In the trend-driven environment of interior design, the ability to re-invent itself is one of the driving forces behind the success of Decorex SA, the country’s leading décor and interiors exhibition brand, which includes hit shows in Cape Town, Durban and Joburg. Being in tune with the economic climate is not merely a trend, but a reality. “The modern world is one of vivid contrasts and fluent extremes. The challenge for us is to showcase the flux in ways that’s future driven, yet accessible and affordable to visitors. So says Melanie Robinson, director of Decorex SA.
Decorex SA, owned by Thebe Exhibitions & Projects Group, is a pioneer of the country’s interiors landscape. Being at the helm of this leading brand, Robinson, together with Cairey Slater, general manager exhibitions have their finger on the pulse of both the exhibition industry and the world of interiors. “Looking at trends shaping each Decorex show, contradiction is simply the name of the game,” she reckons. “The swifter we are propelled along by technology and our daily lives shaped by it, the more pronounced our need becomes for the honesty and simplicity of nature.” Add the rise of recession decor and frugalism to the mix, makes for exciting times where creative solutions are more important to visitors than ever. “The role of Decorex is to interpret these trends – reading the signs of the times and then providing a platform for it to be played out,” says Slater. “The theme coming on strong is ‘simple’, ‘back-to-basics, mix and non-match. Opulence and glamour make way for a new form of minimalism: getting by with what we have. This results in a delightful eclectic look, marked by our show theme for 2009: New Fusion.”
To make it even more worthwhile for visitors to spend a day at Decorex Cape Town, the exhibition and exhibitors will offer value for money, advise on quality investment pieces, practical design solutions and expert advice on how to stretch a shoestring budget. While consumers will turn to things that give them comfort and retain their balance, Decorex Cape Town will also provide for visitors and trade professionals’ insatiable appetite for novelty and newness. Ethical consumerism is another major influence on Decorex SA, as well as exhibitors and their products. Green, with all that it entails has gone mainstream. Waste is becoming the ultimate sin. Showcasing green solutions – and setting the example by our own green exhibition practises, is a responsibility and not simply a reaction to a trend. Any advice on how to stay successful in tough times? “Not resting on your laurels, for one”, quips Slater. “When you’re on top is exactly when you need to up the ante, is the message to our exhibitors. Now’s the time to catch the best of the trade winds, shake things up, stimulate interest and stir up a positive energy for their businesses.
The quality of exhibitors and the way they continue to lift their game is a key factor in building the Decorex SA brand image. “To sustain our standards the brand has to lead by example. We put huge effort into the overall show design to create experiences that invoke all the senses. In turn this motivates exhibitors to strive for design excellence at their own stands.” The capacity to build and maintain good relationships with long-standing partners such as main sponsor Plascon and Sanlam, sponsor of Dream Rooms and young designer projects, are vital. Forging valuable links with new business partners in a wide range of related fields, from tourism and hospitality to fine arts and craft open the doors to new opportunities. Showcasing emerging talent further adds vigour to the show. Taking the brand to new heights Robinson and her team develop new business concepts. These include the much talked about seminar Conversations on Architecture held at Decorex Joburg the past few years. Such was the demand for high-level industry talks that this forum for architects and designers will debut at Decorex Cape Town this year. Leading South African architects & designers Lloyd Rubidge, Mokena Makeka, Robert Silke and Don Albert will join the international keynote speaker Nancy Rogo Trainer, hailing from the USA and Gregg Cornforth from WATG in London.
While tough competition from the global market place is a reality for many of the local exhibitors, the Decorex team believes the South African design industry can face the flow of imports from the East and big brand names from the West through the quality of its design and manufacturing. “Iconic South African design brands such as Haldane Martin, Design Team (who launched their company at Decorex) and our Decorex SA patron - the world-renowned Stephen Falcke – are inspiring role models who make us extremely optimistic about the future, despite the pinch.”
MORE ABOUT DECOREX CAPE TOWN 2009 The New Fusion: Delicate and Daring 24 – 27 April 2009, Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town Discover the “New Fusion”: of modern & focused. Urban & rural. The designed & the discovered. The exotic & close to home. The linear & the lustrous. The organic & the ornate. Decorex Cape Town brings you a unique blend of the emerging and the established, manufacturers and suppliers – large and small. Trade professionals and consumers can indulge in the haute and the handmade; the new simple and the avant-garde. The show promises to be a celebration of Cape Town’s most delicate and daring spaces by talented style shapers, trend makers and décor creators.
SHOW HIGH LIGHTS In the Sanlam, thinking ahead with the next generation style shapers competition, Sanlam and Decorex SA track down a talented brigade of emerging young designers and decorators shaking up the norms. With the theme ‘Delicate & Daring’ as their design cue, these style shapers play with a blank canvas and transform an empty shell to a ‘Home to the New’. Each stand in the Sanlam Dream Rooms, a special salon devoted to dream interiors, is transformed into a fantasy setting of design elements and new ideas. This exquisite collection of high-end décor brands, lifestyle stores, fabric houses and interior decorators merges trends, palettes, materials and patterns with a contemporary edge. These inspirational concept stands bring new benchmarks in interior design, which can be translated freely in the visitor’s own decorating style.
Life just got a lot sweeter for the café society with the introduction of Choc&Mocha, a chocolate & coffee salon designed by Nicola Townsend. Visitors can get their choc and espresso shots in Sanlam Dream Rooms. A carefully selected group of items from the dti’s South African Handmade Collection will be on display, ranging from baskets woven from grass or recycled plastic, high-design hand made ceramic gallery pieces to functional ware showing the mark of its maker. This project brings the crafter a step closer to becoming a successful local entrepreneur and exporter. The Plascon nature-inspired Colour Forecast for 2009 lifts the lid on the hip and trendy colours for the year at a stand designed by Yolande Wieners. This definitive colour-collection introduces 32 new colours in four palettes within the natural theme: air, water, fire & earth. In step with the show theme ‘New Fusion’, the new SABC3 LifeStyle Theatre blends the best pastimes: food talks, designer-diy and hands-on workshops. Get clued up with the latest in home and food fashion, as well as the low-down on the hottest make-it-yourself projects. Conversations on Architecture seminar: Hot design issues will be debated in Cape Town in 2009 as the highly popular Conversations on Architecture seminar debuts at the show. Leading South African architects & designers Lloyd Rubidge, Mokena Makeka, Robert Silke and Don Albert will join the international keynote speaker Nancy Rogo Trainer, hailing from the USA and Gregg Cornforth from WATG in London. “Globally architecture is on everybody’s lips; new iconic buildings are celebrated and architects have become the new rock stars of the design world,” says Cairey Slater, Decorex SA general manager. Due to the increasingly international nature of architecture, the COA-seminars will probe global design trends, while keeping a close eye on the local influences shaping people’s lives and their living, working and playing environments. COA takes place on 24 April 2009, 10:00 – 15:00. The cost of R600.00 includes lunch and entrance to the exhibition) DECOREX CAPE TOWN 24 – 27 April 2009, Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town Hours: 10 am – 8 pm (closes at 6 pm on last day) Admission: R50.
Contact information:Decorex Cape Townwww.decorex.co.za Tel:011 549 8300
Errieda du ToitTel: 021-913 2248 Email: errieda@edtpr.co.za