Probably the most interesting and invigorating part of a trip to cologne is the Passagen, the offsite event during imm Cologne Furniture Fair that focuses on interior design trends in galleries, showrooms and shops throughout Cologne. Yes, there’s lots of walking and your fair share of wild goose chases when  exhibitions don’t live up to their brochure descriptions.  But Designer’s Fair never disappoints. Rather than showing the most famous names in the business, the DESIGNERS FAIR consciously seeks to bring together the most exciting new discoveries. Young designers take rooms on the three floors of the RheinTriadem and fill them with prototypes and furnishings.

It’s amazing what you might find and boy, did we find some great things. One of my favorites was Klaus LEUTCHE, a design firm that we almost overlooked, walking into the room we saw tassels hanging from the ceiling along we turned around to a small group of  designers sitting in the back. Of course we had to ask about the tassels A product near and dear to our hearts. What we found was fabulous! Tassels that were actually lights. 

 Even better is the story behind it. In the young designers’ broken English, and our broken German- actually Susan’s German-we learned that they were renting space in the  Borrmann atelier. A trim and yarn  factory located in Dusseldorf. They were also looking for an inexpensive, readily available medium and a little inspiration, when they quickly realized that the yarn bins and trimmings and tassels provided it all- the missing links for their lighting project.

I am not sure what I love more- the pendant light which I am coveting for my own house (I could see 3-4 in different colors and heights hanging from the ceiling in my studio) or the backstory.

Check out Plinth and Chintz’s March issue for more of my musings about the young and exciting talents we found in Cologne, Frankfurt and Paris.