Collaboration is key to what we do – as designers, we’re collaborating with clients, suppliers and colleagues every day and it’s what can turn a project into something special.
So when we had the opportunity to collaborate with our friends at Furniture Fusion for this year’s HIX 2024 event, we were excited about what lay ahead. A key date in the industry calendar, HIX celebrates everything that makes hotels great, bringing the hotel interiors supply chain together under one roof. It’s a busy, buzzy event with lots of opportunity to build connections and plenty of design inspiration.
The theme for this year’s event, ‘A sense of place’ reflects that while spaces can excite and intrigue guests, places stay with us long after we leave – just as music marks key moments and occasions in our lives. Rather than simply build a stand to display chairs and brochures, Furniture Fusion wanted to stage an installation, inspired by a love of music and the creative forces around it.
Our brief was to create ‘Our Place’ at HIX – inspired by a Japanessa kissa, or listening bar, itwould allow visitors to step into another world, an escape from the bustle of the event where theycould pause to listen to music, enjoy a drink and connect with friends and colleagues for a fewmoments. Each kissa has its own look and feel, but these are typically compact, informal spaceswhere the focus is on enjoyment of music. We wanted to achieve a Japandi style to theinstallation – pared back, streamlined and functional, but with some touches of luxury to elevatethe space.
The starting point was a structure built in OSB – the engineered wood had many attractions for this project, acting as a blank canvas but also bringing texture and warmth. It was one of severalrecycled, sustainable materials specified – increasingly important for the projects we work on. Wechose a colour palette of dark green, terracotta and cream to give a hint of mid-century modernstyle. Patterns were kept to a minimum with texture introduced from the range of fabrics andfinishes specified.
We selected some statement pieces from the Furniture Fusion collection, from the oversizedcurves of the Hug lounge chair to the elegant Olive armchair which brought a vintage feel to theinstallation. We also created a number of bespoke items – fun Pebble stools provided additional seating for visitors that was lightweight and easy to move around the space as required. Thestandout piece was our bespoke bench – designed by Abi, it brings together the full colourpalette and gives guests a sociable, communal place to sit and connect with others.
The other sustainable products used included Foresso for table tops – a smart recycled material made from unavoidable waste material with minimal impact, it gives the feel of terrazzo that worked perfectly with the natural wood finishes of the stand and furniture. We also selected some distinctive seating from BlackCork – a sphere, stool and side chair all made using expanded black cork.
Bespoke storage gave space for a record player and speakers, drinks fridge and merchandise display, while other design details and accessories amplified the listening bar concept – from a wall plastered with flyers, a stylised version of the Furniture Fusion logo created from album covers and of course the all-important glitter ball.
Music was the inspiration for the project but we drew on our experience of working with hotel, bar and restaurant clients to ensure that our design was functional and comfortable for visitors to the stand rather than feeling gimmicky or pastiche. The finished installation looked fantastic and was so well received by visitors to the event, with several describing it as the best stand at HIX 2024.
This really was a unique project for us – a fun, interactive installation that celebrates the way in which music marks the moments in our lives, combined with our experience in design for hospitality to deliver a welcoming, engaging and memorable destination for guests.
