MIFF draws more interest
By Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, April 22, 2007
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — By spreading its event out over three venues, this year's Malaysian International Furniture Fair appears to have drawn more visitors and interest.
The three venues covered more than 750,000 square feet of space at the Putra World Trade Center, the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre and the MATRADE Exhibition & Convention Center. That compares to just over 700,000 square feet at two venues last year.
Held from March 6–10, this year's show featured 472 exhibitors from 17 countries, up from 433 in 2006 and 385 in 2005.
The effort to expand paid off as the 2007 show drew 19,500 visitors, compared to 18,186 last year. Of this year's total, 7,266 were international visitors, compared to 7,238 in 2006.
Of those, Europe had the highest number of visitors with 1,522, or 20.9% of the total, followed by southeast Asia with 1,257 (17.3%), the Middle East at 820 (11.3%) and Australia at 679 (9.3%)
North America attendance totaled 476 (6.6%), up slightly from 470 (6.5%) last year.
Among the North American attendees was Mario Solano, a purchasing director with casual dining specialist Affordable Furniture of Los Angeles. He said he that MIFF's exhibitors did a better job with their designs this year, especially in the use of mixed media.
"The creativity has changed," he said. "They will have a marble inlay or a glass inlay and for me that is good. It offers my customers something different for the next season."
In addition to casual dining, the show offered plenty of new case goods and leather, in styles ranging from urban contemporary to classic European.
On the case goods side, Ascent Furniture International launched two bedroom collections — Milano, a transitional "modern classic" style in cherry veneers and hardwood solids, and Alyssa, a clean-lined transitional group in oak veneers and hardwood solids.
Chong Mei Leng, Ascent's assistant sales and marketing manager, said the two groups received a strong response from buyers.
From an exhibitors' standpoint, too much attendance can make it difficult to respond to buyers and for buyers to navigate showrooms. But some exhibitors said that the show does a good job of managing that traffic.
"Here, the environment is conducive for visitors to browse through the booths at their own leisure and for exhibitors to pay just the right amount of attention," said Ann Lau, a representative of Wing Huan Marble Inds. "We'll definitely come back."
Next year's MIFF show will be held from March 4–8.
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