Less than a month ago we reported that the organisers of imm cologne, the most important event in the furniture industry at the beginning of the year, were working hard to create a special edition of the fair, a hybrid format with a highly targeted exhibition section and an imm@home digital platform.
It is at this time that the special edition of imm cologne 2021, scheduled for 20-23 January, was cancelled due to the pandemic.
“We had to face reality, even if it was painful. In the end, due to the speed at which the situation is developing right now, the uncertainty among our exhibitors and visitors was too great. This decision was concerted with the furniture industry and taken in close cooperation with our sponsor, the VDM (Association of the German Furniture Industry), as well as with our exhibitors and partners,“ said Gerald Böse, CEO of Koelnmesse and added that “The concept for the special edition was based on closely interconnected and mutually dependent offline and online formats and therefore a purely digital event made no sense under these circumstances.
“In recent months, our motto has been 'We make it happen' and we have put all our efforts into making imm cologne happen in January 2021,“ said Oliver Frese, COO of Koelnmesse.  “With the special edition of imm cologne we wanted to play an active role in tackling the current crisis. Now unfortunately we have to abandon that project. Being present at a trade fair is and always will be something very special, and developments in recent weeks - and in particular the latest feedback with our customers - have shown that the cancellation of the hybrid edition, which we had planned with such dedication and commitment, is the right decision, appropriate to the current situation.
Needless to say, the organisers of the Cologne trade fair are also disappointed: “The entire imm cologne team firmly believed in the hybrid special edition,“ said Matthias Pollmann, Vice President of Koelnmesse, “but due to the current situation, even the imm cologne special edition would not have lived up to our standard, the benchmark for exhibitors and visitors in the industry.

Imm cologne 2022

Preparations for imm cologne 2022 are already underway. In 2022 imm cologne will take place from 19 to 23 January, as usual in physical form, with the addition of a digital supplement. In the coming weeks the concept of imm cologne 2022 will be developed in cooperation with the furniture industry.