Designers find products - interiors and building materials shows meet the brief in style

Designers, architects and specifiers descended on London last month for 100% Design, which in 10 years has established itself as one of the major events for commercial interior design. For the second year running the exhibition was held in tandem with spin-off show 100% Detail, for building products and materials. The Detail and Design shows took Halls 1 & 2 of London’s Earls Court respectively, and judging by the number of visitors passing between halls, overlapped quite nicely.

The twin shows appeared to have met the brief perfectly, with fashionably-dressed creative types clogging the aisles, eagerly searching out innovative products and materials. Exhibitors seemed very pleased with the interest and enquiries, but noted a large number of students among the visitors.

Glass and window products were well represented in both halls. Pilkington’s exhibits included Optilam Phon noise reduction laminate, its Suncool range and top end fire product, Pyrostop 23mm, suitable for flooring. A new website, pilkington4architects.com, will go live by the end of the year.

Veka Plc, showing smart woodgrain foiled PVC-U windows, Bohle, Brett Martin, Fusion Glass Designs, Selectaglaze and toughened glass supplier Tambest were among the other familiar names in 100% Detail.

In the interiors-rooted 100% Design, Glass Designs Ltd (glass-design.net) showed a wide range of mirrors, backpainted glass, glass shelving and furniture. Enfield based iglass (iglass.co.uk) debuted fused glass tile designs and Nottingham’s Juicy Glass (juicyglass.com) showed coloured glass, fixtures and fittings.

Green Bottle Unit (t: 020 7249 3394) and Sheffield’s Crystal Architectural Products (crystalproducts.co.uk) are two companies manufacturing tiles, blocks, paving and other products from recycled glass. All sorts of glass can be used, including bottle glass, TV screens and car side window glass.

Light is the new architectural tool, and two products at 100% Design demonstrated this in a subtle way. Powerglass by Glassplatz, available from Preedy Glass (t: 020 8965 1323), features LEDs powered through transparent conductive tracts to achieve lights in glass with no wires. Preedy also showed Feonic technology, which can turn glass and other hard surfaces into a loudspeaker, and a rather fragrant glass door incorporating a bottle of scent.

PolyLITE illuminating glass from Spanlite-Max Limited (spanlite-max.com) was another eye-catching product. It uses a screen printed matrix pattern in ceramic ink, lit with LED or fibreoptic technology to spread light across the glass or acrylic surface. The product uses 50% less energy to light signage, and for balustrades, reception desks and dancefloors, it can turn glass into a wall of colour. The company has a working partnership with Hansen.

100% Design also hosted the world’s biggest annual glass design award – the Bombay Sapphire Prize 2004. The 27 shortlisted entries, a diverse bunch comprising architecture, jewellery and other areas, were displayed ahead of the final awards event.

100% Detail held a RIBA accredited CPD seminar programme, which Brett Martin, Optima Archtictural Glass, Veka Plc and Pilkington organised seminars for.

100% Design/100%Detail returns to London’s Earls Court from 22-25 September 2005. 100percentdesign.co.uk