Industry News

White Plains, NY, Sept. 27, 2011 – The 26th annual edition of SURTEX, the only business-to-business marketplace in North America devoted to selling and licensing art and design to be used for all product surfaces, will take place May 20-22, 2012, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.

Some 350 exhibitors and more than 6,000 other industry professionals from around the world are expected to participate, according to Penny Sikalis, GLM Vice President and SURTEX manager.

A resource unique in the industry, the show attracts textile designers, illustrators, graphic designers, fine artists, and other talents offering trend-on artwork for the creation of top-selling products of all kinds, Sikalis points out. In addition, licensing agents and design studios exhibit artwork from their diverse sources, making work from more than 1,000 artists and designers available under the same roof, she said.

Attendees include manufacturers, top retailers and other product developers from the US and abroad, who come to SURTEX seeking “the latest surface designs to create exceptional products,” Sikalis said.

“We expect a broader and deeper range of attendees this year – there’s virtually no limit on the variety of products that make use of surface designs,” Sikalis said. “So we expect the attendance to be up again in 2012.”

An award-winning veteran of the art licensing industry she helped develop, Sikalis also pointed out two special features of the 2012 show: the ReSourceHuB, offering essential tools for the designer/design industry, and the annual International Student Design Competition known as designext, also in its 26th year.

Invitations have already been sent to colleges and universities around the globe, urging surface design students in their third or fourth year to accept the designext challenge for 2012: Creating a collection of original surface designs for products to be used in an outdoor setting in the year 2020. Products can range from outdoor furnishings and fabrics, to tabletop, decorative accessories, wall coverings, floor coverings, and lighting, she said.

“We’re encouraging students to think ahead, to think future trends and to develop designs that will be used in a variety of outdoor situations,” Sikalis said.

“The student design competition itself is designed to encourage the next generation of surface designers,” she emphasized. “With surface design so important to successful product development across the board, we need to attract young designers as they’re about to leave school and enter the marketplace.”

Four designext winners, chosen by an august panel of judges, will land in the spotlight at SURTEX, where one Grand Prize winner will be named. During the show, the students can present their entries and portfolios, and network with the largest gathering of professionals in the industry. “It’s a terrific path for beginning a career,” Sikalis said.

Deadline for designext entries is January 25, 2012; judging takes place in February. For details and an on-line entry form, visit www.SURTEX.com.  

For more information on SURTEX, contact Penny Sikalis at 914-421-3297, penny_sikalis@glmshows.com, or visit www.SURTEX.com.