The China International Furniture Fair, also known as the CIFF Shanghai, has more than one reason to celebrate: the exhibition, which took place between September 10-13, hit an all-time attendance high this year. The number of professional visitors increased 37 per cent when compared to last year’s already massive edition.
’Our booth was crowded by 50,000 visitors in just two days,’ stated one of the exhibitors at the East Design Show section. ‘We signed contracts with nearly 100 cities!’
The focus of Made in China is shifting to Designed in China and Created in China
The main reason for this success? There’s a shift in the gigantic Chinese furnishing markets, with the focus of Made in China shifting to Designed in China and Created in China. Within this scope, the CIFF Shanghai is an international exhibition with a mission: to stimulate the upgrading of the global home furnishing consumption market and the vitality of the country’s future industry.
Under the theme of an Example of Global Home Life, the exhibition presented new industry trends such as creative design, intelligent manufacturing and whole-house customization. More than 1,300 brands – including the debut of nearly 100 domestic premium brands – were present in this session, turning the CIFF into a one-stop sourcing and exhibition experience to global home furnishing insiders.
But the fair didn’t stop to rest on this positive present: it is already thinking about the future of the Chinese furnishings industry. A series of talks, which brought together master designers, technology representatives and members of the specialized media, discussed the idea of national cohesion and the new driving forces for the sector.
In the meantime, the recent past bids is a good harbinger, in terms of both quantity and quality, of what’s to come. ‘We saw more foreign businesspeople this year,’ stated another exhibitor. ‘We had so many client orders this year, we didn’t complete the processing until several days after closing!’
