Valencia regional president Ximo Puig highlighted the importance of design during an official visit to this year’s Hábitat fair. Inaugurating the ENAD Congress (organised by Encuentro Nacional de Asociaciones de Diseño), Puig said the “strength of creativity inspired by design” provided a response to homogenisation generated by globalisation.
In addition to the Congress, other events held in conjunction with the annual furniture and lighting fair included “nude”, a conference for talented young designers, and a tribute to Valencian designer Pedro Miralles, considered an iconic figure of the 1980s “Movida” (“Movement”). According to the organisers, the 2018 edition of Hábitat was visited by 26,140 professionals over the four days, 13 per cent more than the total the previous year. The number of Spanish buyers increased by 12 per cent, and international ones double that figure, mostly from Russia (21 per cent), Portugal (18), France (16), Italy (eight) and United Kingdom ( five) – with a total of 56 markets represented.
