China International Furniture Fair

“Not to be confused with China International Furniture Expo, also known as Furniture China, the China International Furniture Fair (CIFF) holds an expo every March and September in Guangzhou and Shanghai respectively. It’s a must-see event for international sourcing, inspiration, networking, and identifying global trends.
This event was held from the 8th to the 11th of September in the Shanghai Hongqiao National Exhibition & Convention Center. Over 150000 people attended the event from over 200 regions across the world, as there is a vast number of unique and impressive products and events at the festival. In fact, the event has been increasingly emphasized so there are 3 halls, totalling 90000 square meters, dedicated to international high-end design furniture. Many of these companies are quite large, so offer a full service internationally, from shipping, handling, legal obligations and the like.
The Exhibition was split into five thematic areas and seven trend-focused spaces such as whole-house custom space or efficient office space. There is a hall for woodworking and machinery, and one for trendy design. No matter your office’s furniture need, from upholstering to Chinese design, the entire furnishing chain is present so there will be a space for you to see.
No longer is China known for mass-produced poor-quality copies, instead, there is a strong professional sector, ‘traditional’ large OEM manufacturers and smaller, charming design companies. Over 1500 companies were exhibiting, and there were multiple events, forums, and networking opportunities, such as the Designed for Humans forum.
A highlight was the Office Life Theme Pavilion event, which was created with Xu Zhaoming with a focus on ‘Culture-driven Environment-Efficiency Improved by Intelligence’. It promised to be interesting, proposing some ideas to base the design of new offices on. The whole Pavilion also offered suggestions for modern office environments, from the types of chairs to standing desks available. CIFF also focuses a lot on technology, so the Pavilion also suggested operating systems and smart accessories that could be used to improve an office environment.
China is one of the leading office furniture manufacturers and exporters globally, and who is the main supplier for the US, Japan, France and the UK. The trends and major exhibitors at the fair indicate global trends that could impact local and foreign brands. “