A 33 m² stand for SRI TRANG GLOVES at A+A, Messe Düsseldorf, 24–27 October 2023 — the world’s leading trade fair for occupational safety, health at work and personal protective equipment. It was delivered by the team that now designs and fabricates under the Echo Expo name.
The project
33 m², 6 m × 5.5 m, built to the approved design. The scope was a wooden MDF structure, 3D logo letters laser die-cut from solid material rather than printed, HD prints for the decoration and wall panels, and plastic protection film laid over the hall floor for the duration of the installation.
The display table was designed around the client’s own tooling
The centrepiece was a bespoke tapered circular table, and the detail that makes it worth describing is what the holes in the top are for.
A glove former is the hand-shaped mould a glove is dipped over in the factory. The table top was cut with eight positions, 7.5 cm across and 10 cm deep, each sized to seat a former upright. The product display was therefore the client’s own manufacturing tooling, standing in a ring, wearing the gloves it makes.
- Eight former positions cut into the top, at a fixed diameter and depth so the moulds sit square and do not rock
- A lockable access door in the tapered base, with an internal separator shelf — so stock, packaging and bags live inside the display rather than behind a curtain
- Finished in the brand’s own colours, specified as Pantone 2587 C and Cool Gray 3 rather than matched by eye
None of that is available from a hire catalogue. It is the argument for building furniture rather than renting it: the item does a job nothing off the shelf can do, and it hides the clutter that otherwise ends up on the floor of a 33 m² stand.
Why laser die-cut letters and not printed ones
The logo was specified as 3D laser die-cut lettering. A printed logo is flat and reads as a graphic; individually cut letters stand proud of the wall, catch the hall lighting and throw a shadow, which is what makes a name legible from the far side of an aisle. On a mid-sized stand competing with much larger neighbours, that difference in legibility is worth more than the same budget spent on extra square metres of print.
Five printed elements, and a door that was also a graphic
The graphics package was drawn as five separate printed elements rather than one wrap, each sized to its own wall: a 4.5 m front backdrop, a 6 m rear backdrop, and three narrower panels at 3.9 m high — one of which carried an integrated 42-inch screen aperture.
The detail worth borrowing is the fifth panel. The storage room door was not left as a blank white slab in the corner of the stand; the artwork ran straight across it, with the door aperture set out inside a 2.8 m printed panel. On a 33 m² footprint every wall is on show, and a store door is usually the one surface that gives the game away. Printing across it costs nothing extra and removes the only visible reminder that a third of the back wall is a cupboard.
Planning graphics as discrete, wall-sized panels rather than a single continuous wrap also matters for reuse: a panel can be re-hung, a wrap cut to fit one hall cannot.
What a PPE show asks of a stand
A+A is a touch-and-handle show. Visitors are safety managers and procurement specialists, and they assess protective equipment by picking it up, stretching it, putting it on. That sets the brief:
- Product at hand height, in the open — equipment behind glass does not get assessed
- Generous replenishment storage, because handled product has to be swapped out through the day
- Durable surfaces that survive four days of being touched
- A clear name at distance, because buyers walk the aisles with a list
Why it matters
This project puts personal protective equipment and occupational safety into our record, at the sector’s principal global event. It also adds a second Messe Düsseldorf project, one of the largest exhibition grounds in Europe and the venue for a long list of world-leading trade fairs.
It is also a manufacturer’s stand in the truest sense: the display was built around how the product is actually made.
Services delivered
- Production of the stand in accordance with the approved design
- Wooden MDF structure
- Bespoke tapered display table with eight glove-former positions, lockable store and separator shelf
- 3D logo letters, laser die-cut
- HD prints for decoration and wall panels
- Floor protection film throughout installation
- Installation and dismantling
Frequently asked questions
Can you build custom display furniture for our product?
Yes, and it is usually the right call when the product needs holding, standing or presenting in a particular way. Send a sample or a dimensioned drawing of the item to be displayed and the furniture is designed around it.
Do you match brand colours exactly?
Yes. Give us the Pantone references from your brand guidelines and paint, print and vinyl are specified to them, rather than approximated on site.
Do you build at Messe Düsseldorf?
Yes. A+A is one of several Messe Düsseldorf fairs we have worked on. Tell us the hall and stand number and the design is checked against that hall’s technical regulations before production starts.
Exhibiting at A+A or another German trade fair?
Tell us the venue, the dates and the stand size, and we will come back with a design and a build plan. Talk to us about your stand, or see our work at German exhibition venues and our team’s experience.