Stand construction suppliers: Set up, jazzed up, awarded

New profile systems and wall construction solutions make exhibition stands faster, leaner, and more colourful. And sometimes the stand systems even win prizes.

Textiles are in. This is true not only on the catwalk, but also at exhibition stands. Fabric-covered structures with slim or even invisible modular system frameworks are in vogue more than ever. And they possess the advantage of not only appearing ethereal, but also of being easily and quickly set up and taken down. The system manufacturer Module International from Neuss offers several fabric series, which can be used to mount entire exhibition stands or wall frames, as well as light boxes, ceiling cubes, or displays. One of these series is SmartFrame. It has been designed for particularly fast exhibition and display construction. SmartFrame consists of filigree aluminium frame profiles with a noble look. They can support all types of printed materials, which are equipped with all-round sewn piping.

However, what is exceptional and smart – as well as eponymous – about SmartFrame is its effortless setup. “Each construction can be set up on the fly, without any tools,” emphasises Markus Giehl. As the CEO of International Module adds: “With SmartFrame we respond to the demand for achieving individual design even with increasingly shorter set-up times.” To make this possible, the items are shipped pre-assembled. They can be set up in the desired shape quickly by means of handy, internal knurled screws. SmartFrame exists in the customary framework measurements for exhibition stands. But even individual sizes can be ordered up to a frame-side length of 2.50 meters on short notice. Modul International also offers the matching textiles from its purchase and rental pool. This allows SmartFrame to be set up not only with textile, but also with plexiglass, fibre, or wood panels (www.modul-int.com).

What colour should the exhibition wall have: orange, red, violet, dark brown, or “Turkish blue”? Plastic does not have to be white. At Bayer MaterialScience exhibition designers and architects have more choices than ever. The ColorLine product family features solid sheets of Makrolon polycarbonate and Vivak copolyester in 20 standard transparent colours. Customized colours are possible as well. The options for application are as varied as the colours: The plastic panels in thicknesses of 0.5 to 15 millimetres are impact resistant, mechanically durable, weatherproof, and temperature resistant. They can be used both indoors and outdoors.

But it's not just the variety of colours and material properties that speak for the ColourLine boards: They can also be put into almost any shape – by sawing, cutting, punching, drilling, gluing, welding, cold bending, or thermoforming. They can be easily printed, decorated, polished, or painted. “Imagination is permitted: Our ColorLine products are thermoformable and fire resistant. They can do anything and stand anything.” stresses Nicole Meyer-Kurczyk, Marketing Communications Manager at Bayer MaterialScience. “Whether stand walls or displays, whether light or design objects, with our plastics you can always create intriguing colour accents.” And although plastic does not need to be white, it may still have a clean ecological record. The ColorLine sheets from Bayer MaterialScience are fully recyclable and thus in the green for the environment (www.materialscience.bayer.de).

The joy of winning the Red Dot Design Awards 2014 for the purist-stylish exhibition wall lamp The Puck Flex had hardly faded away at Aluvision, when the team from Deinze in Belgium was again able to pop the champagne corks: It received the prestigious iF Design Award 2015 this February for the excellent design quality of its profile system Omni-55. The Omni profiles can be filled on both sides with printed fabric panels as well as with sheet material – or even with both at the same time. Exhibitors thus need only one instead of two systems and can modify their stands at any time. The textiles can be even stretched over several frames, creating unbroken wall surfaces that completely hide the system.

A special feature is that the frame can be bent to a radius of half a meter. Thus rounded corners can be covered with fabric too. “For more than ten years Aluvision has been a leading company in the development of faster, simpler, and more visually appealing modular exhibition systems. The iF Design Award in 2015 for the Omni-frame recognises once again our efforts in developing new solutions for the specific needs of the exhibition industry,” as Nathalie Vandeweerdt, International Sales Manager at Aluvision, stated. The award-winning Omni-55 system has been specially designed to be compatible with all other systems. Holes in the modular grid spacing of 62 mm allow all Omni-55 modules to be connected in various combinations with one another. “We thus offer stand designers the perfect flexible rental or purchase solution,” says Nathalie Vandeweerdt (www.aluvision.com).