Hasta La Ideas

News: Berlin design fair Qubique has been postponed until 2013, the organisers have announced.

The fair was due to take place from 30 November to 2 December this year at Station Berlin, a former rail-freight station in the city, but will now take place next year at a date and location to be decided.

The ambitious fair, inaugurated last October at the giant Tempelhof Airport in the city, billed itself as a “next generation trade show for furniture and design” but ran into financial difficulties at the start of this year. It is understood that exhibitor bookings and visitors were down on expectations. Holding company Offshow AG went into liquidation in February 2012, owing money to several companies.

The organisers then announced that the show would continue under the control of a new company, Qubique GmbH & Co KG, releasing details of a scaled-down fair at a smaller location and with new dates for 2012. However the new company was never formally registered with the German authorities. Dezeen understands this is because it failed to secure the financial backing required to register a company of this type.

A source close to the fair said Qubique had struggled to sell stands and secure investment, adding: “Everybody wants Qubique but nobody wants to pay for it.”

Ruben Hutschemaekers, one of three original founders of Qubique, left the company in spring this year and he was recently followed by co-founder Ulrich Weingärtner, who resigned in July. The third founder, Matthias Schmidt, remains at the helm of Qubique.

A statement on the Qubique website says: “The current status of bookings makes it unlikely to be able to realize a show of the high level of quality that Qubique approaches. Reasons for this may be various but an important factor is certainly the new date that resulted from the change of location, and is difficult especially for retailers.”

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