"The major move of Spoga+Gafa to June was right"

Around 1 500 exhibitors from 65 countries will take part in the Spoga+Gafa in June 2022 and will occupy around 200 000 m² of exhibition space. Stefan Lohrberg, Director Spoga+Gafa at Koelnmesse, reported these figures “humbly”, as he often said, at a preliminary press conference. There was "a huge commitment" from Germany and a lot of support from North America, he said, and many exhibitors have increased their space, while some companies are new or returning. The Koelnmesse, however, expects a significant decline in Asian exhibitors.

The most important change for 2022 is “that we have moved the Spoga+Gafa into June,” Lohrberg said. The reactions from the industry – both from the DIY sector and from the green specialist trade – showed “that this major move was right,” he stressed.

This year, exhibitors from the international furniture fair imm will be presenting a new exhibition area under the motto “home meets Spoga+Gafa”. This reflects, among other things, the development of the indoor and outdoor sectors growing together more and more. The segmentation of Spoga+Gafa will otherwise remain as it was before the coronavirus interruption. The organiser is also continuing plans from two years ago of applying the key theme of sustainability. For example, the question marks on the key visuals will be juxtaposed with 30 exclamation marks with solutions from the ranks of the manufacturers at the exhibition centre.

Stefan Lohrberg highlighted the new platform “Spoga+Gafa 365” as an important new feature. In his presentation, he compared it with the business network LinkedIn. Here, the presentation of products is added to the networking idea.