So this is the biggest hall for high-end design at the fair. There are hundreds of exhibitors in here over 3 levels and I actually had trouble getting around it all in one day. Here are my highlights…

Brühl (available through Siekaup in Australia) for me was an absolute standout, with colourful, playful designs by the German company. The Easy Pieces range of sofas, lounge chairs and chaises longues feature colourful square, rectangular and cylindrical cushions that can be rearranged to show different colours. Really beautiful designs.

Cappellini, part of the Design Village with Poltrona Frau and Cassina (all through Corporate Culture in Australia) went with cool colours this year, presenting some amazing designs including the TWB Stool and Bench by Shay Alkalay, Yael Mer.

I also spotted some huge cactus-like objects in the Design Village cafe – odd, but pretty cool. 

There was another great chair in the Miinu rugs stand, a foldable chair that rumour has it could be coming to Australia shortly (we’ll keep you posted). 

Interlubke (products through Siekaup) had a fantastic stand featuring a light and dark side, showcasing their huge new range of storage and furniture (I loved the colourful geometric armchairs). 

Jan Kath’s (selected rugs from Cadry’s in Australia) beautiful Erased Classics collection was on show. These deconstructed masterpieces are truly beautiful.

MDF Italia (Hub Furniture in Australia) had a wall full of their new storage and shelving units. The smaller shelves and cabinets were a trend across the hall this year, perhaps reflecting a move away from a ’bigger is better’ mentality.

MullerMobelfabrikation had some great coat stands on display with what looked like bent crowbars for arms and some beautiful new desks.

Tom Dixon’s stand was brightly coloured with orange stools and coat stands. Their aim currently is to reach out to the consumer with their new products.

ClassiCon’s had a new leather armchair and footstool on display with gorgeous oversized cushions as well as a number of other colourful chairs and side tables.

COR had some great modular pieces on display including the FOSSA lounge with removable back cushions that sit in a ’trough’ at the back of the base and the JALIS chair and side table combo. 

There were also some beautiful new elegant products from Walter Knoll (Living Edge and Stylecraft in Australia), Minotti (dedece) and Flexform (Poliform Australia), with a celebration of the sumptuously oversized lounge suite, while the trend across all was for lower-profile lounges with a thinner base. 

These are but a few of the products on offer in what I shall dub the ’Great Hall’, but show that the year ahead will be full of newly refined classics, fun colourful newcomers and out-of-the-box designs from some of the world’s biggest brands.

Next it was time to get cooking with LivingKitchen…