Decorex 2024: Supporting Sustainability in Interior Design

July 26, 2024

Now in its 47^th year, the UK’s leading high-end interior design event, Decorex will return to Olympia Events from 6-9 October and is now even more focused on supporting the drive towards a more sustainable interior design sector. Decorex Event Director Sam Fisher explains;

“Sustainability in interior design is not just a trend; it’s a responsibility. Decorex is committed to not only showcasing outstanding design, but to also encourage conversations around sustainability and to share knowledge within the design community, so we can all play our part in a more sustainable future.”

The Decorex Sustainability Hub has been created to provide exhibitors, visitors and designers with the tools and information to work collaboratively and lead the way in driving positive change. As part of the Hub, Decorex has created a number of initiatives to ensure sustainability is a key focus at this year’s event.

The Decorex Sustainability Task Force is made up of sustainability champions from the design industry who reinforce sustainable values, while encouraging and supporting exhibitors to become more environmentally aware when exhibiting at the show.

Aiming to advise, inspire and educate, the team of Task Force experts will ensure that Decorex is continuously moving towards a better way of working, all year round. The Decorex Sustainability Task Force members leading the way in a more sustainable approach are Edward Bulmer, Haines Collection, Holmes Bespoke, Naturalmat, Persona Abode, Soho Lighting, Studio Suss, Bluepatch and B·ABLE. Their collective knowledge and experience is encouraging others to alter the way design is thought about for a more impactful change within the community.

Decorex Sustainability Awards

The Decorex Stand Awards will return for 2024 with four new award categories focused on sustainability: Planet Conscious, Social Change, Circularity, and Sustainable Innovation. The awards proudly recognise exhibitors which demonstrate outstanding sustainability achievements within the interiors industry.

During the show, the Task Force will judge exhibitors within the four categories. Through recognising the achievements of exhibitors, the awards aim to inspire progress towards a more sustainable industry.

The Green Room

The 2024 edition of Decorex will be collaborating with The Green Room – a sustainability forum for interiors brands. Created by Mirry Christie from B·ABLE and Jules Haines from the Haines Collection, the duo work together to educate, inspire, and provide tools to empower interior brands for positive environmental and social change within the interiors industry.

During the show, the Green Room will provide visitors with a series of workshops and talks each day, as part of its ‘Sustainability Discussions @ Decorex’ programme. The conversations will explore a variety of compelling topics, including sourcing responsibly, calculating and reducing your greenhouse gas emissions, minimising packaging and waste, adopting circularity, restoring nature and biodiversity, the value of certifications and more.

“We’re delighted to be introducing The Green Room to the Decorex community. We collaborate and innovate to solve critical social and environmental challenges, which we do so by providing the knowledge, tools and forums for a collaborative approach in driving innovation. We hope everyone will join us at the show and help create a more sustainable future for our industry.” explains Mirry Christie from B·ABLE.

Better Stands Initiative

Informa’s landmark campaign across EMEA, Better Stands strives to reduce the amount of waste which both exhibition stands and booths can create. The initiative aims to educate businesses in their event planning, by exploring the use of reusable structures which not only reduce waste, but can minimise build-up and break-down times, reduce the cost of design and construction and allow for investment in higher quality and more successful stands.

Informa is working with its customers to phase out all disposable stands at its EMEA events by the end of this year. In addition, the global brand is looking to expand this initiative to other regions, by co-ordinating with peers and partners in the industry.

Cleaner Oceans – a Soho Lighting x Schools Competition

Returning Decorex exhibitor, Soho Lighting will announce the winning design for the company’s Cleaner Ocean Project, a competition in which Primary school children have designed lighting inspired by beach clean ups and salvaged plastics. The winning young designer will attend the show as a VIP guest, to see their design brought to life using the gathered materials, which will be recycled, and 3D printed.

Sustainability Talks

The much-anticipated Decorex Talks Programme will return for 2024, with sustainability featuring as a key topic of discussion. Each day, Interior Design Declares will be chairing a panel covering topics such as ‘Creating an Effective Sustainability Plan’, ‘Solving the waste problem’ and ‘How to make sustainable choices when commissioning bespoke upholstery’.

Interior Design Declares is part of Construction Declares, a global petition movement uniting all strands of construction and the built environment. It is both a public declaration of the planet’s environmental crises and a commitment to take positive action in response to climate breakdown and biodiversity collapse.

Register Now and Start the Countdown

For over 46 years, Decorex has connected interior design professionals with the very best in interiors; from designer collaborations, interactive workshops, showcases from up-and-coming artisans and an unmissable talks programme.

With the countdown on until Decorex 2024, more exciting details will be revealed in the coming months for the industry’s unmissable event this October.

Read more news and exclusive features in our latest issue here.