- After a year of successful collaboration, the trade fair company is taking over the venue and permanently integrating it into its trade fair and event infrastructure
- The subsidiary Koelncongress will be responsible for marketing and operations
- The perfect venue for social gatherings, pop-up exhibitions, large-scale events, and small consumer fairs
industry for more than 20 years, serving as a hub for design, brand presentation, and profes-sional exchange, is undergoing a structural overhaul. The current showroom concept will be discontinued as of 31 December 2026. Starting on 1 January 2027, Koelnmesse will take over operations and integrate Design Post into its existing trade fair and event structure. The listed historic site will remain open for interior design formats.
“We are pleased to add Design Post to our portfolio, thereby offering another venue that is easily accessible to trade fair and convention attendees as well as event organisers,” says Ko-elnmesse CEO Gerald Böse. In addition to Rheinterrassen, Tanzbrunnen, Gürzenich, Confex, and Flora, Design Post offers Koelnmesse customers another attractive venue for gathering in a unique setting.
This attractive venue, which spans more than 3,000 square metres and features a large outside area, is open to both residents and businesses for social gatherings, pop-up exhibitions, and large-scale events. Small consumer fairs are also scheduled to take place there.
A platform for inspiration, networking, and events
Since its founding, Design Post has established itself as a major meeting point for national and international brands, as well as a platform for inspiration, networking, and events. This well-established foundation will serve as the basis for future integration into the structures of Ko-elnmesse. “We would like to thank all our tenants, partners, and supporters for their long-standing loyalty and dedication,” says Design Post owner Wim van Ast, who founded the venue more than 20 years ago.
The acquisition is taking place against the backdrop of changing market conditions in the sec-tor. “Above all, changes in the trade fair landscape, new requirements for formats, and current developments in the furniture and home furnishings sector have led to this decision,” explains Böse.
“At the same time, it is important to us to emphasise that Design Post will continue to be a ven-ue for interior design events as well as for events related to design and art.” “The location will also remain available to the furniture and interior design industry – though no longer as part of a permanent showroom concept, but rather on a flexible basis for events, exhibitions, and new formats,” adds Koelnmesse Chief Operating Officer Oliver Frese.
An addition to the exhibition halls and space for new formats
Koelnmesse and Design Post already worked together successfully as part of a cooperation agreement. This agreement covered Koelnmesse's use of the Design Post premises as a venue for trade fairs, events, and evening functions. Another component of the agreement was the marketing of Design Post’s spaces to external parties by Koelncongress.
This will remain the case even after the acquisition. Starting in January 2027, Koelnmesse will fully use Design Post as an event venue, thereby expanding the trade fair company’s portfolio of venues. Koelncongress GmbH will be responsible for operations and marketing going forward. The venue is intended to be available to both external trade fair and event organisers, as well as for Koelnmesse’s own supporting events. In addition, it can be used for Koelnmesse’s own event formats – to complement the exhibition halls and as a space for new formats.
Koelnmesse will provide further details and information on the next steps in the transition pro-cess in due course.
You can find Design Post images here.
About Koelnmesse:
Koelnmesse employs around 1,200 people. As a city-based trade fair in the heart of Europe, it operates the third-largest trade fair grounds in Germany and, with almost 400,000 square me-tres of hall and outdoor space, ranks among the ten largest trade fair grounds in the world. Each year, Koelnmesse organises and manages around 80 trade fairs, guest events and corpo-rate events in Cologne and in key markets all over the globe. Its portfolio reaches over 49,000 exhibiting companies from 129 countries and around 2.5 million visitors from around 200 na-tions. Until 2040, Koelnmesse is investing more than one billion euro in the development of the trade fair grounds with the most extensive investment programme in its history, enabling it to accommodate all future event formats. In 2024, Koelnmesse celebrated its 100th anniversary - a century of bringing people and markets together worldwide.
About Koelncongress GmbH:
Koelncongress GmbH was founded in 1994 from the former Congress unit of Koelnmesse. To-day, Koelncongress GmbH is a wholly owned subsidiary of Koelnmesse GmbH and, with more than 50 employees, serves as a full-service provider in four business segments: Guest Fairs, Congresses and Meetings, Corporate Events and Social Events.
Up to 30 guest trade fairs on the Koelnmesse trade fair grounds as well as an additional 1,700 events with more than 1 million visitors take place each year at attractive locations in Cologne including the Gürzenich, the Tanzbrunnen, the Rheinterrassen, the Flora, Confex and the
Koelnmesse Congress Centres.
Further information about Koelncongress: koelncongress.de
Please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions you may have.
Koelncongress GmbH
Mandy Pahl-Bauerfeind
Authorised signatory I Member of Executive Management
phone: 0221 - 821 2537
m.pahl@koelncongress.de
Photo: Koelnmesse, Lucas Hardonk