WK Visits kbb Birmingham 2024
The kbb Birmingham show at the NEC is the seminal exhibition and networking event for the kitchen, bedroom and bathrooms sectors. Lawrence and Richard share their thoughts on this year’s event.
It was a fresh but pleasant start for Richard and myself as we headed up to kbb Birmingham at the NEC on Tuesday 5th March. Always a pleasure, this year’s show felt like it was truly back to ‘business as usual’ after 2022’s post-covid effort. The exhibition halls were absolutely thronging with people, and it was an extremely busy but exciting atmosphere. Apparently, by close of play on the 6th, over 17,000 visitors had passed through, giving this kbb Birmingham the highest visitor numbers for a decade.
kbb Birmingham provides a platform for the latest products and designs, from both market-leading brands and innovative start-ups. The Innovation Awards is a highlight of kbb Birmingham and is a great platform for seeing what trends and products are likely to be flooding the market in the next few years. The event proves to be an equally good networking opportunity, a chance to meet up with existing clients (and see the display stands that we’ve helped design and produce), but also to connect with new people and put faces to names. It was lovely to run into several former contacts who have moved on to new endeavours, and to visit our current partnerships and get to see them at their absolute best – presenting their brands and products to retailers and consumers alike.
This year kbb Birmingham had over 320 exhibitors covering a staggering 25 product categories, which speaks volumes about the importance and lasting impact of shows like this. The chance to come together in person and make those interpersonal connections between brand and audience is just as relevant now as it was pre-2020. Despite the explosion of e-commerce and digital storefronts, there is still a drive for people to go and experience products for themselves, especially when it comes to high-value commitment purchases for their homes.
Amongst many of the emerging trends we spotted was a strong lean towards biophilic decor in both bathrooms and kitchens, using natural materials, earth tones, and designs inspired by plants and nature. We’re also decluttering spaces like never before, trying to clear our homes to become calmer and more inviting, and one way to do this is to find multi-tasking products that can do more jobs but take up less room.
So if we saw you, great! And if we didn’t, we apologise. It’s always a busy day and it was great to get back into the pace of things and be excited for future endeavours.
