A community site for contemporary interior designers and its related sectors

March – April 2010,

I just came from the renovation fair Batibouw in Brussels. Probably one of the biggest fair in its sector in Europe. 11 pavilions, more than 1000 exhibitors and packed with visitors. I couldn’t really say you felt the economic crisis in there. For an interior designer it is a great fair to go to. All the aspects of building and renovation can be found under one roof (well 11 roofs to be precise), ranging from tiles to paint, curtains, fabrics, bathroom articles like sinks, showers, wetrooms systems, to kitchens and appliances, fire places, drainage systems, heating systems, sustainable energies and so much more. I put a few new items which caught my attention in a post for you, like the Wavin push fittings for multilayered pipes. Not sure why multilayered pipes don’t really catch on in the UK. I would guess the price, although these 3 layered plastic-aluminium-plastic pipes are largely superior over the single or double plastic push-fit pipes and with copper becoming quite expensive they are definitely the better choice. What became the standard on the main land has surely not found solid ground yet in the UK.

The new shower drainage from Gebrit with the waste slot in the wall instead of in the floor is a nice feature for a contemporary look and also the slick digital thermostatic shower valve from Hansgrohe is a great addition to the collection. Since Grohe came out with the digital Ondus design a while back Hansgrohe couldn’t really keep watching from the sidelines. Together with the new range of Patricia Urquiola for Axor, Hansgrohe was a lovely stand to visit. Batibouw runs until Sunday the 7th of Mach.

Closer to home we have London Fabric on the 8th and 9th of March, kbb Birmingham the 21st to the 24th of March, the Ideal Home show from the 20th of Mach until the 5th of April. Worth checking out is the London design week at Chelsea Harbour also hosting a range of lectures and master classes and later on in May we have the London furniture show from the 25th to the 27th at Excel.

Also check out the forum, with over 2000 hits last month there are many new posts to read and reply to. Also our feeds are popular, ID-Sphere counts now more than 2500 feed subscribers and gets over 7000 visitors a month. It’s great to feel the efforts of this community are appreciated.

And as always, remember you have the power keep sharing your knowledge.

Kind regards,
Lizzy Van Lysebeth