hen a company has thousands of products, finding an exhibit design that embodies them, as well as the company's overarching message, can be a challenge more colossal than the company's inventory itself. But Kohlhaas Messebau GmbH & Co. KG didn't just accomplish that herculean feat for Schattdecor AG, it did so with the kind of clarity and polish that Exhibit Design Awards judges called fresh, artistic, and stunning.

Schattdecor's product lines span all manner of printed, texturized paper. Used in home décor, the material can feature realistic wood, stone, or graphical printed images that can be laminated onto walls, flooring, and furniture. To showcase the product lines at Interzum 2013, Kohlhaas' goal was to transform Schattdecor's 7,000-square-foot exhibit into a crystal geode metaphor of sorts.

To achieve the effect, designers used black, semitransparent fabric to cloak the exterior, only offering a glimpse of what laid within through an opening along one end of the otherwise enclosed booth. Stepping into the exhibit, attendees passed between white, angular walls that conjured the image of crystalline passageways through the display. Inside, three product areas and a hospitality lounge used distinctly different palettes to showcase the materials on various surfaces, from the floor to the sculptural-looking pieces of art on the walls.

Complementing the design, whimsical touches via light fixtures and an occasional burst of color gave the space a controlled simplicity that Exhibit Design Awards judges praised. "This tactic is subtle but an oh-so effective way to make the product the hero without having to shout," one judge said. Effectively showcasing a massive cache of products is one thing, but doing so in a way that judges call "brilliantly simple" is a design feat of Sisyphean proportions that gives credence to the old adage that sometimes less really is more.