In May, Materia helped to keep London at the centre of the design world. The brand new show, called May Design Series, featured four different events, and Materia brought its Material Xperience on Tour concept to the UK for the first time.

The show was a great success for the organisers, and we at Materia are very grateful to everyone who made the trip to the London docklands to see our materials’ selection on our white cubes. Everything at the show was busy, bright and bustling.

The scene was set by the designer Ab Rogers, who themed the hall and oversaw the combination of four unique shows. The design show DX met ARC, a lighting show, KBB, suited to kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms, and Interiors London, which is as it sounds. Materia was invited to showcase around 150 of our favourite materials in the DX area, and we had great fun putting together and hosting this first edition of Material Xperience on Tour UK at the May Design Series – also a first-time show.

Material Xperience on Tour is a slimmed down version of our well-known Material Xperience show, hosted each year in the Netherlands. The touring concept brings together a select number of partners and a specific theme, tailored to suit the hosting show. In this case, the materials were selected to fit with the four brand names that the May Design Series combines.

The audience was as enthusiastic as it was wide-ranging. From architects to fashion designers and specifiers to investors, we were happy to welcome thousands of interested people from all over the world. Besides the presentation of the materials, the on-site advice given by our team and the publications we had brought along, we were also given the chance to share our stories from the world of materials with the general audience.

Opening the conversation series, Materia creative director Els Zijlstra gave a talk on the smart materials that are starting to shape our future. Later on, Materia editor Philip Allin discussed colour and materials in architecture with Laura Perryman, director of creative projects at Global Color. Both sessions will be uploaded soon!

Special thanks go out to our partners: Antimicrobial Copper, Barrisol, Bohemian Works, Esthec® Terrace and Plexwood. Their collaboration made our show stand out, and we are proud to have worked together with them all.

To keep up to date with our schedule of shows, don’t forget to register for our newsletter, and check back regularly on www.materialdistrict.com for more information.