PARIS—The 44th annual Silmo exhibition was held from Sept. 29 through Oct. 2 at the Paris Nord Villepinte exposition hall outside Paris and Vision Monday was on the ground to catch it all.
More than a thousand brands and businesses in over 860,000 square feet took part in this year’s Silmo exhibition. According to show organizers, 120 new companies participated and 34,671 professionals attended; an increase of 5 percent over 2010. A breakdown of those numbers reveals that 56 percent of the visitors were from abroad, 5 percent up over last year, and 44 percent were French opticians, an increase of 4.7 percent since 2010, said Silmo.
The 18th annual Silmo d’Or awards ceremony was held on Sept. 29 at the impressive the Le Bourget Air Museum. This year awards were presented to Essilor, Ceciaa, Opal, Gold & Wood, ic! Berlin, Silhouette and Lindberg.
New this year, Silmo unveiled an original digital magazine, MO by Silmo, which could be viewed on a giant screen at the entrance. Visitors were able to interact virtually with this year’s trend, Hypno’chic, which focused on different style trends (Soft Touch, Mix & Match, Glitter for Ever, Color Block, Brit’Effect). MO by Silmo, and its trends, will be available for viewing to the public in November at www.silmoparis.com.
Next year’s Silmo exhibition is scheduled for Oct. 4-7, 2012 at the Paris Nord Villepinte exposition hall. ■
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