Light + Building 2016: Innovations in lighting

The designs for new lighting products take home comforts and aesthetic refinement as their starting point. The result is an inspiring mix, concomitant with classical archetypes and futuristic technology; these are the trends for the 2016/17 season.

From 13 to 18 March 2016 these trends will be translated into four home scenarios at the Light + Building Trend Forum, providing an inspirational point of attraction for the specialist retail trade, designers, architects and interior architects. The focus is on various stylistic trends, which integrate ultramodern home scenarios and selected products into unusual domestic design contexts. The spotlight is not just on new products, but also on traditional favourites and innovative technology. The internationally renowned Trend Bureau bora.herke.palmisano, from Frankfurt am Main and Berlin, is responsible for identifying the trends and staging the Trend Forum.

‘progressive & decorative’ – futuristic, decorative, glitzy
The ‘progressive & decorative‘ scenario creates surprise by juxtaposing progressive product development and decorative aesthetics. The style combines futuristic and decoratively glitzy elements with craftsmanship and new technologies.

It poses the question as to a potential science fiction. New 3D printing processes, LED and OLED technologies and new possibilities in terms of surface textures, materials and structure provide the answer. Surreal forms, fashioned from the latest technology and/or traditional craftsmanship, are combined audaciously to create a completely new stylistic idiom. Added to this is a fusion of the abstract form with bizarre surfaces, hyper modern optics, splashes of synthetic colour and transparencies. This futuristic ‘progressive & creative’ style brings the future to life.

‘liberal & manifold’ – multifaceted, unconventional, original
‘liberal & manifold‘ combines multifarious, original ideas in an open and unconstrained way. This multifaceted, young style rejuvenates the world we know, refreshes retro features and, in so doing, creates something new.

An unfettered passion for experimentation and unconventional ideas give rise to lighting products that are unique in character. Lighting that is both multifunctional and multifaceted is the result, whether with a retro look or in cartoon style with amusing designs or eye-catching shapes. Nonconformist, classic designs also have their place in this context. They all share the flexibility of adapting to different needs and everyday scenarios, whilst maintaining a striking originality. There is no limit to the possible combinations of different materials.

‘ingenious & significant’ – functional, clear, calm
This style impresses us with clever and minimalistic solutions producing standout lighting effects. Architectural purism combines with innovative concepts, aesthetic perfection and new design to create a lighting effect that blows us away. This clear, architectonic style is inspired by functionality and reductions. No superfluity or complication disturbs the calm of the room.

Indeed, the clarity of the stylistic idiom and deliberate artistry of the solutions are a feature of the design. The emphasis is on new lighting technologies and minimalistic concepts to create spectacular lighting effects that make the room itself a visual highlight, with the use of high-quality, simple and functional materials.

‘pristine & desirable’ – beautifully crafted, poetical, authentic
Inspiration comes from nature and the botanical world for this style to create poetical and emotionally desirable designs. It is infused with allusions of nature: in organic forms, in the spectrum of natural colours and the world of bud, leaf and plat motifs.

Whilst the materials and pristine forms evoke the natural world and the craftsman’s hand, the design has a poetic touch. This style also highlights nostalgic charm and echoes of the past. At the same time it blurs the borders between indoors and outdoors – botanical designs bringing nature indoors, while modern outdoor lighting effectively extends the living space onto the patio and into the garden. A love of experimentation and craftsmanship provide the focus for the use of materials.

During Light + Building the designers from the bora.herke.palmisano Trend Bureau offer the opportunity to gain a deeper appreciation of the Trend Forum with lectures and subsequent guided tours providing additional useful information. The lectures and guided tours will take place in German and will be simultaneously translated into English. The Trend Forum takes place in the passage between halls 5.1 and 6.1.

Luminale parallel with Light + Building: The biennale of lighting culture
Light + Building goes City: during the evening, Luminale provides a bridge between city and exhibition centre. From 13 to 18 March 2016, the biennale of lighting culture showcases up to 200 unique light installations in the Rhine-Main region. It is held in parallel with the world's largest trade fair in its field, Light + Building. Luminale forms the evening programme – and not only for visitors to Light + Building. The combination of trade fair and city spectacular transforms the Rhine-Main region into a unique rendezvous for anyone involved with light and lighting. This is now the eighth time that it has offered the unique opportunity of seeing both the architecture 'in a new light' and some fascinating lighting concepts within the cityscape. An opportunity, which, in this form, comes round only every two years during Light + Building.

At the last Luminale, some 170 light installations emblazoned the Frankfurt and Offenbach cityscapes and proved fascinating both for the trade professionals attending Light + Building and for the public at large. Because it is held in parallel with the world's leading trade fair for lighting technology and building services engineering, the lighting spectacle is the ideal stage on which to display projects to an international circle of experts.