Formex in summary – the home furnishings industry is flourishing

This year Formex, the Nordic region’s biggest interiors fair, celebrates its 60th anniversary. The fair usually takes place twice a year, but the August event had to be cancelled. Instead, Team Formex provided interior design inspiration via city showcases and digital seminars – an initiative that proved very popular.

In June, just before Midsummer, it became clear that Formex, the Nordic region’s biggest interiors fair, would have to be cancelled due to the Swedish government’s decision on public gatherings. Instead of a fair, Team Formex chose to take some of the content out into the city of Stockholm and also to open the event up to members of the public with an interest in interior design.

“When we realized that we had no choice but to cancel Formex as a fair, we began looking at what options we had to do something different in support of the industry. In the end, we hit on the idea of an inspirational exhibition reflecting the times we live in, along with a wide program of streamed talks by international speakers. We chose to serve up showcases and seminars, and to open things up to the public, rather than keeping Formex as the usual trade event. We had no idea whether any visitors would come, so we’re extremely pleased with the great response,” says Chicie Lindgren, Manager Stockholm Design Events.

According to the Swedish Trade Federation and Statistics Sweden, the home furnishings industry grew by 10.4% in the second quarter. April was a tough month for most people, which means that May and June must have been fantastic for business. The considerable interest in interior design was apparent at Formex’s press breakfast, which attracted the permitted maximum of 50 people. Including the live stream, the numbers for this press breakfast were just as good as for Formex’s usual August press breakfast, with 176 accredited journalists following the event.

“We had journalists logging in from their holiday cottages, and the digital seminar program included many top international speakers that we would have had a hard time securing for a face-to-face program. We can also see that we had followers from all over the world, although the greatest interest came from the Nordic region. COVID-19 has forced everyone to change some of their habits, which actually creates new opportunities for the future,” says Lotta Ahlvar, product and concept owner, Formex.

Summer Design Week generally runs alongside Formex and this year Team Formex encouraged and helped various external actors to open up their premises and display interesting content for the event.

“Summer Design Week was smaller this year, but the offering was of a really high caliber, and the way different sectors showed their commitment and support for the interior design world feels really positive. I’m thinking in particular of the two auction houses, Bukowskis and Auktionsverket, both of which held contemporary design auctions during the event. The final lesson we’ve learned is that people clearly need to interact in person. It was something we heard time and time again over the week – the importance of face-to-face meetings and getting together with other people in the industry. I think that was the biggest plus of the week for many,” concludes Lotta Ahlvar.

Questions? Please contact:
Elin Lervik, Press Officer Stockholmsmässan, elin.lervik@stockholmsmassan.se, +46 760 12 88 00