DOMOTEX 2012: Business meets Lifestyle

The flooring trends and fashions for the 2012/2013 season will be on show at DOMOTEX, the world’s foremost trade fair for carpets and floor coverings, from 14 to 17 January 2012. "DOMOTEX is a business platform and flooring lifestyle show in one, a powerful mix that makes it the most important annual event for the international carpet and floor coverings industry," commented Deutsche Messe Management Board member Dr. Andreas Gruchow.

He adds, "All indications are that it's going to be a great success. The global market leaders will be out in force, plus there's the hotly anticipated premiere of the Wood Flooring Summit, a new, improved site layout and a range of new online services. With features like these, our exhibitors know they will be in pole position for new business."

Themed "Customized Living" DOMOTEX 2012 is where 1,400 exhibitors from over 60 nations have chosen to exhibit their new collections and design developments. The range is truly comprehensive, encompassing everything from hand-knotted and machine-made carpets, parquet and laminated flooring through to textile and resilient floor coverings. Architects, interior designers, skilled tradespeople and wholesalers and retailers of furniture and interior furnishings can look forward to a multitude of exciting new products, trends and developments for both the domestic and contract furnishing sectors.

They will be able to gain a complete overview of the international carpet and floor coverings market because DOMOTEX draws some 83% of its exhibitors from outside its host country.

Trade visitors can compare different manufacturers, products and prices, negotiate directly with suppliers and learn about the latest trends - all under one roof. DOMOTEX is equally advantageous for exhibitors, who benefit from the highly international composition of the fair's trade visitors (with 63% coming from beyond the host country).

Customized Living - keynote theme

Personalization is one of the defining trends of our age and has an enormous bearing on interior design. Carpets and floor coverings in particular offer almost unlimited scope for individual design. The customer can choose from a rich palette of off-the-rack materials, colors and formats, not to mention the customized products that a growing number of providers are now offering. Dr. Gruchow: "Increasingly, our human desire for greater individuality and self-realization is finding direct expression in the design of our own four walls." These trends are reflected in the lead theme chosen for DOMOTEX 2012, "Customized Living." The theme symbolizes the leading design trends among the carpets, textile and resilient floor coverings and parquet and laminated flooring products that will be on display at the fair.

DOMOTEX 2012 will also feature highly targeted special displays, speaking events and panel discussion on interior décor and design that will yield new ideas and insights for visitors from the wholesale/retail sector, the skilled trades, architecture and interior design.

Wood Flooring Summit attracts full complement of market leaders

Located in Hall 9, the Wood Flooring Summit puts hard flooring at center stage at DOMOTEX with a winning combination of exhibition space and central information and event zones.

"All the market leaders are coming to Hannover to present their latest product developments. The premiere of the Wood Flooring Summit really is promising to be a first-class showcase," Dr Gruchow said. Leading manufacturers like Amorim, Barlinek, Bauwerk, Berry Floor, Classen, Egger, Faus, Hamberger, Kaindl, Kährs, Kronotex, Margaritelli, MeisterWerke, Parador, Spanolux/Balterio, Tarkett and Unilin/QuickStep will be showing a diverse range of parquet and laminate flooring products.

Online services for exhibitors & visitors

Deutsche Messe has significantly extended the functionality of its online exhibitor database at www.domotex.de. DOMOTEX exhibitors can now include more detailed descriptions of their companies and products, and can add photos, logos, application examples and much more. This will enable exhibitors to create comprehensive company and product profiles that attract more attention from existing and potential customers. The service helps visitors plan their time at the fair more effectively and gives them all-year-round access to highly targeted information on products and providers of interest to them.

DOMOTEX 2012 will be supported by Match and Meet, a new Internet-based service that intelligently matches DOMOTEX exhibitors with relevant visitors and vice versa. To use the service, trade visitors first create a personal profile online at www.domotex.de, specifying the kinds of products and services they are interested in. The matchmaking software then compares the partner search requests made by visitors with the exhibitor and product profiles stored in the DOMOTEX exhibitor database. Users automatically receive lists of matches, complete with contact details, so that they can contact potential partners to arrange meetings.

DOMOTEX2go mobile trade fair guide makes all the key DOMOTEX website functions available to users of cell phones and smartphones. With DOMOTEX2go, trade fair visitors can use their mobile phones to locate exhibitors, products, and events and to create their own personal schedules.

The guide can be downloaded free of charge at
www.domotex2go.de or the Mac App Store.