Together with Dick Spierenburg and Bernd Sanden, imm cologne is embarking on the mission of reorienting the Interior Business Event, hosted in Cologne, in a new direction. With the choice of Dick Spierenburg, formerly Creative Director of imm cologne, and Bernd Sanden, previously Director of LivingKitchen and Pure Architects, Koelnmesse has decided to launch the 2023 trade fair year with a duo at the helm. The new tandem leadership team succeeds predecessor Claire Steinbrück, who oversaw imm cologne from 2018 and is now Vice President FoodTec at Koelnmesse. With this first stage in the development of a new concept for imm cologne, Koelnmesse aims to provide planning certainty for a relaunch of its long-standing trade fair brand. The imm cologne team is currently preparing for the Spring Edition in June 2023 in a challenging environment for trade fairs.
External specialist meets internal industry professional
Dutch architect and designer Dick Spierenburg, born in 1953, has served as imm cologne’s Creative Director since as far back as 2009. He will additionally assume conceptual and strategic responsibilities for the trade fair’s planned new direction. The external specialist is far from an unknown figure: Starting with Pure Village and later Pure Editions and Pure Architects and continuing with Pure Platforms and Pure Atmospheres, he has been instrumental in shaping imm cologne’s development from a trade fair focusing exclusively on furniture into an international interior business event over the course of his 13 years of creative and conceptual work for Koelnmesse. With the launch of the Pure Galleries format, Spierenburg is creating further impetus within the imm cologne universe and laying the foundations for a new trade fair experience in the Pure interior world. “My mission is to bring new thinking to the trade fair world. That means that we want to play an active part in shaping the future. I’m a firm believer that the momentum that trade fairs will be able to unfold in the future is much greater than can be achieved with a mere showcase of product innovations,” says Spierenburg.
Bernd Sanden can also look back on a solid track record at Koelnmesse. The 43-year-old holds a university diploma in Business Administration (Diplom-Kaufmann) and has 16 years of experience at Koelnmesse. Sanden joined the imm cologne team as Sales Manager. He was subsequently appointed Director of LivingKitchen in 2017 and played a key role in its further development. He has also been involved in numerous international projects in Russia, China and the US. His responsibilities will focus on leading an in-depth dialogue with businesses, key opinion leaders and associations in order to fill the trade fair’s strategic direction and Spierenburg’s creative ideas with life. “Breaking new ground is, in my view, a crucial point for imm cologne’s future credibility and relevance. Our goal is a new interpretation of the leading trade fair for the interiors industry in Germany,” says Bernd Sanden. “And the imm Spring Edition is the first step towards this future,” he adds.
