Dlight attended the recent Biennale Interieur which was held in the Kortrijk Xpo centre in Belgium.
The Biennale Interieur npo is a non-profit organisation acting in the field of design, product development and innovation. In 1967, the founder members of the Biennale Interieur npo in Kortrijk (Belgium) were excited by the impossible. One of their aims was to put contemporary design for the home and interior innovations on display for a broad general public and not only for professionals, as was the case with most other fairs. They dreamed of creating a space and an atmosphere that did not obey the laws of traditional layout and stage design. The uniqueness of the concept and the increase in international outreach, turnover, number of visitors, number of exhibitors and world-renowned design brands, press articles etc., show that there was a true need for an innovative model for design as a cultural as well as a commercial entity.
The ideals that lay behind the establishment of the Biennale Interieur npo in 1967 were closely related to the motives and ideas behind the student and worker rebellions of the late sixties in France, then in Europe and the US. Unlike other furniture shows, which offered a mixture of old, new, kitsch and design, the organisation wanted its Biennale only to promote the latest contemporary forms and creativity in interior design. Moreover, the initiators had much more in mind than pure aesthetics or commercial considerations. The ultimate goal was to encourage a broad public debate, which might lead to the design discipline contributing towards a better world. Unlike other trade fair organisers, the Biennale Interieur immediately adopted the status of a non-profit institution. Interieur took place for the first time in 1968 and will celebrate its 25th ‘silver’ Biennale from 14 to 23 October 2016.
The fact that the Biennale Interieur, awarded with the European Community Design Prize in 1994 and the European DME Design Management Prize in 2008, gained worldwide recognition as a shining model, is due to several factors. Not only the extremely strict criteria imposed on the selection and the quality of exhibitors, but also the fact that for each new Biennale, the layout was entrusted to an architect and the coordination to a design critic (Jan-Pieter Ballegeer, Moniek E. Bucquoye, Marc Dubois, Max Borka, Farida O Seery, Dieter Van Den Storm) whose task it was to strive for synergy within the diverse amalgam of commercial and cultural interests. Against all rules of the game, the layout of the exhibition and all graphics work is changed every edition. 2012 brought a curatorial change: for the first time, the Biennale Interieur npo appointed a designer to act as curator. Lowie Vermeersch’s vision to use design as a tool to create a unique visitor experience resulted in a Biennale with a strong identity and scenography. It turned out to be a public success enjoyed by 84,000 visitors.
