Habitation Turns Into a Status Object

habitation turns into A status object

Professor Axel Venn during the EGGER panel discussion:“These days happiness hormones are released at home.“– habitation as a status symbol brings opportunities for the furniture industry

Where the trend with decors and textures is going this year was presented by EGGER at the ZOW Bad Salzuflen under the motto “Texture meets colour“.”Trends are love for a limited period of time“, was formulated by Professor Axel Venn, teacher at the HildesheimCollege for Applied Science and Arts during an EGGER press discussion on the occasion of the ZOW.The expert for colour design and trend scouting is of the opinion that short-lived trends are replacing the epoch-making style worlds.There is however without a doubt a tendency that habitation is developing to a status symbol and identity characteristic.This results in opportunities for the furniture industry.

According to the opinion of Professor Venn, four living and habitation philosophies rule within the own for walls:

The useful is emotional – in an increasingly aging society, aesthetics goes hand in hand with functionality.

The recycled men's paradises are returning in the form of “studies“ with permission to smoke.

Pomp and circumstance serves towards the creation of authenticity.For furniture this means that they must be authentic and be able to “acquire a patina“.

Outside and inside are becoming equally important.The yearning for sunshine and southern regions creates a totally new living culture, where the boundaries between inside and outside become blurred.

The furniture sector needs to create more passion for innovation

All in all the domicile is becoming a meeting place again, a place of recreation, where family and friends meet and again spend more time together with collective meals.Habitation is developing to a status product and identity characteristic of the individuals. “Prestige is a question of appearance“ is over. This also applies for the car, which has lost its place as a status symbol.New is the observation: “How you live is how you are“, formulates Venn.

Manfred Junker, chief designer of Poggenpohl views the task of the furniture industry in the current situation as being to show innovations.The Porsche Design Kitchen has shown that design in the domicile has a high status factor.It is important to give such examples.However Klaus Monhoff, head of product management for decorative products of the EGGER Group argued critically that the furniture industry and especially the trade is still showing much too little of the innovations, is not stimulating the curiosity enough and is also not sufficiently awakening the desire to strengthen habitation as myth and status.Exhibiting high-quality and expensive kitchens is of tremendous importance, but there must also be “everyday“ products to allow a wider spectrum of the population to participate.The appearance of a design kitchen, but at an affordable price must be the goal.

With the new decors exhibited at the ZOW, EGGER has shown very interesting examples of how attractive design can be created with affordable products, praised Poggenpohl chief designer Junker.This is also exactly how Professor Venn views the task of the industry: “Their products must be perceived the same way as the expensive designer piece.Then the furniture industry will have good chances.Apart from this it is known from the past that "bad car years were always good furniture years.“

/ From l. to r.:Ulrich Bühler, Manfred Junker, Christina Werthner, Prof. Axel Venn, Klaus-Dieter Monhoff
/ From l. to r.:Klaus-Dieter Monhoff, Prof. Axel Venn, Christina Werthner, Manfred Junker
/ Prof. Axel Venn

For inquiries:

FRITZ EGGER GmbH & Co.
Wood materials
Christina Werthner
Weiberndorf 20
6380 St. Johann in Tyrol
Austria
T+43 5 0600-10681
F+43 5 0600-90681

/ PLEON Publico
Dr. Wolfgang Immerschitt
Paracelsusstraße 4
5020 Salzburg
Austria
T+43 662 620 242-0
F+43 662 620 242-20