processes.

Victoria Wilmotte from France:
"A new look for the stone floor – focus on the joint"

Victoria Wilmotte's vision of a floor of the future turns to traditional materials like stone and marble, but combines them in a new way. This designer from Paris breaks with the usual system by using binders of artificial resin. This makes new arrangements possible, and the joint, in the past usually an unwelcome aspect, takes centre stage as the connecting element in order to determine the appearance of this innovative stone floor.