This year's Light+Building will be no exception. Stroll through Frankfurt's trade fair halls and you are likely to come across just about any kind of luminaire, and not just the latest creations by renowned designers and manufacturers. The range is enormous, both technically and in design terms. And yet in Germany, discounting fairs such as these for a moment, not to mention the prevailing taste, it is not that easy to gain an overview of the extensive range available. You come across one store selling luminaires here, another there, and they all tend to be sprinkled throughout the downtown areas or integrated in those enormous furniture stores in the affluent districts outside our cities. No wonder many a decision is left to chance and the limited offering.

Elsewhere the situation is totally different. As demonstrated by Istanbul, one of this year's European culture capitals. All the stores selling luminaires are to be found in a single district, or more precisely in several streets in the Galata district not far from the medieval Galata Tower. Anyone looking for a luminaire, knows just exactly where he will find what he is looking for. Not only that. You also find any number of energy-saving luminaires, fuses, leads, dimmers, LEDs and those other items electricians need. Often there are several stores in a single building so that within a short space of time you can take a look at any number of luminaires in every conceivable design and color and find out what is available in the way of illuminants and accessories.

The spectrum ranges from small stores in the basement to the classy showroom of the Turkish design label "Autoban", from festoon lighting comprising colored LEDs, which blink in several rhythms, lamp holders dotted with colored LEDs and resemble luminous showerheads, through to row upon row of ceiling spots, classy chandeliers and never-ending cascades of glass, metal and light in an oriental or contemporary style. And for those people who are still not satisfied they can go next door and have colored fluorescent lamps made to suit their own personal preferences.

Light + Building 2010
The international furniture and interior design fair
from April 11-16, 2010
Messe Frankfurt
Ludwig-Erhard-Anlage 1, Frankfurt am Main
Germany

light-building.messefrankfurt.com