Search

Tendence 2010: Show Overview

This is a multi-part series documenting the Tendence 2010 show in Frankfurt, Germany. Read all Tendence 2010 posts here.

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend Tendence 2010 at the Messe Frankfurt in Frankfurt, Germany. Despite having a cold, I hopped on a plane to cover the largest consumer goods fair in the second half of the year.

According to the fair website, “Tendence stands for lifestyle and creativity. It provides inspiration via innovative concepts for the trade, trends and the latest design developments.” This year, the show boasted 2,130 exhibitors from 57 countries on 71,000 square meters of exhibition space in ten halls (phew!), presenting the latest products for the home, furnishing and giving in the coming autumn, winter and — in particular — busy Christmas season to an audience of 57,000 visitors from 90 countries. The other large gift trade show that the Messe Frankfurt holds is called Ambiente, usually hosted in the early part of the year.

Nicolette Naumann, Vice President of Messe Frankfurt explained that it is one of the largest fairgrounds and one of the oldest trade fairs in the world, somewhere between 800 and 900 years old: the Messe Frankfurt was first mentioned in 1150! Unfortunately, much of the original architecture was destroyed in WWII, but some were reconstructed, leaving an interesting juxtaposition between the old medieval architecture and the surrounding modern skyscrapers.

Outside of the Messe Frankfurt (which is so huge you need a shuttle to get around!) is this moving sculpture, one of the Hammering Man series by Jonathan Borofsky. The arm with the hammer slowly moves up and down.

Once inside, we ate at this cute cafe decorated with trees and Eames chairs:

I love how the lighting also acts as tree leaves.

Stay tuned for highlights, some of my show faves, and the young undiscovered designers from the “Talents” exhibition.

Jaime Derringer, Founder + Executive Editor of Design Milk, is a Jersey girl living in SoCal. She dreams about funky, artistic jewelry + having enough free time to enjoy some of her favorite things—running, reading, making music, and drawing.