These are in-depth pre- and post-show reports on major international trade fairs, held in Taiwan and other countries with significant participation by Taiwanese manufacturers and exporters. They are offered to help global buyers and other readers better understand what is going on at the fairs and the latest offerings by Taiwanese exhibitors.
Compelled by the realities in the wake of globalization and gradual liberalization of the mainland Chinese economy, office furniture makers in Taiwan, like many other manufacturing sectors, have also been moving production offshore to take advantage of lower labor cost to upgrade competitiveness, hence leading to downsizing of the industrial scale in recent years. The relatively small number of f...
Taiwan's upholstery and interior decorations industry has been steadily dwindling as producers follow furniture manufacturers west to mainland China. However the industry's numeric decline has also been accompanied by a qualitative shift in production mode. To stay competitive, the few remaining domestic companies in this line have been aggressively upgrading operations and today are turning out ...
Classic, neo-classic, Chinese-style, and wicker furniture may be popular among high-end consumers, but board furniture remains the mainstream of the Chinese market. This fact is pointed up by exhibits at three major furniture shows held recently in the Pearl River Delta (Dongguan, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen), as well as by the new products introduced by large Chinese branded furniture makers. ...
Being the first event of its kind for sofa designers, the Lehoo Cup China Sofa Design Contest 2008, held on March 17 during the 19th International Furniture Exhibition (Dongguan), drew intense attention from furniture makers both in China and overseas. The contest, organized by the China National Furniture Association (CNFA), the Anji County (Zhejiang Province) Government, and the Lehoo Holdin...
Tai Chun-chang set up the Liu Zi Cheng Co. last year to produce a new product that he had recently developed. "With the help of a few friends," Tai recalls, "I developed this exercise chair a couple of years ago and decided to set up Liu Zi Cheng to make it. This chair, which we call the 'LZC' OA exercise chair, has a smart mechanism that has been ergonomically designed and is easy to operate. ...
A major exporter of wood products, Malaysia is again hosting Aseanwood-Woodtech Malaysia (WTM) 2008, a leading trade show for woodworking machinery that is held alongside Furnitech 2008 and Forest 2008, with the multi-show event scheduled for Sept. 24-28 at Putra World Trade Center (PWTC), Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia. A once-three-year event that began in 1994, Aseanwood-Woodtech Malaysia 20...
The Hong Kong International Furniture Fair (HKIFF) is a premier furniture trade fair presenting complete sourcing solutions of good quality, design-focused products and brand name furniture from all over the world. At a Glance Hong Kong International Furniture FairDateOct. 28-31, 2008VenueAsiaWorld-Expo, Hong KongAdmissionOct. 28-30: Trade visitors aged 18-or-older onlyOct. 31: Open to trad...
The International Furniture Fair Tokyo (IFFT), the biggest furniture-oriented trade fair in Japan and organized by the International Development Association of the Furniture Industry of Japan (IDAFIJ), will be re-launched as "IFFT / Interiorlifestyle Living" from 2008 onwards. Mesago Messe Frankfurt, the organizer of Japan's leading design-oriented interior show "Interior Lifestyle," and IDAFIJ j...
By QUINCY LIANG Lite-On Group, a leading information technology (IT) conglomerate based in Taiwan, recently announced the winners of the 8th "Lite-On Awards." The Lite-On Awards, a major-scale industrial design award event in the Chinese-speaking circle, has been drawing increasing response and attention among both academic and professional designers in Greater China. Over 1,600 designs wo...
Besides turning in solid performances in global industrial design contests in the last few years, Taiwan again showed the international design community that its prowess reaches beyond product creation and innovation-winning a gold award among the 16 prizes at the iF Communication Design Awards 2008. J.M. Lin, a locally-famous architect, led the Observer Design Group to create a communication...
