We have just come back from Light + Building, Frankfurt’s giant lighting trade fair that alternates with Milan’s Euroluce. Someone asked me, “What did you see there which stopped you in your tracks?” I had to reply, “Nothing — but that is not a bad thing.” We have become too addicted to the new. We long to hear about a stunning new smart phone so that we have an excuse to go out and buy one, even though we don’t need it — the current one that we were so happy with not long ago is still just as good. That creates unreal expectations, causing aspiring designers to resort to novelty and gimmickry in place of integrity. Such superficial ‘cleverness’ is I believe a serious malaise in the current design world.

The experience makes me question the whole idea of these mega-trade shows, because they are so contrary to our ethics. Are they not just part of the inexorable consumer machine with its cult of the new, the ‘must-have? Slick advertising is geared to make us feel inadequate if we don’t have the latest and greatest. They provide this arena where the avid ‘design hunters’ go to see the new offerings from the big influential designers. Other designers long to come up with something equally exciting that gets featured in all the magazines and blogs. Such pressure means that ‘novelty’ (in the English sense of the word = kitsch or gimmicky new) replaces the ‘good’ in design.

As I walked around I couldn’t help noticing many bizarre catch phrases in English that seemed more like Asian naive (and probably deliberate) mis-translations, which reinforced my forebodings about novelty. Presumably designed to add hype, when put together they almost read like a poem:

Hello! Good life!
Explosion of options
Experience the sky
Enjoy competence
We give daylight back to people
Dedicated to the future
What do you light?
Turn on responsive delights
Where lighting rhymes with belonging
Human centric lounge
Endless possibilities to make a difference

They seemed wholly inappropriate to the dull business of selling LED strip light, but maybe that is the point? I have made a resolution to enjoy competence from now on . . .

On a more serious note, what really, really bothers me is the waste. I squirmed to think about it and to accept that I am part of all this even though we don’t make much, if any, waste ourselves. Smaller shows have stands made from reusable panels that are set up for you. Our stand was one of the very few like this here. But just about every other stand in the main halls is in effect a custom building as large as, or even larger than, a house. They are built from timber frames, paneling that is plastered and painted, wired up with electricity, and with carpet or timber floors. They are built by carpenters over several days. This construction alone creates mountains of waste that are constantly being cleared by fair workers.

Then, at the end after only six days, I am sure most of it is trashed! I can’t imagine much of it being recycled — there is no time in the 24 hour breakdown. When the next stand is built they will not try and reuse bits of timber or wiring, they will just start again. All the acres and acres of aisles are carpeted — at least this may be recycled I hope.

The big stands all had catering, cafe areas and bars; we saw a bakery and even a hairdressing salon! One of the largest was rumoured to have cost €1m to set up and run . . . but then they took €17m in orders!

We looked at all this and asked, surely there must be a better way? But it is not immediately evident. How else can we get our products and our company in front of audiences overseas? The general feeling is that you have to be seen at these fairs just to be known. If you don’t go, even just to wave the flag and say I’m here, then you will slip off the radar and cease to exist. We asked is it enough to just advertise? Is that really a suitable substitute for actually seeing the real thing and meeting people? Is there an opportunity for a small group of like-minded companies to get together and promote themselves in their own, considerably more sensitive, way?

The biggest positive that I took out of this show was getting to know the people behind other similar companies to ours. It was interesting to discover that many of them had started, like I did, as one person making something in a shed. With the exception of Tom Dixon, it seems that such companies do not outgrow their origins, retaining some of the more responsible values of the craftsperson. In our immediate vicinity there were Tom Rossaū, Darø (both Denmark), Graypants (USA/Holland), LZF (Spain), Angoworld (Thailand) and Thierry Vidé (France), all of whom recycled their stands.

From the outside it might appear that we are competitors and wary of each other, but in fact we have far more to offer each other collaboratively. It was a real pleasure getting to know the people behind these familiar names and to discover how much we have in common. This for me was the most rewarding aspect of the show, and who knows, maybe it could lead to an alternative to the trade show dilemma?