Feria Hábitat Valencia has closed its doors with the prevailing mood amongst exhibitors and the buyers from over 80 countries being one of optimism and a general feeling that this was a fair that showed more products, more quality and more design.
With the new style exhibition being rolled out this year, the 2010 show did retain one objective: to produce a dynamic, creative event that also generated business. To deliver on this objective the fair opted to create a point of difference for itself through added value. The exclusive exhibit staged by Patricia Urquiola, one of the most influential designers in the world, and the Lifestyle Spaces settings were two of the most outstanding features that helped provide this added value.
There are no firm figures yet for the 2010 fair but the opinions gleaned so far have been satisfactory. Spanish high end decor companies saw through the number of contacts they made that ‘made in Spain’ is back in fashion. “We felt there was a very different frame of mind than at last year’s fair. For instance foreign buyers who had not come to the Fair for a long time were here and, what is more, were buying”, said Amboan manager José María Llorca. Similarly José Picó, manager of Muebles Picó, confirmed that the fair was a success on an international level. Foreign buyers know about ‘Made in Spain’ seek it out and are interested in it as they are looking for quality furniture with good design. Picó, who is celebrating his company’s 65th anniversary, said that during the fair, as well as the usual buyers from Russia and the Far East, they noticed an increase in the number of buyers from India, the Arab countries and Africa.
The new contact with foreign buyers was one of the aspects of the fair that exhibitors rated the most highly. This was true of Tecninova manager Juan Carlos Muñoz, who talked about projects he is set to roll out with new clients in Vietnam and Thailand over the next few months. As well as forging relationships that will pave the way for him to expand into the markets of Latin America, he also closed deals in Russia and Uzbekistan. “Feria Hábitat Valencia has made significant progress in terms of awakening interest amongst buyers from other countries”, says Muñoz.
Lighting companies taking part this year were split up by style and all agreed that visitors were more professional and that they had made more contact with foreign visitors than in previous years. José Bondia, manager of Bondia, also claimed to be happy with the splitting up by style, “as it meant that furniture buyers gained a comprehensive insight into every aspect of interiors”. Companies such as Almerich and Serip concurred that the fair has improved and is performing well.
The feeling at Textilhogar was equally positive. “This has been an interesting exhibition, there have been a lot of buyers around, which indicates that the domestic and the international markets are picking up again,” said Juan Climent, President of Alhambra Internacional and Ethic-Tex, a new initiative being driven by a group of businesses to promote and defend industrial and intellectual property in the field of textiles. He added, too, that they had had “buyers from emerging countries such as India and Brazil” on their stand, “as well as our usual customers from Russia, Egypt and the countries around the Mediterranean”.
For Pepe Pérez, director of DRT, the fair has moved into a more positive phase. In his evaluation of it he made the point that Spanish buyers “are better disposed towards buying and in a better mindset in this regard.” As far as contact with professionals from other countries was concerned, he singled out Russia and Europe.
The new exhibitor packages were also a success at Feria Hábitat Valencia, as with the joint participation of the three market leaders Pikolín (bedrooms), Rimobel (children’s furniture) and Granfort (upholstery). “People have definitely rated the fair positively, given that we were expecting a very complex situation because of the economic crisis we are going through but at the end of the day we achieved very satisfactory results. One of our successes was the way we presented ourselves at the fair. The way our display was staged was one of the aspects of the organisation of Feria Hábitat Valencia that we have rated the most highly”, declared Pikolín’s general manager Antonio Montiel.
In the avant garde pavilion the view was on the whole much the same on account of the significance of the contacts made and the arrival of professionals from the 1st Iberoamerican Congress for the Interior Architecture Profession (CIPAI), which was organised by the Comunitat Valenciana Guild of Interior Designers.
Vicente Pons, sales director of Point, has commented that it was a good fair on both the domestic and the international fronts. Of all the contacts Point made during the fair 20% were new customers. He highlighted having closed sales with new customers from Panama and Mexico and having signed contracts for hotels in Colombia, Qatar, Egypt and Portugal. As far as the domestic market is concerned Mallorca, Barcelona and the Canary Islands are the next places that will soon be seeing the new Point collections.
There are companies that are daring in their designs, such as Vondom which has a complete collection for outdoors. According to Marketing Director Michelle Poon, the fair went well. “Customers from countries such as Croatia, Turkey and Singapore have come to see us. Buyers from Latin America, which is a market that we have not explored yet, have come to see us too thanks to initiatives such as the CIPAI congress.”
Along much the same lines Carlos Rodríguez, sales representative for Nani Marquina remarked how the visitors seemed to be more professional and how there were more specifiers amongst the contacts they made at the fair. “We had visits from buyers from Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia and, from within Spain, a substantial number of buyers from the Baque Country,” claims Carlos Rodríguez.
This year the first ever Preview Day was held, on Monday 27th September, and in response to requests from exhibitors and retailers. Miguel Xirivella, manager of Xirivella commented “We had contact with both Spanish and international buyers during the Preview Day. It is a good idea that the fair should continue to develop and improve for next year”.
For Feria Hábitat Valencia director Ignacio Mateu, “exhibitors’ and buyers’ positive response is confirmation to us that we have achieved our objective of producing a fair that is different, that promotes internationalization and also encourages us to carry on enhancing it over the next few years”. According to the show’s president María José Guinot“the effort invested right across the year has been rewarded. The move towards creating a fair where the quality of the product offering, design, innovation and added value are key has been noticed. We are satisfied but we need to continue to support the ‘strength in numbers’ theory and show the world what we know.”
Preparations are already under way for the 2011 edition of the show, the aim being to establish it as a concept fair where all the sectors involved in interiors are represented. In line with this aim and to satisfy the requirements of both the supply and demand sides of the industry as far as is possible, we will be undertaking a survey of Spanish and foreign exhibitors and visitors to determine exactly when is the best time of year to run the event.
