Foreword: Every 3 years, 100,000+ visitors flock to an international destination to experience all things retail. Hailed as the “Global Retail Trade Fair,” EuroShop covers all things retail related, from store design to visual merchandising. Located in Dusseldorf, Germany, the event offers 17 exhibition halls within 19 different buildings.  A group of lucky FRCH-ers made the trip this year and will be sharing global trends and inspiration from the conference all week!

As we learned yesterday, textures are in! And not just in white … this year is all about creating amazing dimension. New materials for specification at Euroshop are proving to be polarizing-ly different. Huge monolithic tiles and sleek surface materials abound in white, black and shades of neutrals. But what really caught my eye were the more luxury crafted products – they take dimensionality to a new level. Hand-carved and hand-detailed wood “tiles” and panels made in Germany (Broszeit) bring an irresistible tactile quality to the forefront – you simply can’t walk by and not touch! Similarly layered acrylics and resins with metallic pieces, beads and actual pieces of broken glass (Welter) create a play in depth and light. And even the simplest of materials are showing that “craft in install” can take a product to another level. Amtico’s vinyl flooring demonstrates that a play on standard patterns and color can be manipulated to create large print patterns and an amazing sense of scale!