Studio Aisslinger and Trevira Predict Textiles’ Future at Heimtextil 2020
In a future according to Werner Aisslinger, public transportation is cozy, healthcare environments are inviting, and cars—self-driving—are communicative lounges. Last week at home and contract textile trade show Heimtextil, the German designer, founder of his namesake firm Studio Aisslinger, teamed up with Trevira, manufacturer of flame retardant polyester fiber Trevira CS, to present “Textile Future by Trevira CS.” The 6,500-square-foot installation addressed the potential of textiles in tomorrow’s public spaces, hospitality, healthcare, mobility, and workspace design. Some 250 Trevira CS products were used in the stand, in order to demonstrate various possibilities and applications.
“We’re not textile designers, but we’re using fabrics all day long as a studio doing big contract projects—working with textiles is not strange to us,” says Aisslinger. For his predictions, the designer drew from experience as both a furniture designer and an interior designer—furniture manufacturers Capellini, Dedon, and Rolf Benz, as well as hospitality chain 25hours Hotels are on his firm’s client list.
In an abstract self-driving car rendered in sunny yellow in the mobility section, upholstered lounges face off, encouraging communal interaction. “Future mobility will be more conceptualized around use of the interior, with more thought spent on the car as a space for spending time verses driving,” Aisslinger notes. Nearby in a conceptual train, green upholstered lounge chairs cocoon and swivel. “Public transport will be cozier, friendlier, and in general less cold than it is right now,” he adds.
In the workspace section, an enclosed pod provides a sheltered meeting space. “Offices are undergoing a permanent evolution—this is not a topic we see as frozen,” Aisslinger notes. “High-desking, communication corners, low-desking, co-working, capsule spaces—these are here already.”
With colorful and cushy upholstered pieces, the healthcare section is a far cry from clinical—and that’s intentional, Aisslinger reveals. “We are working on our first health project now, a retirement home scheduled to open in 2020, and the client asked us to do something different. At this time, senior care facilities are all standardized and so boring— when people really want a nicer world.”
Throughout interior architecture as a whole, Aisslinger expects improvement. “Those who create or run a space must be better in a digital age—it’s something special, outstanding, or experience-orientated that makes people move,” he says. “Otherwise, they will stay home and order take-out.”
Read more: 15 Product Highlights from Heimtextil 2020
