The Interior Design Show Vancouver gives Western Forest Products a focused platform to introduce thermally modified Hem-Fir to the people who influence how new materials are understood, specified, fabricated, and adopted.
A West Coast platform for design, materials, and new ideas.
IDS Vancouver returns to the Vancouver Convention Centre West from September 24 to 27, 2026, with an Opening Night Party, Professional Trade Days, Trade and Public Days, and Public Days. The show describes itself as ‘the Pacific platform for all things design’ and brings together architects, designers, builders, brands, makers, specifiers, and design-conscious homeowners.
Thermally modified Hem-Fir is being developed as a higher-value wood platform for architectural and appearance-grade applications. IDS Vancouver gives the material a setting where it can be experienced fully.
Why we love the Interior Design Show.
IDS Vancouver is more than a trade show. It is a professional marketplace, public exhibition, and meeting point for the West Coast design community.
The show connects exhibitors with more than 25,000 professionals and design enthusiasts, including designers, architects, product developers, retailers, and serious buyers. That makes it a strong setting for material discovery. Architects and specifiers can evaluate new products in context. Builders and fabricators can assess constructability. Homeowners can see how materials look and feel in real life.
For thermally modified Hem-Fir, that exposure helps the product to be seen, touched, questioned, and understood by the people who will help determine where it belongs in the market.
Where ideas become tangible.
IDS Vancouver has the ability to make design ideas physical. The show’s feature programming includes immersive installations, product showcases, and platforms for emerging concepts, including Prototype, a juried platform for products not currently in production.
IDS Vancouver is a natural partner for Western’s thermally modified Hem-Fir pilot. The product is still being developed, tested, and refined. It needs environments where design expression, fabrication, performance, and public response can be observed together.
‘IDS Vancouver gives us the right kind of platform, one where architects, builders, designers, and homeowners can experience thermally modified Hem-Fir as a material, not just read about it in a spec sheet.’
– Ara Koh, Market Intelligence Manager, Western Forest Products.
The Central Wood Feature Bar gives Western that opportunity. It provides a visible, high-traffic installation where thermally modified Hem-Fir can be experienced at scale, as part of a designed space.
A central feature for material discovery.
The Central Bar will serve as a focal point for gathering, conversation, hospitality, and material discovery. Visitors will be able to see the material’s tone, grain, texture, and natural variation up close. They will also see how it contributes to the atmosphere of a designed space, how it handles repetition and rhythm, and how it performs visually as an architectural feature.
Connecting IDS Vancouver to Western’s pilot strategy.
Western’s thermally modified Hem-Fir initiative is being developed through pilot projects, partner feedback, and real-world applications. The IDS Vancouver Central Bar supports that approach by giving the product a public, design-forward platform for learning.
Western’s thermally modified Hem-Fir initiative is being developed through pilot projects, partner feedback, and real-world applications. The IDS Vancouver Central Bar supports that approach by giving the product a public, design-forward platform for learning.
Through the Central Bar, Western can introduce thermally modified Hem-Fir in a setting that reflects how new materials are evaluated, through a combination of performance, beauty, credibility, availability, and practical use.
From local fibre to design conversation
Thermally modified Hem-Fir begins with coastal B.C. fibre, but its future depends on how well it meets market needs. IDS Vancouver helps connect those two realities.
For Western, the opportunity is to introduce an emerging local wood technology in an environment that is public, tactile, and connected to both professionals and homeowners. Through the Central Bar pilot, IDS Vancouver provides more than visibility. It provides context, a place where design, material innovation, sustainability, fabrication, and local collaboration can come together in a way people can see, touch, and remember.
