CIFF Shanghai Show delivers on the numbers

Nearly 151,000 visitors attended the CIFF show, which took place from September 8-11 and which featured 1,500 exhibitors.

The organisers – China Foreign Trade Guangzhou Exhibition General Co Ltd and China Foreign Trade Macalline Exhibition Co Ltd – said that the show had “given life to an absolutely original trade fair model: ‘the exhibition and mall alliance’,” and that it had combined the exhibition with “concrete and immediate business opportunities".

Collaboration with both Chinese and international media and trade associations had also made it possible to arrange the presence of selected groups of dealers, interior designers, architects and real estate developers, said the organisers.

CIFF Shanghai 2019 represented the entire furniture supply chain, covering all home furniture sectors with a particular focus on Chinese design and international production, outdoor furniture, home decor, furnishing fabrics, the office, and machinery for the furniture industry.

Eighty per cent of Chinese design brands were present at the show, demonstrating that it is now the ultimate point of reference for quality and innovation and for defining home furnishing trends.

“The presence of an ever-increasing number of foreign companies, both in the International Lifestyle Hall and in the halls dedicated to furnishing living and sleeping areas, as well as at CIFF-WMF, the sector of the fair dedicated to machinery and technologies for the furniture industry, confirms CIFF’s role as an essential platform for entering the increasingly rich and demanding Chinese market and meeting important buyers from the world’s main markets,” said the organisers.

The 44th edition of CIFF Shanghai hosted a series of important events, seminars, competitions, and innovative initiatives, the most notable of which included the forum ‘Designed for Humans: From Alvaro Siza's Modernism into the Digital Future’, organised by CIFF and Aedes Architecture Forum; the fifth edition of the EAST Design Show, which highlighted fine Asian design, combining creative and commercial aspects; and the seventh edition of the Design Dream Show (DDS), which proposed the most innovative trends, bearing witness to the value of Chinese design and promoting the local industry’s international competitiveness.

Other successful events at the show included the International Architectural Design Forum, the China Design Forum, Witness the Pinnacle, the China Interiors & Decorations Conference and the Office Life Theme Hall.

The updated exhibition layout, reorganised to optimise professionals’ visits based on their areas of interest, the constant improvement of all services, and the creation of VIP areas dedicated to networking all further contributed to making CIFF Shanghai 2019 a memorable edition.

New strategies and initiatives are planned for the 46th CIFF Shanghai, which will take place from September 7-10, 2020, and has already gained the participation of internationally recognised brands.

But before then, the 45th CIFF Guangzhou event will take place.

March 18-21, 2020 will focus on home furniture, home décor and textiles and outdoor and leisure furniture, while March 28-31 will focus on office furniture, commercial furniture, hotel furniture and furniture machinery and raw materials.