Renowned Valencian designer devising new exhibition space that “breaks with tradition, delivers great flow and creates interest in every corner of the hall”.
Espacio Cocina SICI to be located in Hall 4 on Nivel 3 at Feria Valencia, next to Feria Hábitat València halls and Textilhogar Home Textiles Premium hall.
Espacio Cocina SICI 2024 promises to be striking. The only 100% trade-only fair in Spain dedicated solely to kitchen furniture and equipment is slated to return next September, running from 30th through to 3rd October at Feria Valencia and doing so in style, featuring the leading European manufacturers in a hall boasting a revolutionary look bearing the signature of one of Spain’s top designers and interior designers, Ximo Roca.
The Valencian designer has been commissioned to design the entire exhibition space in Hall 4 on Level 3 at Feria Valencia, which is where Espacio Cocina SICI will be located. He has now given some initial glimpses of what the exhibition and sales area will look like.
“The project we are working on in collaboration with Feria Valencia and AMC for Espacio Cocina SICI includes a complete design for the entire hall, from the layout of the different exhibit spaces and the ‘AMC Kitchen Lab’ to the creation of a shared space that can be used for meeting up in, where the kitchen will be a hub for attendees to enjoy”, he explains. What this means for Roca is that “this inclusive approach will enable us to create a design for this edition of the fair that is more cohesive, which in turn means creating an end-to-end experience where people will feel drawn to carry on discovering everything this fair has to offer”.
For the designer, “the main aim we set ourselves, essentially, was to break with what is now well-established in the exhibition environment. More and more fairs around the world are going for new models that add value to what we typically see at this kind of exhibition”.
“A free-flowing route around the hall with a stunning, innovative design”
And how does he intend to achieve this? Ximo Roca’s work for this edition of Espacio Cocina SICI has centred on “devising a space that benefits all the manufacturers taking part; where there are free-flowing routes around the hall and there is no longer any sense of places being more or less visible, with interest created in every corner of the Hall. We also wanted to attract more people to visit Espacio Cocina SICI, by using a stunning, innovative design where activities such as talks, gatherings, networking or live cookery demonstrations take place in a purpose-designed space”.
More than 30 years at the service of design
The work that Ximo Roca is undertaking for Espacio Cocina SICI is another landmark in the extensive career of a designer who has been working with leading international design consultancies for more than 30 years and has garnered a string of accolades including the 2019 Good Design Award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design, being a finalist in the Archiproducts Design Awards 2023 and being nominated three years running for the National Design Prize (Premio Nacional de Diseño).
Now, the world of kitchen equipment has sparked Roca’s interest and that of his creative team. “The notion of the kitchen as the hub of the home has been growing apace for several years now, because it is a space to get together and share. This shift in paradigm, due to the new ways in which people inhabit their homes, has prompted the appearance of a broad range of design possibilities. That is why it is fascinating for us at the studio to explore different solutions that can cater to the constantly evolving ways people use their homes”, he explains.
Synergies between Hábitat and Espacio Cocina SICI
Lastly, Ximo Roca’s involvement in the Espacio Cocina SICI Project enabled him to gain a profound insight into the fair and turn the spotlight on the synergies that exist between the kitchen event and Feria Hábitat València in particular. “Because these are two closely related fields, holding the two events together provides a bigger offering for general visitors, who may then perceive them to be a single fair. Equally, having the two fairs in one place might offer individual visitors new business opportunities they had not thought about previously, as they have the option to explore other, closely related markets”, he explains.
Ximo Roca is very clear on this: “Joining forces and sending out a combined call to attend to the furniture and equipment sector in general benefits all agents involved in the process”.
Design provides added value
For AMC and Espacio Cocina SICI president Juan Luis Salvador, Ximo Roca’s involvement “affords significant added value to this next edition of the fair”. As Salvador explains, “trade fairs should not just facilitate business between exhibitors and visitors, but they should also be an experience in every sense of the word. For the first time ever, Espacio Cocina SICI is taking a punt on a different, revolutionary configuration for the showcase that I am sure everyone will find striking”.
