For its 15th anniversary, the FURNITURE FUTURE FORUM (FFF for short) in East Westphalia was once again well attended with 70 participants from the furniture industry for the event “Trendreport 2022” on May 19, 2022. The furniture supplier network had prepared exciting topics: In addition to a new network partner, the company Strate, and new product ideas for 2023, well-known speakers from the companies Miele and Imos were guests, along with the TRENDREPORT 2022 by Katrin de Louw.
As the first guest speaker of the day, the FFF could win Prof. Dr. Ing. Frank Prekwinkel, CEO of imos AG. In his presentation “Future-oriented digitalization strategies for the furniture industry”, Prof. Prekwinkel explained parallels between the governmental crisis management to Corona and the furniture industry regarding the topics: Digital Insular Solutions, eCommerce, Connected Work and the Supply Chains. As one example, he explained the lack of digitalization that has made health department communications inefficient in crisis mode. As a comparison, he emphasized that the furniture industry also relies on many different systems, so digital interfaces are problematic throughout the supply chain.
As a second lecture Katrin de Louw, owner of the company TRENDFILTER– designzukunft für moebel und materialien, spoke about design trends in the current difficult economic situation, characterized by price increases and material bottlenecks due to damaged supply chains. The trend expert emphasized that it was time for a design of reduction. She was particularly concerned with reducing the complexity of products right down to the kitchen, which, like all furniture in the future, should be designed to make design durable and materials recyclable. But she also emphasized that reduction also makes sense on other levels, such as trade show design or even the product development cycle.
Andreas Enslin, Vice President Miele & Cie. KG on forward-looking product development
In the afternoon, the designer Mr. Andreas Enslin, Vice President Design Centre Miele & Cie. KG, was a guest. His lecture was entitled “Changing Thoughts-Changing Future” and showed final future scenarios that he and his 50-strong design team have developed together with the Zukunftsinstitut. At the beginning, Mr. Enslin showed that man has been perceiving, deciding and acting according to a pattern since the beginning and that the modern world, technology and the abundance of choice simply overtax man’s nature. Among other things, he explained a study by Stanfort University that proved that more choice in stores leads to fewer sales because consumers cannot make up their minds. Andreas Enslin sees it as the task of the Miele Design Center to simplify products and thereby improve the “user experience” but also to reduce the ecological footprint.
The hosts were: Christian Kröger, CONAL, Continental, europlac, furnipart, Hera, Kröning, Lehmann, LINAK, neelsen, PYRUS PANELS, RÖHM, schattdecor, SONAE ARAUCO, Strate Druck, SWL and Van Hoecke. Cooperation partners are OWL University of Applied Sciences, raumprobe and VDM.
Date preview of the FFF:
September 29, 2022: Innovation workshop INTERIOR INNOVATION HUB, Topic: Functionality
November 10, 2022: Event FURNITURE VISIONS, Guest: Peter Ippolito (Ippolito Fleitz Group)
You would like to be invited in principle? Please register here in our invitation distribution list.