COLOGNE - Along with Ligna, one of the woodworking industry’s largest trade shows, interzum, will take center stage May 16-19, with thousands of visitors converging in Germany. OVVO, Salice, and Häfele were among the show's prestigious winners.

 

The show for materials, components, design and interior finishing, interzum is live in Cologne. Sponsored by Koelnmesse, the fair features more than 1,600 exhibitors from 60-plus countries. Spread across 10 halls and 1.94 million (gross) square feet of space are innovative products for the manufacture of furniture, cabinets and related products, including flexible hardware and storage solutions, connectivity enhancements, panel developments, and new surface colors, textures and finishes.

 

“It is our aspiration to embrace the entire range of exhibitors. From large, well-established corporations to up-and-coming, recently founded companies,” noted Matthias Pollmann, interzum project manager.

Every two years, the interzum award: intelligent material & design is bestowed upon the best designs in the international supplier industry for the furniture and interior decorating industries. The winners were announced and celebrated May 15 at an award ceremony in Cologne.

Over 240 entries from 28 nations competed for the prestigious award.

Winners, decided by an international jury of five experts, were judged on criteria such as degree of innovation, material quality, shape, and functionality. The 12 "Best of the Best" winners included:

The OVVO V-0930 connector is an invisible, tool-free connection system with a smaller profile that works best in material of thickness 12 mm and above. Available in a permanent or releasable version, the innovative dovetail design delivers increased intrinsic tolerance, leading to enhanced tensile and shear strength of the overall component, while the central rib confers increased joint rigidity. The new single-piece housing makes automatic insertion possible for high volume applications.

Fusing technology and aesthetics, Salice's Air hinge is fully adjustable in three directions, features a soft-close mechanism, and is nearly invisible. Salice Air is a 2016 IWF Challengers Winner.

The Ixconnect connector SC 8/25 is a one-piece connector for assembling light furniture applications. It can be used in standard drill holes with a diameter of 8 mm, and combines furniture components easily and quickly without any tools by pressing together. The connector is intuitive and user friendly. The Ixconnect connector SC 8/25 disappears in the finished piece of furniture.

Other winners included:

• Steelforce Smart Place: Actiforce International
• Organoid Technologies
• Out for Space: karuun
• Peka Floro: peka-metall
• ComfortSwing: OBE Hettich
• Goodside Fusion: OKE Kunststofftechnik
• Shrinx: KRALL + ROTH
• In-foam printing: Covestro Deutschland
• VunderTech: Vöhringer

The jurors also awarded the title of "High Product Quality" to 40 products which stand out significantly from comparable products thanks to their excellent design. Learn more about the winners here.

Interzum's display categories include: Materials & Nature, such as wood, veneers, decorative overlays, panels, edges and surface treatments, adhesives, embossing cylinders and press plates (Halls 4.2, 6 and 10.2); Function & Components, such as lighting, furniture and cabinet products, and hardware (Halls 4, 5, 7 and 8); and Textile & Machinery for upholstery and bedding (Halls 9, 10.1 and 11).

 

The 2017 attendance is projected to surpass the previous show, which was attended by more than 57,500 visitors from 143 countries.