AIDIMME Displays Some of the Post COVID-19 Trends

The activity of the Technological Institute of Metalworking, Furniture, Wood, Packaging and Related Products, (AIDIMME) has not ceased since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. Their efforts, providing services and working side by side with Spanish companies from all the furniture sectors, together with designers, is beginning to shed light on new design trends, focusing on new living and working spaces.

"Creativity, innovation and design, always require inspiration and crises are one of many motivations," they highlight from the Institution. The more than 700 companies and designers associated with the Institute, as well as materials suppliers and logistics operators, were forced to adapt to a new scenario "by proposing new products, using new materials and adapting to the needs and preferences of people."

To do this, the help of a preferential partner like AIDIMME, located in a strategic enclave such as the city of Paterna, very close to Valencia, the capital of the Valencian Community; which produces nearly 25% of Spanish furniture, has been essential. "Changes are going to take place and many of them are going to stay, become a habit and continue to be used when this crisis is over," they say from AIDIMME. Mainly, change and new trends will address three main fields: public bathrooms, seeking to have zero contact with the elements; signage; and office and study spaces, anywhere in the home. And for this, "the creation of working groups between designers, companies (materials and products) and technologists, to solve and propose new innovative challenges in products, is essential," they point out from the Institution.

And we will go from new challenges to new opportunities, such as in the case of office areas, where reduced, isolated, hyper-connected and clean work spaces will be created, welcoming the BOX back in the scene. In the home environment, "minimalistic" spaces will be created to allow study and work without disturbing each other, also isolated and hyper-connected. Likewise, new electronic elements will emerge to control and detect the state of the furniture, in terms of cleaning and time elapsed since the last use. In addition, currently, there is a tendency to value the product made by "close manufacture" and that trend "we must know how to take advantage of," they say from AIDIMME.  

The new public spaces will also have partitions and screens and will use "natural and clean materials" that use "design without nooks and crannies and with few decorative elements," among other things. All of this is oriented towards a common goal: to try to avoid contact between people.

On the other hand, the new trends will not forget solidarity; so present during this pandemic: In recent weeks, AIDIMME has increased its tasks related to the health field. An example of this has been the collaboration in the design of new respirators for hospitals and ICUs, or the creation of 3D printing parts for SAMUR ambulances in the Valencian Community. It also participates in a working group, created together with the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, in which design is promoted as a tool for innovation, and right now, solutions are being sought to generate spaces safe from COVID-19.

Comprehensive Services for Companies

Its wide range of corporate services go from R+D+I projects to small laboratory tests on materials and products or tailor-made courses. In their material or technology development projects, they work in collaboration with REDIT, which brings together the technology centers of the Valencian Community, the international association INNOVAWOOD, and the Spanish Association for Standardization and Certification AENOR, among other entities.

Corporate advisory services are personalized, according to each sector’s specific needs. And in the interior design scope, AIDIMME’s objective at this time "is to develop ideas and products that generate the required confidence to recover the economic activity and boost consumption, which will be crucial in the coming months.” And in this context, they point out that "we are creating a collection of product sheets for our members, to help them communicate and sell their products in their target markets.” The idea is that companies use AIDIMME’s full potential to reach their markets, national or international, especially at this time when international contests have been canceled, and traveling to some countries is becoming highly complex.

Regarding their system of collaboration with the sectors they point out that "we work directly with the companies, by direct and confidential order, either for an individual company or for cooperative projects, which are giving very good results lately. We propose collaborative projects to companies in product and strategic development; we meet with the company, industrial designers and some strategic suppliers to configure the objective of the work and seek cooperation for an optimal and rapid result. Another important point for collaboration with the sectors is the sectoral and trade associations; which are becoming spokesmen between us and the sectors.”