Cologne (lxlm). More than 150,000 visitors came to see Cologne’s PASSAGEN 2009 in the city of design, of which many were trade visitors from Germany and abroad. They were joined by interested members of the general public who long ago discovered PASSAGEN as an alternative to the trade fair for furniture. Over the last 20 years, PASSAGEN has developed into the largest design event in Germany with a total of 190 exhibitions. “The small-scale underground movement that began with events under the Rhine bridges has long since developed into a regular meeting place for the design scene. Several Italian furniture makers such as Moroso, B&B Italia or Foscarini have skipped the furniture trade fair in Cologne and have instead presented their range at ‘Passagen’.” (Gabi Czöppan in Focus Online on January 24, 2009) It has also long been acknowledged that PASSAGEN “has breathed new life into the trade fair”, which has been losing steam for years (Thomas Wagner in “Kein Köln ohne Januar” [No Cologne without January]/Newsletter Stylepark January 9, 2009).  Even on the day of the previews, Sunday 18th January, and on Monday morning many visitors set off on the design trail across Cologne. The premiere of the designers fair in the RheinTriadem was a “huge success” and attracted an extra 20,000 visitors. Described as the “most important new arrival at Passagen” (Christoph Mathieu, Kölnische Rundschau, January 17, 2009) with “good ideas aside from mainstream design” (möbelkultur, January 19, 2009), the designers fair received a massive amount of attention from both the national and international press. The exhibition openings over the first few days were attended by hoards of people. Certain areas of Cologne again attracted particularly large crowds: the whole Belgisches Viertel neighborhood, the “furniture mile” on the Ring boulevard, the area around Neumarkt, Rhineauhafen and the Design Post, among others. This year’s 2nd Ehrenfeld Design Arena was a resounding success with the public once again and enjoyed a good response from the press as a “major platform for young creative professionals” (Susanne Hengesbach, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, January 23, 2009). The third new PASSAGEN project Highway Europe was also popular with visitors and especially with the press.

Overall, PASSAGEN once again offered exciting impressions, inspiration and atmospheric staging in combination with top-class international high-end manufacturers and designers as well as young networks and experimental concepts between the poles of design, architecture and art. The exhibitors came from Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Scandinavia, Canada, England, Spain, Germany and France, as well as from Brazil, Japan, Switzerland and Turkey. The following received particularly good press: the exhibition by Alfredo Häberli – A&W Designer of the Year 2009 – at Kölnischer Kunstverein, the Ettore Sottsass porcelain collection for the Manufacture national de Sèvres presented by the Institut Français at Kunsthaus Lempertz, the presentations by Erwan and Ronan Bouroullec at Kartell as well as by Established&Sons at Magazin, the exhibitions “Satyendra Pakhalé – OriginS” in the designers gallery and also “Finn Juhl Furniture 1940 – 1965” by Wohnkultur66 at Hotel Chelsea, the exhibitions by Fatboy, the presentations in the Belgisches Viertel neighborhood, for example by Morgan, Inch Furniture, Tsubakihara Orimono in Maastrichterstraße as well as by Hans Jörg Knott and Peter Buning at Hallmackenreuther, and last but not least the project “Jack in the Box” in Ehrenfeld.  In addition to the theme “kitchen”, textile collections were another focal point at PASSAGEN with numerous international and national manufacturers taking part, including Molteni&C, Spindegaarden, Reuber Henning, Floor to Heaven, Sahco, Bretz Couture, Jan Kath and many more. Following its major success in 2008, the Ehrenfeld Design Zone presented the 2nd Ehrenfeld Design Arena during PASSAGEN 2009 with 35 exhibitors and two key projects: Jack in the Box and the project “Tatorte – Design braucht Täter” [Crime Scenes – Design Needs People to Commit] which was hugely popular in 2008 and has now been both enlarged and fine-tuned.