22 Products for Wellness Spotted at Heimtextil
“Life is becoming less about what you own and more about how you live,” said Lisa White of trend office WGSN in a seminar at international textile trade show Heimtextil in Frankfurt last week. Speaking specifically about the show’s 2016 theme of Wellness—a movement that has evolved into a $3 trillion industry—White explained, “What we’re predicting is that interest in the healthy home will build steadily, as home brands and interior designers explore nontoxic materials for safe and healthy living environments.”
Thimo Schwenzfeier, Heimtextil’s director of marketing communications, agrees that sustainability and well-being within the interior textiles industry will become increasingly important over the next 10-12 years. “It’s slowly growing, but it’s growing,” he says of the show’s Green Directory—a comprehensive list of all exhibitors at the fair who use sustainable production methods. “More and more companies are seeing the opportunities and possibilities of how to produce in a sustainable way. For the trade visitors like buyers or retailers, sustainably produced products are more and more important because more and more end consumers are asking for these products. It’s like a cycle—producers need to offer and consumers need to buy.”
Evidence of this growing awareness could be found in Frankfurt Messe’s numerous and vast halls where we spotted Belgian brand Smartsleeve, who were exhibiting a line of wellness mattress protectors that actively combat allergens and bugs to help promote better sleep. Thanks to a revolutionary 3-D Air knitted construction, all Smartsleeve’s mattresses are ventilating and moisture regulating, but some models go even further. For instance, the brand’s Allergen Protected mattress has been treated with friction-activated microcapsules that release natural probiotics to reduce the chance of house and dust mite allergies. Other variations include a lavender-infused version to help promote relaxation while a eucalyptus-infused model helps to keep mosquitoes at bay.
Continuing the theme of wellness, London-based company mycoocoon demonstrated the benefits of color therapy with a treatment that combines light, color and fabric. Targeted at the office and hospitality markets, the mycoocoon chromotherapy treatment begins with a series of questions in order to establish the users current mood before assigning them a tailored color program to balance out their energy. Seated on a lounge chair under a lightweight suspended shade embedded with LEDs, users are immersed in a tailored “light bath” that will leave them feeling renergised and restored.
Extending upon the theme of customization, Bloc Blinds, who launched in the U.S. this year, introduced its Fabric Changer Roller Blinds that allow users to un-hook and re-hook the fabric directly out of the roller bar in order to easily update their room’s decor. Custom-printed surface patterns or images are also available and can be refreshed for just 45% of the blind’s original cost. “I firmly believe this design is an industry game changer,” says Bloc Blinds founder Cormac Diamond. Meanwhile mattress company Röwa introduced a new made-to-measure system that allows them to produce bespoke mattresses based upon customers’ individual body measurements.
In terms of comforting, cocooning fabrics, Italian brand Decobel led the way with its voluminous velvet textiles while designer Martyna Golik’s marshmallow-like Sweet Pouf took comfort to a new level with its quilted memory foam upholstery. German brand PONGS also impressed with its latest acoustic upholstery textiles; the three dimensional Silencio and the woven Akutex create areas of silence in public spaces such as offices and hotel lobbies, where there is constant background noise.
Elsewhere, shimmering metallic wallcoverings abound with launches such as Graham & Brown’s Artisan collection, which pulled a series of luxurious designs from the British brand’s 70-year archive. Also popular were trompe l’oeil wallpapers that conjured surfaces such as marble, wood and bricks. Dutch brand NLXL debuted new digitally printed designs from its Materials collection by Piet Hein Eek including a new Burnt Wood print made in collaboration with Maarten Baas, while fellow Dutch brand ESTAhome.nl showcased a variety of marble and wood-effect designs.
Rounding out the show and underscoring Heimtextil’s dedication to promoting sustainability, Katrin Krupka, a graduate student of Potsdam University of Applied Sciences, was announced as the winner in the Contract category of Heimtextil’s 4th Young Creations Award: Upcycling. Made from Industrial Cotton Waste, Krupka’s Recreate Textiles offer an exciting variety of potential new applications and hint at an even greener future.
