Furniture World News Desk on
10/28/2025
COLOGNE – The first edition of interior design days cologne (idd cologne) took place from October 26 to 29, 2025, attracting around 10,000 registered visitors across 16 locations in the city. The new format integrated brand showcases, talks, tours, and networking events to connect the interior design community in an urban environment.
A total of 106 brands participated, presenting collections and concepts for residential, hospitality, and contract interiors. The event aimed to link design presentation with everyday urban experience, offering attendees opportunities for professional exchange and direct engagement with design culture in Cologne.
“With idd cologne, we have started a new chapter together with the industry,” said Oliver Frese, Chief Operating Officer of Koelnmesse. “The innovative format brought interior design there where it lives – in the middle of the city, to the people, into the urban environment.”
The “urban-only” approach placed exhibits and installations at distinctive venues across the city, including Design Post Köln, the Stoff-Pavillon Moeller, and machwerkhaus köln. Showrooms, flagship stores, and pop-up locations from Cologne’s design scene complemented the program, creating a citywide exploration of contemporary interiors.
The event featured more than 70 sessions combining design, architecture, and urban culture. The Urban Design Walks guided visitors through key venues, while the Architonic Talks hosted discussions on topics such as design longevity, emotional impact, brand identity, and materials. The idd cologne Aperitivo at Stoff-Pavillon Moeller served as a networking occasion for participants in a relaxed atmosphere.
Industry representatives emphasized the event’s value as a platform for direct engagement between brands and the public. “idd cologne has shown what characterises our industry: creativity, entrepreneurial spirit and the courage to embark on new paths,” said Leo Lübke, President of the Association of the German Furniture Industry (VDM) and Managing Director of COR. “The need for an exchange of ideas, visibility and inspiration is great, and it is precisely here that idd cologne takes its impetus: as a platform combining encounters and design culture in a unique way – close to the market, close to people, close to the future of interiors.”
Christian Haeser, Managing Director of the Federal Association of the German Furniture, Kitchen and Furnishing Trade (BVDM), added, “The focus on premium brands and high quality interiors in the urban realm had its finger right on the pulse of the times. Especially strong was the proximity and the experienceability – design was not only shown here, but was instead made tangible: spatially, emotionally and authentically. For the trade, idd cologne offered precisely what it needs – inspiration, exchange and a true overview of what is coming.”
Following the premiere, Koelnmesse plans to assess feedback from exhibitors and visitors to refine the concept. The company emphasized that evolving market conditions and visitor expectations require flexible trade fair formats, and insights from this year’s edition will inform future development.
More information is available at www.idd-cologne.com/en.
About Koelnmesse
Koelnmesse is the world’s top trade fair organiser for the areas of Living, Contract and Public Spaces. Alongside the trade fair duo imm cologne and idd cologne (interior design days cologne), other formats hosted at the trade fair hub of Cologne such as ORGATEC, interzum, FSB, spoga+gafa and aquanale are among the most internationally renowned and established industry gatherings. These fairs comprehensively represent the interior and design segment, the furniture and interior construction industries’ supplying sections, the kitchen world, all topics for the modern working world, garden lifestyle as well as modern work environments, the garden lifestyle, public spaces, sports and leisure facilities, along with saunas, pools and wellness centres.
Beyond that, Koelnmesse is strategically expanding its portfolio in international growth markets. The imm brand family now includes imm india and La Feria De Diseño Medellín – powered by imm cologne in Colombia. The ORGATEC brand has established a global footprint with ORGATEC Tokyo, ORGATEC India, and ORGATEC WORKSPACE Saudi Arabia. The international presence of the interzum brand extends to interzum guangzhou, interzum bogota, interzum jakarta, and the interzum forum italy. The FSB brand is also internationally active, with the FSB Sports Show Riyadh and the FSB Forum Italy in Bergamo. For more information, visit www.idd-cologne.com/en/trade-fair/portfolio-worldwide/.
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