For four days Shanghai will be the world furniture capital. From 9 to 12 September Shanghai New International Expo Centre hosts the China International Furniture Expo, one of the main Asian B2B fairs, which attracts over 100,000 visitors each year.
Many events and initiatives have been programmed to celebrate the 25th birthday of the fair, including the restyling of the logo, representing wisdom and technological innovation at the same time. From 3000 square meters in 1993 to about 350,000 this year: Furniture China grows constantly, along with the interest in the world of design in China and on Asian markets in general. We interviewed Wang Mingliang, founder and director of Shanghai Sinoexpo Informa Markets International Exhibition Co, a professional organization that manages fairs, events and online B2B platforms.
Are you planning specific initiatives dedicated to the 25th Anniversary of the fair?The year of 2019 marks the 25th anniversary for the China International Furniture Expo (Furniture China 2019), together kicking the 30th anniversary of China National Furniture Association (CNFA) since its establishment. Of course, a series of celebration events and activities will be presenting on the upcoming edition of Furniture China. As the event organizers, we attach great importance on strict selection of exhibitors to highly improve the exhibition quality.
At hall 4 in SWEECC, Home Plus and Color of Furniture – Boundaryless Colors, are designed to feature prevalent home living tendency, focusing on offering inspired solutions to current residential circumstance. Moreover, Design of Designers (DOD) is proud to showcase original designs from Chinese young designers who have sparkling ideas in furniture and furnishing designs. Design-interested visitors will also be exciting to the experimental zone of From 100 Years Bauhaus to Chinese Contemporary Furniture Design, which consists of three chronological displaying scenarios “Bauhaus 1919-2019”, “Origination of Shanghai Design” and “Chinese Contemporary Furniture Design” to reveal evolution of design history and an extensive future.
How did the exhibition evolve during these years? What were the major challenges?
Since its inception in 1993, Furniture China has enjoyed constant growth. The exhibition scale has grown from an initial 3,000 square meters to current 350,000 square meters, covering two venues SNIEC (for Furniture China) and SWEECC (for Maison Shanghai) that are interconnected with city-wide design activities under Shanghai Home Design. In recent years, Furniture China has provided a very important platform for Chinese furniture to develop from “copy + manufacture” to “design + innovation”. In fact, since 2011 the show’s aim has been to cultivate, support and foster original Chinese design. This has yielded positive results, which a number of original furniture brands having taken root and blossomed. At present, Furniture China has three huge design halls dedicated to both high-end and mainstream manufacturers, as well as several smaller spaces where younger designers, start-up brands and other furniture-related ventures can show off their wares.
What are the business opportunities the fair offer to its visitors? And to its exhibitors?
Today, original Chinese furniture design is on the rise, increasingly admired by traders from home and abroad. We’re also keen to promote the high-end manufacture within the industry, helping exhibitors strengthen competitiveness, approach new techniques and brand their high-quality products to meet market demands internationally.
What are the most relevant differences/qualities featuring the fair between the other exhibitions in the market?
The brand identity of Furniture China is distinctive. High-quality of products and services are widely acknowledged as the main features that makes Furniture China advantageous compared with the other fairs in the region. In July of this year, we launched “JJGLE EZBUY” and selected 300 exhibitors to show their products and specifications online, which effectively connects elite suppliers and global traders in the marketplace. The release of JJGLE EZBUY marks a milestone of the fair to develop towards a digitalized future.
