To celebrate 25 years of furniture shows at the NEC, the all-new January Furniture Show has joined forces with Furniture News magazine to launch The Furniture Awards.
The January Furniture Show will feature the UK’s biggest selection of new furniture and furnishings available to trade buyers – and The Furniture Awards aims to give the stand-out releases the recognition they deserve.
The Furniture Awards have been designed to recognise the best in new product unveiled at the event, across a range of price points. A team of prominent judges from the world of furniture retail will assess the creative and commercial value of the shortlisted entries before highlighting those considered best in class before the entire industry.
“It has long been my wish to support a credible, representative industry awards scheme,” says Paul Farley, editor of Furniture News and chair of the judging panel. “The debut of the January Furniture Show provides the perfect opportunity to put the best of new product in the spotlight.
“With The Furniture Awards, we’re taking a slightly different approach to the established ‘product-of-the-show’ method. Although we’ll be taking design and manufacturing innovation into account, we’ll also be looking to assess a product’s commercial value – will it sell? Our judges come from various levels of furniture retail, so are well placed to identify which new releases are likely to see quick repeats.”
Theresa Raymond, director of the January Furniture Show, adds: “Our exhibitors are at the show to sell and promote their new products, so having awards based on commercial viability makes sense. It levels the playing field in that every exhibitor has the same opportunity to win, whether they are aiming at the luxury or the volume end of the market.”
A full outline of categories and guidelines can be found on the entry form, which has been distributed to exhibitors. The deadline for entries is Friday 12th December.
The January Furniture Show 2015 will run midweek from Tuesday 13th to Thursday 15th January, located in halls 1-3 and the Pavilion. The 2016 show will revert back to the traditional Sunday opening for three days from Sunday 24th to Tuesday 26th January.
