Digital Printing Innovation for Exhibitions
At Heimtextil 2025 in Frankfurt, we presented the future of textiles with Studio Urquiola. Patricia Urquiola’s “among-us” installation embodied the philosophy that research is not just support for design — it’s a fundamental driver of progress, merging hands-on exploration with a commitment to sustainability. Our sustainable digital printing tech provided Studio Urquiola with the liberty to form its loveable monsters and fungi down to its smallest detail — the fabric, ushering a new era of empowering creative studios.
Heimtextil 2025 in Frankfurt continued the German trade fair’s commitment to be a laboratory for innovation and creative dialogue in the textile industry. With Patricia Urquiola at the helm of its key presentation, this year’s event helped visitors understand textiles as vessels of culture and design solutions. Collaborating with brands like Aquafil, Cimento, Kettal, Kvadrat, Moroso, Parà Tempotest and cc-tapis, Urquiola has crafted an environment where textiles become a tridimensional experience, focusing on application for the retail and hospitality industries.
The installation in Hall 12.0 served as a true retreat, a place to reflect and imagine; it was almost like a sanctuary to observe and touch materials. Visitors experienced an interactive journey into how research informs material choices, production methods and even emotional connections to design. “The name ‘among us’ conveyed a sense of conviviality and shared experiences,” Urquiola explains.
“The ephemeral installation we designed for Heimtextil 2025,” explains Patricia Urquiola, standing barefoot on the among-us platform, ”is like a big island. There are multiple levels to be read and interact with: you can just walk around the installation or cross over it and stand there.” Scanning the space, then, the elements involved interact: from the large grid sewn around the large mat that can only be accessed without footwear, the invitation is a reflection on hybridization.
“The real barrier isn’t physical,” continues the designer, “it’s accepting to take off your shoes, step onto the platform, and explore the tangible and intangible world that the works present allow you to imagine.” While the materials chosen - wools and synthetic blends - compose a real picture, the bizarre shapes of these “invasions” push beyond the imagination.
Between organic sculptures, tapestries tracing the outlines of insects (or aliens?) and upholstered furnishings with the strangest silhouettes, cutting-edge workmanship and materials emerge. “For three of these sails that we hoisted on the sides, for example,” explains Urquiola, “we played with some special state-of-the-art robots: altering the construction process from a small computer, we added new patterns and colors, mixed textural parts and decorations. Ironically, we slowed down a process that was intended to speed things up.”
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