What's happening at Surface Design Show

The "Material Thinking" theme introduced in 2011 highlights the thought process that goes into the development and selection of materials for architecture and design. Our programme of talks, seminars, live demonstrations and features focused on innovation makes this year's event a must visit for architects and designers.

Here is a brief outline of the show's content, details of each feature will be released closer to the event. To make sure you're kept informed sign up for the Surface Design Show email updates.

Evening Programme

Our two evenings (on Tues 7 Feb and Wed 8 Feb) will bring the industry together to be educated, entertained and to network. This year Surface Design Show will once again feature The Preview Evening Live Debate hosted by de magazine and our PechaKucha Evening where leading architects and designers will present 20 of their favourite images, each for 20 seconds.

Our seminar programme, branded Fringe Thinking will feature a series of debates, seminars and presentations that will keep visitors abreast of all the latest issues within the sector, stay up to date with industry regulations, continuing professional development and product information through case studies.

14 seminars across 2 days will be hosted by Society of British Interior Design, The Concrete Centre, Association of Interior Specialists, MIX Trends, Crown Trade, SCIN and more. View the full porgramme.

Promgramme highlights include:

The Concrete Centre's Working Portraits will be held on the floor of the show on Wed 8 Feb and Thurs 9 Feb and will attract a big lunchtime crowd of Architects and Designers. Branded Thinking outside of the box, the workshops will cover Form, Finish, Texture and Colour and Low Carbon Concrete

Mix Publications' Working Portraits will focus on Material Stories: key surfaces and materials for Spring/Summer 2013 and will be held on Wed 8 Feb and Thurs 9 Feb.

CPD Seminars will cover a wide range of topics, these lectures earn CPD points and provide a greater technical insight into a range of subjects. Presenters include Crown Trade, the Association of Interior Specialists and the Society of British Interior Design.

Following on from the success of the “Material Thinking” theme at the 2011 show, celebrating materials in a new light will be the key idea running through all of the features at the 2012 show.

FutureThinking will highlight the thinking that goes into the development and selection of materials for architecture and design. It is a new area for Surface Design Show bringing to London designers and architects with new products, materials and prototypes.

Products on display include micro kinetic plastic, 3-dimensional tiles, renewable energy paving stones, invisible pattern algorithms and a wall of light consisting of wool felt and synthetic resin. This feature will be curated by SCIN, the UK sourcing and advisory company for materials.

The Trend Wall presented by Global Color Research, Mix Publications will be based upon Mix Trend’s colour forecasting book for Spring/Summer 2013 showing how these seasonal trend stories can be applied into surface design. This year we have the special collaboration of Vanessa Brady from SBID. Real samples and applications will be used to feature the trend story Retreat.

Our forum for new materials being shown by some of the smaller companies in the design industry is The Inspiration Centre. 10 companies will be highlighting their ideas.

Designers for the future are likely to be found on the stands from Colleges and Universities showing the work of their surface design students.