Espacio Cocina SICI 2024 promises to be striking. The only 100% trade-only fair in Spain dedicated solely to kitchen furniture and equipment is slated to return next September, running from 30th through to 3rd October at Feria Valencia and doing so in style, featuring the leading European manufacturers in a hall boasting a revolutionary look bearing the signature of one of Spain’s top designers and interior designers, Ximo Roca.
The Valencian designer has been commissioned to design the entire exhibition space in Hall 4 on Level 3 at Feria Valencia, which is where Espacio Cocina SICI will be located. He has now given some initial glimpses of what the exhibition and sales area will look like.
“The project we are working on in collaboration with Feria Valencia and AMC for Espacio Cocina SICI includes a complete design for the entire hall, from the layout of the different exhibit spaces and the ‘AMC Kitchen Lab’ to the creation of a shared space that can be used for meeting up in, where the kitchen will be a hub for attendees to enjoy,” he explains. What this means for Roca is that “this inclusive approach will enable us to create a design for this edition of the fair that is more cohesive, which in turn means creating an end-to-end experience where people will feel drawn to carry on discovering everything this fair has to offer.”
For the designer, “the main aim we set ourselves, essentially, was to break with what is now well-established in the exhibition environment. More and more fairs around the world are going for new models that add value to what we typically see at this kind of exhibition.”
Ximo Roca’s work for this edition of Espacio Cocina SICI has centred on “devising a space that benefits all the manufacturers taking part; where there are free-flowing routes around the hall and there is no longer any sense of places being more or less visible, with interest created in every corner of the Hall. We also wanted to attract more people to visit Espacio Cocina SICI, by using a stunning, innovative design where activities such as talks, gatherings, networking or live cookery demonstrations take place in a purpose-designed space.”
The work that Ximo Roca is undertaking for Espacio Cocina SICI is another landmark in the extensive career of a designer who has been working with leading international design consultancies for more than 30 years and has garnered a string of accolades including the 2019 Good Design Award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design, being a finalist in the Archiproducts Design Awards 2023 and being nominated three years running for the National Design Prize (Premio Nacional de Diseño).
Now, the world of kitchen equipment has sparked Roca’s interest and that of his creative team. “The notion of the kitchen as the hub of the home has been growing apace for several years now, because it is a space to get together and share. This shift in paradigm, due to the new ways in which people inhabit their homes, has prompted the appearance of a broad range of design possibilities. That is why it is fascinating for us at the studio to explore different solutions that can cater to the constantly evolving ways people use their homes.” he explains.
