- With València Design Fest, the Fundació del Disseny is maintaining the positive momentum engendered by the activity set in motion last year during the city’s time as World Design Capital, whilst also giving it continuity.
- Feria Hábitat València, Home Textiles Premium by Textilhogar and Valencia Disseny Week will comprise the focal point of this great month dedicated to interiors and creativity in all its forms
- The launch event took place at CaixaForum Madrid, in the presence and with the support of a considerable number of agents from the design industry nationwide.
MADRID, 30th JUNE 2023 – València Design Fest, is set to take place this September, a design festival that will bring together Spanish and international companies and professionals, reveal local talent, the city’s ebullient creativity and the latest trends in design coming from the Mediterranean. All of this will be part of a schedule of activities and events centred on the industry, plus exhibitions, lectures, presentations, projects being led by emerging talent, pop-up spaces, screenings and themed walks, amongst many other initiatives. Following the success of recent years and the level of interest generated, the programme of events is rolling out over a full month.
The well-established Feria Hábitat València and Home Textiles Premium by Textilhogar fairs – taking place at the same time and at the same venue, 19th to 22nd September at Feria Valencia – are now landmark annual events and, along with the city’s week dedicated to design (Valencia Disseny Week), are set to be the epicentre of València Design Fest, which embodies the spirit of Valencia World Design Capital 2022. It also includes the events in the local Valencian design ecosystem and also those of art galleries, cultural centres and entities linked to architecture and creativity in general.
The most notable initiatives slated to take place next September include a display of contemporary crafts commissioned by Estudio Savage, a series of master classes on the discipline, workshops led by Inma Bermúdez Studio (National Design Prize 2022), presentations of papers on leading figures in Valencian design who are also leading international figures, the première of a documentary titled ‘València 2022’ and the award ceremony for the first Premios de la Fundació del Disseny (Design Foundation Awards), which will turn the spotlight on the discipline’s social component.
This is definitely set to be a month of experiential, participative and open events that will continue highlighting Valencia’s link with and international standing in the world of creativity and design.
A major attraction for the industry
Against this background, the Feria Hábitat València and Home Textiles Premium by Textilhogar trade fairs taking place at Feria Valencia from 19th to 22nd September will be a major attraction for the industry and for sectors involved in design. Hábitat is the main international showcase for Spain’s interiors industry, with an extensive offering of furniture, lighting, decorative items, upholstery and sleep products. The fair grows every year and last year brought more than 48,000 professionals together from 70 countries.
For 2023, for example, and with more than two months still to go until opening day, Feria Hábitat Valencia has already signed up more than 600 Spanish and international companies and brands, with the fair extending the area it occupies and opening up a new hall as a result, taking up a total of almost 80,000m2 of exhibition space. The hall dedicated to the textile industry is in addition.
To complement the above, there will be a substantial programme of events running in parallel to the commercial activity during that week, at the exhibition venue itself. It includes themed exhibitions about the career of designer Gabriel Teixidó, a conceptual review of José Manuel Ferrero’s work over he 20years since he took part in the salón nude, and a display of the best of Miguel Milá, curated by consultancy Santa & Cole, that includes pieces by the designer of the Trenat y Mobles 114 collection.
Hábitat will also be hosting the “Scenes of the Near Future” exhibition inaugurated last year as part of Valencia World Design Capital 2022. Curated by Tachy Mora, it proposes a vision of what our domestic environments will be like within the next ten years.
The Ágora nude lectures will be one of the strong points of this design-centred cultural programme. This year the forum will feature a session on the contract sector and the reactivation of the hotel sector, amongst other things, including the Famous Brands Forum, a fascinating presentation on ‘food design’, an analysis if the trends in design and interior design and the participation of creatives such as Diego Gronda, Adrián Almonacid, Héctor Serrano and the team at Odosdesign.
Topping all of the above is a new edition of the Salón nude, a magnet for emerging design talent, which this year will once again be showing the most innovative creations from both young students, design consultancies and schools of design.
Home Textiles Premium by Textilhogar, Spain’s foremost fair specialising in textiles for the home, will be adding an offering from more than 200 Spanish and international brands. This is the same number as exhibited at last year’s fair, and there are still two months to go until opening day. HTP comprises an excellent showcase of the latest innovations in textiles, design trends, innovations and sustainability for decorating interiors.
For its upcoming edition, HTP by Textilhogar will be enhancing the Boulevard de Editores space and, in a major new move, will be sharing space with leading international Spanish designer furniture manufacturers as a way of bringing in and highlighting the potential of the textile industry in the field of décor. The move also gives interior designers, designers, architects and other specifiers the opportunity to see all the trends and latest products in textile upholstery, wallpaper and wall coverings.
The fair will also feature the presentation of the 2024 Monograph on Trends in Home Textiles, a predictive analysis caried out by AITEX, in which exhibitors also took part.
Support and interest from the industry nationally
A great many of the Spanish interiors industry’s leading entities attended the launch event, including several members of the General Council of Official Decorators and Interior Designers, and Official Colleges of Decorators from across the Mediterranean Arc and the north of Spain.
Representatives of ICEX and the authorities, including the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Development, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Science and Innovation also attended the event, which took place at CaixaForum Madrid in partnership with the ‘La Caixa’ Foundation.
