Welcome to the family: What to expect from Koelnmesse's new format idd cologne

Variety is the spice of life. And of ensuring continued relevance in an increasingly competitive interior design market. The team behind Koelnmesse must have had similar thoughts when coming up with its fundamentally revised concept for the furnishing industry from 2025. The company will present a new format this October that is specifically tailored to the residential and hospitality market segments.

The newly created interior design days cologne (idd cologne) will take place every two years and is aimed specifically at premium brands, architects and interior professionals. imm cologne will remain an annual event, but will focus more strongly on the consumer-oriented furniture market in future. Developed in close cooperation with the industry in order to meet the changing requirements of manufacturers, retailers and visitors, this reorganisation promises a reinvigorated fair experience that cements Cologne's spot on the European design map.

But what exactly distinguishes idd cologne from its bigger sister and what can visitors and exhibitors expect once the Koelnmesse glass gates open on 26 October? Architonic sat down with Dick Spierenburg, Creative Director of idd cologne, to find out.

Cologne has long been an important meeting point in Germany for the entire furniture industry and the Koelnmesse team is in very close connection with everyone involved in interior design. From our conversations with these contacts over the last few years, it became clear to us that a new direction was necessary; that we needed to rethink how we approach the industry. So we started working intensively internally and externally on this new format of idd cologne.

It is an adjustment to the requirements of the market in order to offer the clearly defined target group, the premium design industry, its own platform. We want to show visitors and exhibitors the best of the high-end world and at the same time retain the openness to help shape what is happening around us in the market together with the players. This makes idd cologne more compact, but also more specific, because we don't represent the entire breadth of the market and are therefore better suited for participants from the fields of interior design, architecture and project planning, whom we want to address specifically.

Primarily, it was about offering a platform to dig deeper. By narrowing it down to a specific subgroup and focussing on the theme of ‘Shaping Homes and Hospitality’, we wanted to give premium brands the opportunity to present product innovations and design contexts in a holistic light. The clear focus on the premium sector is very important here to ensure that we really concentrate on high-end design and the brands that produce it. This depth will be represented across all sectors and products with appropriate environments and exhibitions.

It is reflected in the variety of stands we're offering, but also in the programming we are planning and the fact that each hall has a central anchor point to sit and exchange ideas. In addition to home furniture, outdoor furniture, high-quality mattress and bed manufacturers, bathroom furniture manufacturers and fittings, decorative lighting, floor coverings and wall decorations, textiles and carpets will also be on show at idd – so we really do cover all the elements that characterise our living spaces today. We want to stimulate even more inspiration and even more exchange of experience, knowledge and expertise. And we can do that better because we focus a little more on this high-end design part of the manufacturing market.

Outside of the new focus, another big change will be that the city is also taking part. Until now, there has always been a programme in the city during the imm in January that was completely independent of the trade fair. Now we have taken the initiative and are cooperating with many institutions involved in design in Cologne as part of the ‘idd downtown’ programme. This includes the Design Post, of course, but also the Machwerkhaus and many premium retailers and flagship stores in the city. We don't just want to design the trade fair, we really want to create experiences that form a lively, coherent programme throughout Cologne, both at the trade fair and in the city.

It's been fantastic! We are very lucky that everybody so far has embraced this new format with open arms. A lot of brands are really willing to show interdisciplinarity and work with each other, not just in parallel. That has been a wonderfully positive surprise.

We have been observing for many years that offices, for example, are becoming more and more homely, or that hotels are sometimes a little more progressive when it comes to bathroom design. That's what brings us all together. We no longer have this narrow view of a furniture trade fair, but can now integrate larger living environments and show how they are connected and can learn from each other.

That's an important topic for us. We’ve completely reimagined the concept ofidd cologne, which gives it the character of a premiere, a first event, a kick-off, where we are already aiming for a direction. Our initial aim is to provide inspiring insights. But of course we hope to turn it into a larger event that will gain in importance in Europe and perhaps also worldwide.

We will continue to drive forward the vision behind idd cologne in the coming years, because we are firmly convinced that this format has the potential to grow so that the exhibition, the participants and the visitors will all benefit from it in the long term.

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