Not much has been disclosed about FRONT, the boutique specifier event coming to APAC in August 2018 from Indesign Media. But it’s on the tips of everyone’s lips and there’s a growing buzz following the announcement last month. 

2018 may be the inaugural year of the two-day industry affair featuring exhibitors and highly informational seminars and keynote addresses, but Indesign Media are certainly no stranger to bringing the wider industry – spanning Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific region – together over a few days or an evening. From Saturday Indesign, to Indesign: The Event, to the INDE.Awards to Sustainability Live and the Sustainability Awards just last month, they’ve been at the helm of their fair share of design initiatives.

FRONT is different. Raj Nandan, founder and CEO of Indesign Media, cites the maturation of the architecture and design community – and a need to respond – as the inspiration behind the event, which will be held in Australia but cater to a regional audience.

“For two decades, Indesign has orchestrated international events. In 2018, we draw from this expertise to bring a new format purpose-designed for our changing architectural landscape.”

So here’s what we do know; it will be an exclusive and condensed selection of exhibitors; it’s invite only; its drive is to create a personalised event experience and facilitate conversations and knowledge sharing.

The holistic format will touch every link in the design chain – developers, specifiers and end-users – and bring them together in conversation, maximising the potential for new opportunities. Each exhibitor will be set up in a pre-gridded presentation pod to eliminate variables, and the layout of the space will be such that attendees must walk past every pod in the room.

From the layout of the room to the unique appointment-booking app that is being built to accompany it, the hyper-personalised event experience will be like high-power speed dating for specifiers and suppliers.

Most impressively, however, is the equal playing field on which FRONT is to present its exhibitors. There’s “no chest-beating”.

We’ll let you know more as soon as we do.