Bang Universe to create contradictory exhibition at Formex “After Before Party navigates between hope and fear for the future”

Formex, the largest interior design fair in the Nordics, is set to reopen its doors on the 18th of January. With next edition’s theme titled Next Mindset, Formex has commissioned design agency Bang Universe who in turn will translate the theme into an exhibition called After Before Party. To help explore mankind’s attempt to navigate feelings of hope and despair about the future, the design agency has enlisted stylists Ida Lauga, Fanny Hamlin, Camilla Gantelius and Dennis Valencia.

“Formex commissioned us to look at the theme Next Mindset and our thought process kicked in straight away; these are questions on everyone’s minds after all. We’re in this strange limbo; not yet out of the pandemic but also not in the most critical phase – and we know that there will be an ‘after’. After Before Party paints a picture of the future and where we’re at right now as we see it; mixed feelings of dystopia and optimism, where the party is still going. Perhaps sometimes in a slightly distasteful way even. We want to socialise, go out shopping and have a good time – but are we able to? And how? These are the questions we’re exploring in this exhibition,” says Theresia Svanholm, founder and Creative Director at Bang Universe.

In January 2022, visitors and exhibitors will gather with a whole new mindset. Two years of living in a pandemic has had a big impact on the industry in more ways than one. Many of the exhibitors at Formex have seen an increase in the demand for interior design products as people are now spending more money on their homes in a time when travelling isn’t possible and working from home is the new norm for many. At the same time, deliveries are delayed and products are sometimes out of stock which causes problems globally for suppliers and customers alike. There is now a huge demand among both exhibitors and visitors to meet in a physical context to create new trade opportunities.

“Business as usual and everything having changed – after three cancelled editions of Formex, that’s the feeling ahead of our upcoming launch in January 2022, where we’ll focus on Next Mindset as our theme. We’ve spent a lot of time developing the trade show in line with the global sustainability goals presented by Agenda 2030. Here at Formex we aim to spread knowledge and inspire growth. Together with exhibitors and visitors we have the opportunity to create an interior design market where trends, talents and business thrive and get together in innovative ways,” says Kajsa Falck Torlegård, Operative Event Manager at Formex.

To assist with next year’s theme, Bang Universe has hired interior design stylists Ida Lauga, Fanny Hamlin, Camilla Gantelius and Dennis Valencia who have been given free reign to interpret the theme Next Mindset by answering the questions: What will you bring with you from “before” and what would you like to see “after”?

"The main exhibition After Before Party will offer the viewer a sense of stifled laughter and I believe that’s how many of us are feeling right now. We’ve gained insights that require us all to think one step further than our own way of thinking and that’s exactly what Bang Universe is highlighting. The stylists we have invited are all fresh names at Formex. We want to offer them a venue where they’re able to gain a new audience. We are incredibly excited about how their interpretations of the theme will look like," says Kajsa Falck Torlegård.

Formex runs between 18–22 January 2022.