Carroll elected chairman of global publishing group
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, April 15, 2007
High Point — Furniture/Today Publisher Joe Carroll has been elected to a two-year term as chairman of the International Alliance of Furnishing Publications.
The IAFP was formed 10 years ago with four member publications, including Furniture/Today. Today it has 16, including two new publications, from Turkey and South Korea.
Other members include the leading furniture publications from England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, India, China, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates.
Carroll's colleagues elected him chairman during IAFP's 10th annual meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in March. He succeeds retiring chairman Keith Dunn of Australia.
At the meeting, held at the Malaysian International Furniture Fair, the group discussed several initiatives, including the following:
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Increase efforts to share editorial content between member publications. This in effect would give members a bureau in each of the 16 countries represented.
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Improve the IAFP Web site through both new content and links to the Web sites of each member publication.
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Promote sustainable, environmentally friendly furniture. Furniture/Today aims to do this with its first online publication, called Green, planned for a May 14 posting. England's Cabinetmaker also is planning a green editorial section, and Australia is working on its own green furniture standards, according to Dunn, a director of the Australasian Furnishings Research and Development Institute.
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IAFP also has put sustainability on the agenda for its next meeting, and plans to address issues such as illegal logging and chemical pollution of air and water.
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The group also plans to develop a brochure describing its activities and various member benefits.
"I have accepted the (chairman) position on the basis that the organization was large and mature enough to have goals it could accomplish, and that we think will benefit the global furniture industry," Carroll said.
Serving in leadership roles alongside Carroll are Helmut Merkel, editor-in-chief of Germany's Mobelmarkt, who was elected deputy chairman; and Takayoshi Nagashima, president of Japan's Home Living, elected treasurer.
The group has been invited to the July 2007 Las Vegas Market and plans to hold its next meeting there.
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