Happy Birthday, Heimtextil!

To mark the anniversary, Heimtextil will be presenting design classics from the past 50 trade fair editions in a showcase area and inviting visitors to take a journey through time and explore five decades of Heimtextil history. The presentation in hall 9.0 is based on editorials from interior magazines. Four specially designed rooms incorporate colours, shapes, furniture and design objects from past decades. The showcase is complemented by a café that will be realised in cooperation with Schöner Wohnen.

Messe Frankfurt will be requesting the presence of exhibitors and visitors at the highlight of the celebrations, the big Heimtextil @ Night party in Hall 11.1 on Wednesday, 8 January 2020. As part of this event, the host will present an anniversary film taking a look back at earlier Heimtextil editions as well as music acts from the last five decades. Heimtextil exhibitors from the very beginning will be warmly welcomed and paid special attention.

One of these pioneers from 1971 is ‘zoeppritz since 1828’. In an interview, Jan Alt, managing director of the successful traditional company, tells us what the trade fair means to him, what makes a classic and how you keep them up to date.

In 1971, ’zoeppritz since 1828’ decided to attend the first Heimtextil and certainly set an example in doing so. Are you a pioneer?

Jan Alt: Of course. And have been ‘since 1828’. If you're not brave enough to jump in and try something new all the time, you’ll never gain any new experiences. Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn something. That’s why we always try to set a good example – like last year when we banned real fur and leather from our collections and introduced the 'REBORN’ collection, which is based on imitation fur. Our new and ambitious goal is to convert all plastic packaging and polybags etc. to packaging made from renewable raw materials. We think we can convert about 70 per cent by 2021 and complete the conversion by 2024.

At Heimtextil 1971, ’zoeppritz since 1828’ presented a product that was already steeped in history: the LZ127 blanket. This blanket was not only designed for the airship Graf Zeppelin (LZ127), but also contributed significantly to its rescue. How do you keep a classic like this up to date?

On its maiden voyage in 1928, the fabric covering of the airship was damaged over the open ocean. The crew secured the hole with the LZ127 blankets and the temporary solution lasted until the happy landing. A wonderful true story.

The beauty of such classics is that they never go out of fashion. The blanket that saved so many lives is now called HERO. It is very close to the original construction: the meandering pattern characteristic of 'zoeppritz since 1828' and the LZ127 typeface are identical in shape. Only the selection of raw materials is different: today, we rely on merino wool with a pinch of cashmere, giving it the touch of luxury that was the very essence of the Graf Zeppelin airship. In addition to the original, you will also find special editions of our lifesaver, such as the 'MICKEY HERO’ blanket, which was created in collaboration with Disney. Other products have also been derived from the HERO, such as our Z CAPE, which was presented in its original form as a trade fair innovation in the 1950s.

How important was Heimtextil for your company back then? Has a lot changed since?

I was only a few years old back then. So I can’t say from first hand experience. But I assume that the company saw the trade fair as an opportunity to make contacts, just like today: contacts that are either very difficult to make or cannot be accessed in such a concentrated way, and also in order to greet existing customers. At that time, even more so than today, trade fairs were also where orders were taken. Great times! At the start of the 2000s, major customers, such as corporations, slowly started to use the trade fair primarily for inspiration and information. This is also a good thing for us. The fact is that, with the exception of a few years, we have been exhibiting at Heimtextil since the very beginning.

You’ll be back in Frankfurt in 2020. How will you celebrate your trade fair anniversary at Heimtextil?

We’ll have one highlight after another at Heimtextil: we will be presenting the ‘zoeppritz since 1828’ corporate campaign 2020 for the very first time! We were fortunate to be able to develop the content for this in close cooperation with Joachim Baldauf, the star photographer, professor of fine arts and also, a facet that hardly anyone is aware of, a trained weaver. A perfect match with the oldest wool weaving mill in Europe! A further highlight is the collaboration ‘zoeppritz since 1828’ x rosenthal: a collection made from the finest porcelain and textiles that is not only beautiful and to the point in terms of content, but also hard to beat in its poetry. The #331 collection tells the story of a total of 331 years of entrepreneurship. We will also be present with two stands at Heimtextil 2020: in Hall 12, we will be presenting bedroom-related products that are exclusively available at the fair and not through other sales channels. And we’ll also be exhibiting in the Galleria between halls 8 and 9. The focus here will be on 'zoeppritz since 1828' living rooms and accessories. Items from the 'zoeppritz since 1828' x rosenthal collection #331 will be on display in both spaces.

Interview conducted by Kerstin Männer

Find out more: