Furniture component suppliers, industrial designers and architects will converge on SICAM 2026 in Pordenone, Italy, from 20 to 23 October to examine what designers now require from partners across the supply chain.
A roundtable on 22 October, organised by the Finiture Green platform under the title “What Do Designers Today Look for in Companies Across the Supply Chain?”, will confront what organisers regard as a defining question for the sector.
The discussion’s starting point is that the furniture industry’s product landscape has become increasingly homogeneous, meaning that differentiation through surface-level design alone is no longer sufficient. Instead, designers need to source materials, components and technical solutions that can lend products a clear identity, practical purpose and measurable worth.
Patricia Malavolti, founder and publisher of Finiture Green, will lead the session. Panellists include industrial designer Igino Forlin, Luca Tormena of Neadesign, designer Marco Marin, Francesca Amato of Flow Agency and technical specialists from Adler.
The roundtable sits within a wider programme of side events at SICAM 2026, which has sold out all 20,000m2 of net exhibition space. Some 700 exhibitors are confirmed, 32% of them from outside Italy.
Fresh international partnerships underpin this year’s edition. A renewed collaboration with ITA, the Italian Trade Agency, will bring delegations of entrepreneurs, buyers, architects and interior designers from Angola, Canada, Indonesia, Mexico, the US, South Africa and Vietnam.
A separate cooperation agreement with the Economic Assembly of Uzbekistan, a body that promotes the Central Asian country’s economy, will see Uzbek furniture entrepreneurs visit the fair seeking semi-finished products, materials, hardware and finishes.
SICAM has also forged a partnership with FIND Design Fair Asia, an exhibition scheduled for Bangkok in November, with the first concrete outcomes of the collaboration expected to surface at the Pordenone event itself.
On the opening day, the Kyiv International Furniture Summit will return to SICAM for a second year, convening its fifth edition to explore design’s contribution to Ukraine’s post-conflict rebuilding under the international “Ukraine: Rebuild Green 2030” initiative.
