Trends, inspiration, networking and the latest functional textiles at Heimtextil 2024

Have you seen the videos that have done the social-media rounds for a while now, making fun of the Swiss and their apparent obsession with wearing ON sneakers? Seemingly transcending age brackets and class demographics, the home-grown shoe brand has become as reliable an index of Swissness as cheese or chocolate. (Full disclosure: I’m wearing a pair of ONs as I write this.)

But it could be argued that a popular Zurich-based bags and accessories company is just as much a marker of identity in this respect. QWSTION, which launched 15 years ago, has innovated from the start, not least in the materials it uses. Chief among them is a bio-textile called Bananatex, made entirely from naturally grown Abacá banana plants. The result of three years of research and development, the wonder-stuff’s biodegrability belies its strength, making it a major achievement in sustainable-material development. 

Bananatex is just one of the judiciously selected materials that’s made the trends section at Heimtextil, the international, big-top trade fair for contract and home textiles. With the show’s 2024 edition fast approaching (the fair will run from 9 to 12 January at the Messe Frankfurt), Heimtextil Trends 24/25 is gearing up to surprise and inspire architects, interior designers, planners and other professionals keen to expand their knowledge of the latest developments and innovations in textile-based products. 

The overarching Heimtextil Trends 24/25 theme this time round is ‘New Sensitivity’, which will showcase three approaches to textile transformation: the plant-based production of textiles; the support of textile cycles by technology; and the bio-engineered use of natural ingredients. 

But while the trend themes may change, the relevance of Heimtextil for professionals and the project business doesn’t. Described by the fair organisers as ‘the marketplace for contract’, its ‘Interior.Architecture.Hospitality’ strand guides A&D visitors through the halls to the exhibitors that are most relevant to them, while providing a programme of informative and engaging content. For example, the Interior.Architecture.Hospitality FINDER  (as the name would suggest) indicates clearly where the contract brands are located and how to reach them, while a range of TOURS and TALKS & TOURS especially devised for design professionals hand-deliver them to a curated selection of stands across various halls.

Chief among them is Hall 4.0, where an exhibition entitled Interior.Architecture.Hospitality LIBRARY features an intriguing selection of functional textiles and wall coverings deemed worthy of inclusion by an esteemed jury of experts in the field: Gerhard Sperling, head of the technology department at the German Home Textile Industry association, along with Jasmin Grego, Co-founder of GREGO architects and Felix Diener, creative director at Marburger Tapetenfabrik. Contract planners on the ground at the fair are welcome to join the jury for an in-depth LIBRARY TOUR of the exhibition, while those unable to be there can get to virtual grips with the textiles featured in a special online version of the library.

Want to get some insights into the jury’s decision-making process? That’s where Architonic comes in. I’ll be interviewing Felix live at Heimtextil in January, discussing with him the whys, the hows and the whats of their deep dive into the functionality of textiles, so please do come along. What’s more, I’ll also be taking to the stage with award-winning spatial designer Werner Aisslinger and renowned Amsterdam-based product designer Carole Baijings for  lively conversations about, respectively, the role textile-based materials can play in architectural storytelling and how colour follows context when it comes to textiles.

So get your best threads on and we’ll see you in Frankfurt!

© Architonic

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