d+a | Issue 115 • Apr/May 2020

/ REPORT / 22 W e are all familiar with the physical building blocks of architecture – bricks, concrete, steel and timbre are the most common. While these have an innate beauty of their own, they can come across as cold and hard. The responsibility of softening their edges thus befalls upon textiles, which can help to turn spaces both indoors and out into warm, functional and comfortable experiences. It is this exact premise that makes Heimtextil (which turns 50 this year) such an important fair for architects and designers to visit, allowing them to increase their knowledge on how to integrate textiles into their projects. Organised by Messe Fankfurt, it was held from 7 to 10 January in Frankfurt, Germany in its exhibition grounds, spread across 19 halls and attended by 63,000 visitors. In addition to showcasing a wide range of textiles for the home and hospitality sectors by almost 3,000 exhibitors, it is also the first major fair of the calendar year and offers an important peek into what lies ahead for 2020. WE DROPPED IN AT HEIMTEXTIL 2020 AND DISCOVERED HOW IMPORTANT A ROLE FABRICS PLAY TO THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT. SPINNING A GOOD YARN WORDS LOW SHI PIN G / PHOTOGRAPHY MESSE FRANKFURT GMBH, PIETRO SUTERA, THOMAS FEDRA