Custom Timber Build exhibition stands

How we produce it in the workshop

Once the design is approved we turn the three-dimensional model into production drawings; every wall, counter and plinth is made piece by piece in our own workshop in Beylikdüzü. The frame is timber; the surface is painted MDF, laminate, veneer or fabric, depending on the design. Lighting channels, cable routes and sockets sit behind the surface; in the hall you see only the design.

Graphics and print are ours as well, applied to the timber panels in the workshop. Whether the logo is backlit, the lettering is cut in relief or a whole wall becomes an image is settled during the design stage, not discovered in the hall.

A week before the fair the stand has a trial assembly in the workshop: lights on, doors opened and closed, furniture in place. Then the parts are numbered and shipped; the build in the hall takes 2 to 5 days.

Where we have used it

In Istanbul, the Yeniler Etiket stand at Eurasia Packaging 2025 was 100 square metres and the Solinved stand at SolarEX 2025 was 110, both custom timber. Abroad we built 100 square metres for İBA Kimya at PaintExpo 2024 in Karlsruhe, 54 for Er Bakır at Interwire 2025 in Atlanta and 105 for Cemer Kent Ekipmanları at FSB Cologne. The method scales down too: the Doqu Home stand at imm cologne 2023 was 28 square metres. All of them are on the projects page.

What we pay attention to

• Height: every hall has its own rule for stand height and the back wall facing the neighbour; we send the technical file and draw to that limit.
• Heavy products: if a machine, panel or sample is going on a wall, the structure is calculated in the first drawing, with a steel reinforcement behind the timber frame where needed.
• Lighting: general light and product spots run on separate circuits, and nothing ships before the lighting test at the trial assembly.
• Furniture: the meeting table, counter, lockable cupboard and kitchen worktop are in the production drawings; nothing is left to source in the hall.
• Floor: carpet, laminate or a raised platform is decided with the cable routing.

What a timber exhibition stand is

A timber exhibition stand is built from scratch in the workshop for that fair and that plot: a wooden frame with surfaces in painted MDF, laminate, veneer or fabric, depending on the design. Unlike a system stand it is not tied to a profile catalogue; curved walls, concealed lighting channels, raised logos and made-to-measure display cases are solved in timber. Which board goes where is explained in our timber panel selection article.

One distinction is worth making: a search for “wooden stand” also brings up retail display racks and tabletop holders. This page is about the exhibition stand — the structure built for your brand in the hall, the one visitors walk into. We describe the whole process step by step in our custom timber stand article.

Timber exhibition stands we have built

All of the following were built as custom timber stands; each page carries the fair, the city, the floor area and photographs taken in the hall.

• Solinved, SolarEX 2025, Istanbul, 110 m²
• Cemer Kent Ekipmanları, FSB 2025, Cologne, 105 m²
• Yeniler Etiket, Avrasya Ambalaj 2025, Istanbul, 100 m²
• İba Kimya, PaintExpo 2024, Karlsruhe, 100 m²
• Karadağ İplik, İplik İstanbul 2025, 72 m²
• Er Bakır, Interwire 2025, Atlanta, 54 m²
• PCS Test, Kalite Fuarı 2025, Ankara, 36 m²

From thirty-six to one hundred and ten square metres, from Istanbul to Cologne, Karlsruhe and Atlanta, all from the same workshop; the full list is in the projects section at the bottom of this page.

What determines the price of a timber stand

We do not quote a single per-square-metre price; on a timber stand the budget is set by these items: metres of wall and their height, the share of curved versus flat surfaces, painted MDF or veneer, the number of enclosed volumes (storage, kitchen, meeting room), hanging sign and LED, the amount of furniture, and the city of the fair. Compared with a system stand the difference shows in the production line: every part is made for that stand, so workshop time is longer.

These items are written separately in the quote, so you can see how the budget changes when one is removed. We explain all of them on the exhibition stand costs page. Tell us the fair and your floor area and we send a written budget frame within 48 hours; the first concept is free.

What free form costs

The one real advantage of a timber stand is that it carries no dimensional constraint. A wall can be two metres twenty or three metres forty; curves, steps, recessed niches, an asymmetric ceiling — if it can be drawn it can be made. In a modular system each of those is rounded to the profile grid.

The cost shows up in three places. Production takes longer, because every part is made once and has no prototype. The site build takes longer, because parts are joined in position and need touching up. After the show most parts are damaged in the strip-out; reuse is usually limited to furniture and display cases.

Decided with those three known in advance, a timber stand is not expensive but correctly priced. Our stand design page sets out the steps from drawing to production.

Heavy exhibits and the platform

Machinery, generators and workbenches usually make timber compulsory. The reason is structural, not aesthetic. Platform joists are sized for the point load, reinforcement goes under the footprint, and cable and air lines run inside the floor.

Modular system podiums are built for a stated distributed load. Putting a one-and-a-half-tonne machine on one, without the manufacturer signing it off, transfers the risk to you. Organisers also publish a floor loading limit per hall; the lower of the two limits applies.

Share the weight and footprint when you ask for a quote. Learning the load afterwards means redrawing a stand that has already been drawn.

When it is the wrong call

If you do three or more fairs a year at similar sizes, a timber stand means starting the cost from zero every time. A modular system bought with the same money leaves only graphics and freight from the second show onwards.

Abroad, freight volume also moves the decision. Timber parts are bulky and fill most of a trailer; the same stand can travel in half the space as a modular system. On a distant fair the freight difference can close the gap between types.

Then there is the calendar. Timber does not tolerate a late design approval; workshop queue and drying times cannot be compressed. If the design is still being argued six weeks out, timber is not the answer.