Sensory Interactive: Tangible Expressions of Techno-Innovation

Brands from sectors including consumer electronics and automotive parlayed their proximity to advanced and networked tech into sensorially interactive installations that explored the complexities of human-machine interplay and intuitive systems. Making invisible design processes feel tangible, emotionally resonant and inspiring (amid digital fatigue and AI-fear) was key, expressed via ethereal atmospherics, ‘delicate automation’, and playful visitor-reactive surroundings.

The Poetics of (Everyday) Pleasure: Relishing Small Rituals

The value of micro pleasures and everyday rituals (making coffee, simple self-care or preparing for sleep) as salves to wider socio-economic turmoil anchored several installations from wellbeing, beauty, culinary and homewares brands. Some focused on solo enjoyment, others on communal contentment, while many included an important aromatic component and seductively enigmatic staging.

Sonic Vibes: Soundscapes for Countercultural Connections

Several sports and streetwear brands tapped into their disruptive cultural roots (instead of performance prowess) by spotlighting their connections to nightlife, music and countercultural scenes (rave, underground record labels). The result was edgier immersive experiences underscored by a seminal sonic element.

Immersive Theatrics & Intellectual Explorations

Theatricality with a bohemian bent was in no short supply. From intellectual discussion-centred, theatre-staged ruminations on modern living, to immersive experiences paying homage to the seduction of the traditional moviegoing experience, several luxury brands offered thoughtful counterpoints to the event’s relentless pace and more overt commercial focuses.

Relishing Retro & Reimaging Tradition

Several other brands unveiled installations conceived as bridges between the past, present, and future, honouring heritage while embracing forward-looking innovation – a key theme of our Future-Facing Heritage report. The use of sound and scent to evoke these realms was a prominent feature.

Creative Circularity Manifestos

Two future-forward brands and architects presented new visions of more ecologically sustainable, circularity-centred living – an energy-efficient modular home inspired by Japanese architecture, and luxury interiors made out of a very underappreciated material: cork.

Playgrounds for the Textile & Colour Curious

A coterie of home furnishing and fashion brands engaged in intriguing textural experimentation – using innovated textiles, wild shapes, vibrant colours and unconventional finishes (often with a child-like sensibility) to craft environments with flavours of the unreal. These ‘textile-tastic’ visually striking experiences joyfully blurred the lines between fantasy and function.