After a yummy Italian lunch it was a quick power walk (along the moving walkways – god bless our ever efficient Germans friends!) to Hall 8.0 to see Miss Etoile. Quick insider tip: if your feet are aching from all the walking between halls, have a quick ice-cream break at one of the numerous Haagen-Dazz ice-cream stands dotted all over the place – we may have had one or two….

Miss Etoile is well-known Danish homeware company with a unique and stylish look. Inspired by French, Art deco and feminine influences, and with the use of soft pastel colours combined with black lines and shapes, the Miss Etoile collection really stands out from the rest!

To read more, and most importantly see more pictures, of the fabulous new Miss Etoile SS16 Collection and the launch of their brand new stationery and textiles lines see our blog post about ‘Top Drawer with Miss Etoile’.

 

Next up was Hall 11, which was divided into two floors: 11.0 called ‘The Loft’, which was my personal favourite as it was a great place to see the latest trends and be inspired, as well as a chance to see new up and coming companies, and 11.1 the ‘Young and Trendy’ Hall. We had four brands exhibiting here: Pappelina and Hukka Design in Hall 11.0 and Design Ideas and Bosign in Hall 11.1.

Hukka Design of Finland uses natural Finnish Carelian Soapstone (the oldest, purest and safest soapstone on the market) to create an extensive range of design-led cooking, drinking, well-being and home accessories products. Due to the natural properties of Soapstone it can store both heat and cold, making it perfect for keeping your drink ice cold without the need for ice cubes! Plus as a material it is virtually non-porous, non-absorbent and inert, making it allergy safe for use on the skin and food safe for use in cooking, storing and serving. The Orbit Eye Stone Refreshers are one of my personal favourite products from Hukka, as they are great for reviving tired eyes after a long day at work staring at the computer screen!

 

Next stop in this hall was Pappelina on Stand D09.

The Swedish homewares brand Pappelina is known for it’s vibrant and stylish hand-woven plastic rugs (yes that’s right we said plastic but you won’t know for looking!), that are super soft and comfortable to walk on, as well as being incredibly hard-wearing (you can even put them in the washing machine or wash them down with the garden hose!) and non-slip making them perfect for both indoor use and out.

The Pappelina stand looked as visually stunning as always! They were showcasing their new collection FIA as well as the introduction of new colourways to existing designs; we particularly liked the new blue hues they have used this season – petrol and denim – very on trend!

To read more about the new Pappelina SS16 additions, see our post on Maison et Objet and the launch of Pappelina’s new collection!

 

Our last stop was just upstairs in Hall 11.1 to see Design Ideas the American homewares, gift and storage brand and the second of the two Bosign Stands.

Design Ideas is a family run company based in Springfield Illinois – the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln or seemingly better known as the fictional town of the Simpsons! Their products focus on combining style with functionality, resulting in ranges that are fun to use in and around the home as well as the office too!

We love the new home accessories and stationery ranges Design Ideas have launched for the season. I particularly like the use of the on-trend elements of natural wood, chic copper and dramatic black, you can see how well they complement each other in their new home accessories collections as seen in the image below on the right.

How chic are Design Ideas new stationery lines?! The new rose pink colour addition to their existing stationery lines Frisco and Edison is just FAB! Plus the new Savoy brass coated wire desk accessories collection and the other new brass stationery items complement the rose pink colour perfectly – I’m already envisioning how great these would look on my desk, especially that dreamy new brass Coronet calendar – could a calendar get anymore stylish?!

Design Ideas have a great selection of gift products and fun desk accessories. We particularly love their new miniature DesktopCroquet set, perfect for a quick lunch-break game with your co-workers!

Design Ideas are well-known for their seasonal decorative wooden characters. This year they have launched a whole selection of new Christmas designs to complement their existing ranges, including the new colourful Tannenbaum trees and new GingerVillage collection – how cute are those Gingerbread decorations?! Plus no Christmas scene would be complete without Santa’s little helpers the new Nordic Elfs! We’re excited for Christmas already!

 

Our last stand to visit was the second of the two Bosign stands. Whilst the first Bosign stand in Hall 1.2 was showcasing mainly their kitchen related products, the Bosign stand in this Hall had their whole collection on show, including their best-selling LapTrays, TabletPillows, iPad Stands and Cable Hideaways collections!

Also on the stand was the new Knife Air Spreader Series which won the Ambiente Design Plus 2016 Award! To read more about this innovative product, please see our recent blog post on award-winning Bosign products.

Bosign have introduced a new jewellery holder and organiser, the Coral Jewellery Holder, to complement their existing wall-based hanger ranges. The Coral Jewellery Holder is not only great for organising and keeping your jewellery tangle-free, but it also adds an organic decorative element to your walls! Bosign have also introduced new colourways and a smaller size to their best-selling soap saver range. I particularly love the new fresh mint colour – very on trend!

But if i’m honest my favourite new product from the Bosign SS16 collection is their new marble hideaway cable organisers! The hideaway cable organiser  range is already a best-selling collection for Bosign, but the addition of the marble lid makes it an even more stylish, and functional home accessory (if that was even possible?!). Whilst visiting the different trade shows these season, I have noticed the increased use of marble in home accessories and it’s definitely a trend I approve of! Anything marble is on my wish-list at the moment and the new marble hideaway cable organiser from Bosign is at the top of the list!

 

Every year when we visit the Ambiente show, we stay in a village called Walluf about 30 minutes outside of Frankfurt. Walluf is a sleepy but beautiful German town and we find that it’s a really great place to unwind in peace away from the hustle and bustle of Frankfurt, after a busy and tiring day walking the Ambiente show. We always stay in the same hotel, Hotel Zum Neuen Schwan, that overlooks the river and we couldn’t recommend it more highly; comfortable beds, free wifi, restaurants down the road and a great view to start the day off with!

 

Walluf also has some great restaurants, a lovely little Greek/Turkish restaurant just down from the hotel that does the BEST feta cheese dishes, to the more traditional German restaurants where the whole menu is in German (it’s a fun game guessing what to order as the only German we know on the menu is schnitzel!), to Michelin guide recommend restaurants – the image below is of the Michelin guide recommend restaurant Zur Schlupp, that we went to on Saturday night – the food was amazing, especially the desserts!

 

So that’s it, the last trade fair (for us anyway) of the spring/summer 2016 season is officially over, but boy what a great start to the season it has been! All the fairs we have been to; Top Drawer in London, Maison et Objet in Paris and Ambiente in Frankfurt, have inspired and motivated us. We have found some great new brands that we can’t wait to share with you, so keep your eyes peeled for news! All of our brands have launched some really exciting new products for the upcoming spring/summer season and the response from the customers (existing and new) has been extremely positive and we can’t wait to see what the new opportunities for 2016 bring to the UK market!

Look out for our upcoming blog post, Ambiente: Trends and Inspiration!

 

Thanks for reading 🙂