It is one of those success stories that are just hard to explain. Every other year in the dark of November, some 15,000 design enthusiasts, in particular architects, make the pilgrimage to Langenthal and for a weekend transform the Swiss town into a center for international design. If you look more closely you will find that the success of Designers' Saturday, which this year is being held for the 12th time, is an ideal blend of Swiss precision and the emotional environment on offer in Langenthal. Five companies based here - Création Baumann, Girsberger Sitzmöbel, Glas Trösch, Hector Egger Holzbau and Ruckstuhl - open their production halls, thereby offering a fascinating insight into production processes and operational procedures. The strictly selected exhibitors - the applicants are curated by a jury and have to devise a presentation specifically for Langenthal - exhibit in the middle of the production halls. This creates a fascinating course past rattling machines, production belts, through material archives, right through all the factory halls. The individual locations are connected by shuttle bus.

In contrast to conventional trade fairs the declared goal here is to enable the design public to come into direct contact with manufacturing firms. This is intended to stimulate exchange and communication, with no pressure to sell or buy anything, thereby creating sustainable dialogue. "This is why we don't want to see any company sales staff at Designers' Saturday," sums up Gabriella Gianoli who, together with representatives from the host companies sits on the DS board and, with her agency Gianoli PR, is also responsible for the PR work. "This, together with our strict criteria for selecting participants will hopefully heighten our profile as an exclusive exception to ever bigger mass events."

This year for the first time a DS award will be bestowed on the best company presentation in the categories: Space, Theme, Production, and Orchestration.

Stylepark will be represented at this year's Designers' Saturday in Langenthal for the first time. Come and visit us at Création Baumann and see Knut Völzke's exciting presentation "out of the box". We look forward to seeing you there.

Designers' Saturday
12th edition
November 8-9, 2008
Langenthal, Switzerland
www.designerssaturday.ch