From next Tuesday onwards, Feria Valencia will be hosting fresh editions of Feria Hábitat València and Home Textiles Premium by Textilhogar, with both having expanded to take up eight halls and 96,000 square metres of exhibition space.
Valencia, 16th September 2023.- Hábitat and Textilhogar are back. Big time. From next Tuesday 19th until Friday 22nd September, Feria Valencia will be hosting Spain’s biggest trade fair for the décor, interior design and contract sectors. The figures are awesome and say a lot about the return to the second half of the year of large-scale trade fairs with the ability to draw an international audience.
This year this marks a return to growth following the great results achieved last year, when Valencia was also World Design Capital. Feria Hábitat València, for example, the furniture, décor and lighting event, has signed up 435 direct exhibitors, with 631 companies and brands represented – 19% of which will be from 12 different countries – that will be occupying 20% more space than last time round. Renowned textile fair, Home Textiles Premium (HTP) by Textilhogar will, for its part, be showcasing 81 direct exhibitors whilst a further 250 companies and brands from five countries are being represented.
The total offering across the two fairs comprises 881 international companies and brands, filling all eight halls of Feria Valencia’s Central and West Forums. A total of 96,000 square metres of gross exhibition space, a similar area to last year except that this time, the Cocina SICI Show is not being held as it is biennial.
The biggest Hábitat for a decade, with the industry on a high
This edition of Feria Hábitat València marks its consolidation as Spain’s foremost event for the furniture, lighting and décor sector. The industry is currently in good shape, with output worth 4,690 million euros in 2022 and 1.6% growth in the first quarter of this year according to the AIDIMME Observatory. What is more, exports continue to boom, having increased by 6.6% in the first six months of this year according to ANIEME, whilst sales of furniture were 11% up last year according to consultancy DBK.
All the above is reflected in Feria Hábitat València, which is again delivering higher numbers than the previous year and is poised to be the biggest edition of the last decade, with almost all of the leading Spanish companies present as well as an extensive selection of furniture, lighting, décor and sleep products. Hábitat has also boosted is guest visitor programme this year and has received more than 3000 confirmations of attendance, through an ambitious international programme rolled out in association with IVACE, ICEX and trade associations ANIEME and Fedai in markets such as the US that are particularly important this year. It is worth remembering that 15% of the 48,000 visitors came from 70 countries.
Hábitat is also becoming a design hub. Proof of this is that the recently nominated National Design Award winners will be at Feria Valencia next week: furniture design company Ondarreta is exhibiting, whlst designers Alvaro Catalán de Ocón and Jordi Iranzo, of Clap Estudio, are taking part in the Ágora nude lecture programme. This fair will be focusing on trends, with design innovation and sustainability playing a key role, showcasing leading edge materials and organic solutions: from recyclable PET fibres and renewable raw materials to very long-lasting surfaces and high-performance textiles with, for example, built-in digital, voice-assisted mechanisms.
HTP by Textilhogar, a leading international event for the industry
Home Textiles Premium by Textilhogar, for its part, has become a leading international event for the sector. This year, buyers from 43 countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Germany, India, Ivory Coast, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America and Uruguay, amongst others, are getting ready to discover the latest trends in home textiles.
All of this is thanks to an Inbound Trade Mission having been organised in partnership with textile trade association ATEVAL – Home Textiles from Spain, IVACE Internacional and ICEX, that should facilitate new opportunities for international collaboration and expansion for the companies exhibiting at the fair.
‘Textile Manufacturers Boulevard’ set to share space with leading Spanish furniture design companies.
Home Textiles Premium by Textilhogar has given the ‘Textile Manufacturers Boulevard’, the fair’s unique, exclusive space, a boost this year. The space showcases the most innovative, creative designs along with the latest specialist collections of high-quality, designer fabric upholstery, wallpaper and wall coverings.
For the first time this year the ‘Textile Manufacturers Boulevard’ will be sharing space in the venue’s Hall 1 with leading Spanish furniture design companies in a move designed to highlight the potential of the textile sector in the field of décor.
Contract, design and much more on Ágora nude agenda
Particularly notable alongside the offering from the 800+ companies and brands on show at the imminent edition of Feria Hábitat València and Home Textiles Premium by Textilhogar is the extensive programme of activities and lectures. Taking place in the Ágora nude in Hall 4 on Level 3, they will be featuring top-level international professionals.
The issues being addressed over the four days of the fair include the contract business from the hotelier’s and interior designer’s point of view, with a session on Wednesday in the Ágora nude featuring business owners such as Kike Sarasola, well-known interior designers such as Tomás Alía, representatives of HOSBEC and the main hotel chains. There will also be lectures on aspects of sustainability such as re-purposing waste plastic, new materials for interior spaces, trends in textiles, the competitiveness and promotion of design and the role of women in design. Speakers feature a host of design professionals including Inma Bermúdez, Héctor Serrano, José Manuel Ferrero, Héctor Ruiz, Ana Mir, Isabel López Vilalta and recent award winner Álvaro Catalán de Ocón.
Textile trends for 2024
AITEX will once again be revealing the trends that will influence home textiles in the coming year, 2024. This talk takes place on Thursday 21st September at 11am in the Ágora nude. The association will be presenting a paper that is the result of specific research into trends in home textiles that was carried out over the course of this year and reveals six key trends. ‘Eco-tech’ emerges as an innovation common across all trends, evident in designs for products, textures, graphic motifs and colour palettes.
HTP by Textilhogar is also giving more visibility to trends in the commercial part of the fair. Taking the AITEX paper as its starting point, and in collaboration with exhibitors, the fair’s designers have created a stunning, exclusive space in the middle of the hall (Level 3, Hall 3) that is a masterly summary of the contents of the paper. The aim was none other than to afford visiting professionals a quick, efficient way of seeing the key features that will mark the coming season in the world of home textiles.
Exhibitions: from the Salón nude to Gabriel Teixidó
Visitors should also ensure they see the dedicated exhibitions being staged throughout the Hábitat and HTP by Textilhogar spaces. One of the most notable is what will this year be the 19th edition of the exhibition of emerging design talent, Salón nude (Level 3, Hall 4), which features nine young designers and nine schools of design and university design faculties.
Other major exhibits include a tribute to the career of designer Gabriel Teixidó (Level 3) and an exhibit of the work of master Spanish designer Miguel Milá, which is being staged in association with Santa & Cole (Level 2 – Access via the Foro Centro), whilst a concept exhibition by Valencian designer José Manuel Ferrero celebrates his 20-year career that began at NUDE (Level 3).
On Level 3 in Hall 4 there will also be a display titled “Scene from the near future”, that gives a foretaste of what the home of the future will look like, an exhibit on sustainability devised by Andreu World titled ‘Beyond the plastic wave’ and a display about new materials by the Matter library, titled ‘Contemporary Outward Appearances’.
The celebration of interiors is not confined to the fair and throughout the week, industry professionals will have the opportunity to attend dozens of events and exhibitions that are part of the València Design Fest programme.
