Size and the modern trade fair: it's what you do with it that counts

Does size matter? Well, when it comes to the traditional physical trade fair, it all depends. On what? How you, as a fair owner or organiser, make your money.

Fairs are getting leaner. We can see this. Take the latest edition of the Salone del Mobile, which, this year, offered visitors a single-level experience, instead of the usual two-floor affair. It was well-attended, but clearly smaller. 

Other fairs, meanwhile, are reducing in terms of their frequency, some to the point of complete disappearance – sadly, as the channels through which brands choose to present themselves, both offline and online, continue to multiply. 

If you're a trade fair whose sole business model up until now has been to sell square footage, then these are undoubtedly tough times. For Peter Ippolito of international architectural office Ippolito Fleitz, ‘the fair needs to rethink a little its business model – whether it’s solely a real-estate enterprise.’ 

With offices in Stuttgart, Berlin and Shanghai, his team describe themselves as ‘identity architects’, going beyond the design of spaces. Focusing also on product design and communications, they seek to deliver projects that are akin to total experiences. 

And this kind of value-added, richer experience is what, according to Ippolito, fairs now must do in order to remain relevant and, by extension, survive. ‘They have to become a broker of information or a content creator,’ he argues. ‘They could be much more the driver about the conversation in the field. Or conversations, as there are plenty.’

But isn’t this the case already? Talks programmes, for example, have been part of a fair’s offering for many years now. Ippolito explains: ‘I’m not talking about a 200-square-metre corner in the last fair hall where you have a podium and somebody speaking to 50 people. I’m thinking about how content drives the conversation and the products kind of chime in.’

Given the proliferation of design products out there, plus the continued growth in channels that present them – to greater or lesser degrees of curation – orientation, or some kind of credible leadership, is needed. (This is where Architonic comes in, of course!) But, the same goes for expert knowledge and new ways of thinking. 

Design fairs, as physical hubs for the coming-together of legions of international professionals, are ideally placed, you might say, to operate as the curators, the enablers, of new-concept debate and development. Idea generators – or, at least, idea refiners – that serve, as Ippolito puts it, as ‘marketplaces for the many perspectives on how our lives work right now and how the furniture market, the living market, reacts’. And savvy design manufacturers could be part of this, supporting or aligning their brands with such thought production. 

Watch our exclusive interview with Peter Ippolito to get his insights in full, including why fairs need to connect more with their host cities.

Photos © Ippolito Fleitz Group / Eduardo Perez (Geberit) / Monica Menez (Object Carpet)

© Architonic

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