This year HISPEC 2017 was held in Seville, Spain and as it was my third year attending I was familiar with the setup, and really looking forward to the event. However, I could not believe the temperature of Seville, which reached over 40 degrees, matching places like Dubai! The location suddenly became the hottest place I had ever visited.
The event was held in a Conference hotel, where the public areas on arrival gave the feeling you were in an outdoor setting, with the design featuring a pond, plants and bamboo elements. There was also the added bonus of a swimming pool, which was definitely needed, and I managed to have a quick dip.
The arrival dinner was held in the Alfonso X111 Hotel, which was a beautifully designed traditional hotel with a central outdoor square. We were greeted with tapas and drinks, as well as a fan to get us in the Spanish mood.
Over the next two days I attended lots of supplier meetings, networking lunches and alfresco dinners. I was introduced to companies supplying tiles, mosaics, textiles, furniture to name a few, as well as catching up with some familiar faces. A few of the highlights for me were being updated with the new carpet collection designed by Christian Lacroix for Ege Carpets, as I really love the attention to detail within the designs and the new lighting collections by Heathfield as lighting is one of my favourite things! I also discovered Naturtex who produce textiles inspired by fashion, which form very creative patterns, as well as the modern customised shower enclosures supplied by Coastal shower doors, which are unique to anything I have seen before! I always find this event very useful and inspiring, as not only are you set in a lovely destination, it also gives the opportunity to explore other products and companies in a positive environment, away from our busy working schedules.
A highlight for me was one of the networking activities as we were given the opportunity to have a Flamenco lesson. I am a dancer so for me this was especially exciting. The standard of the teachers was incredible and I soon realised it wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought! With flowers in our hair, we performed in teams and I am happy to say my team won!!
The farewell dinner was set in a lovely outdoor area, with drinks, tapas and dancing quite late into the night, following the Spanish way of life. I would like to thank HISPEC for another successful event, it was as inspiring and enjoyable as always.
