Design Show looks to relaunch next year

The Design Show is to be relaunched next year with a restriction on stand size to stop the event being “dominated” by one or two extravagant stands.

A booking service for clients wishing to make appointments in advance with specific exhibitors, and expanded case study forums are also planned for next year.

The booking service has been welcomed by exhibitors. “Anything to make it more official,” says The Attik managing director Tim Watson.

Preliminary attendance figures indicate this year’s show, which closed last Thursday, had just over 4000 visitors. This is down on last year’s 4300 visitors. However, the quality of visitor was up, with 65 per cent of attendees being clients at manager or director level, says Centaur Exhibitions director Ron Cordeiro, who organised the show.

Rawls & Co, which along with The Attik, has exhibited all three years, made 77 contacts through the show this year. Despite a slow first day, Rawls & Co creative director Howard Saunders feels the show went well for the group.

Hull brand packaging and identity group The Core Strategic Design made good client contacts also after a sluggish first day.

“We met several very interested design buyers who were serious about us doing work for them, and we expect to work for them imminently,” says Peter Melling, managing director of the eight-strong group.

The limiting of stand sizes is intended to stop any one group dominating the event, says Cordeiro. “We felt that some companies were spending too much money on stands so that there was no level playing field.”

Nineteen of the 62 stands are already booked for next year.