The Materials Café (www.materialscafe.de) is a materials and design exhibition focused on sustainability from 23 to 27 April at the HANNOVER MESSE 2012. With over 300 square meters full of innovative materials, inspiring lectures, creative workshops and tasty coffee, the organizers created a professional hub for designers, engineers and scientists to exchange ideas and discover what’s new.
This year’s exhibition focuses on materials, products and services from around the world to inspire and enable a more intelligent and sustainable future. On the first day of the exhibition, Oliver Erichiello brings us the inspiring background story of Magno Radio from Indonesia which is all about hands with crafting skills and a heart for social business. Ecovative (USA) features a new type of packaging which is not manufactured but grown by mushrooms. A more local contribution is by Florian Schmid, a young German designer who explored a new material called Concrete Canvas to develop surprising furniture pieces that combine the strength of concrete with the looks of fabric.
A five day program with demonstrations, lunch lectures and workshops is organized to reveal stories and experience the exhibited materials and products. Tuesday, the Changers from Berlin explain how they aim to stop global warming with the introduction of a new currency created by solar energy. Thursday’s special guest is Oskar Zieta from Poland who will tell (and show) more about the FiDU technology, a whole new approach to creating lightweight objects by inflating metal. Finally, the daily afternoon workshops allow visitors to enjoy hands-on experiments materials such as SUGRU from the UK, a colorful substance that brings back the spirit of repairing the things we love.
Whether it is by growing packaging or by inflating metal, the Materials Café 2012 wants to demonstrate us that innovation requires us to rethink business as usual. Also, by presenting well known exhibitors such as BASF and Dyson next to young entrepreneurs such as Stefan Canditt (Formulor.de) and Dutch designer Tjeerd Veenhoven (PalmLeather), the organizers demonstrate that smart and sustainable thinking matters for all. The over 30 participants makes this exhibition a great place to experience innovative materials and products to see, feel, hear, smell and, of course, with the taste of coffee.
The Materials Café is an initiative by Thomas Bade (Universal Design Germany), Tim Oelker (Tim Oelker Industrial Design) and Aart van Bezooyen (Material Stories). The event is powered by the HANNOVER MESSE, Zieta Prozessdesign and the Leibniz University Hanover. This year’s materials and design exhibition is focused on sustainability and takes place from 23 to 27 April at the HANNOVER MESSE 2012 (Hall 6, Booth B 54).
Contact
Materials Café 2012
Date: from 23 to 27 April
Location: HANNOVER MESSE – Hall 6, Booth B 54
Invitation: Materials Café 2012 (download here)
Web: www.materialscafe.de
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MaterialsCafe
Email: info(at)materialscafe.de
(photo: Chipboard carry case by Maurice Meewisse nominated in 2010)
