Interiors UK is ramping up its activity when it comes to new ideas and initiatives for boosting sales and growing business for the industry in 2014, introducing new creative areas and web resources.
Customers, at every level, want what is new. Consumers seek it out. Retailers have to be on top of the trends to tempt buyers. Interior designers and specifiers constantly search for the newest, latest items. Whether it is a new look at an old theme, new ways of working, new colours, new materials and designs or the upcycling of classics, the business of interiors has never been more like that of fashion.
The people exhibiting in the new Designer Makers area in hall 1 understand this. Some are finding new ways to work with traditional materials, others looking at new design technology. Most importantly, all of their work is commercially available and ready to buy, whether bespoke pieces made to commission, or batch-produced existing designs.
Exhibitors include Journeyman Furniture from Cornwall, whose Footprint table has shown at the V&A Museum, and Angus Ross who, from a workshop in the Highlands, designs and makes furniture for homes, gardens, galleries, boardrooms, hospitals and churches all over the UK. Others include Derrick Ibbiott, B:Bespoke, Mono Furniture, Sally Clarke Furniture, Radiance Furniture Design and the award-winning David Colwell, Jason Muteham and Robin Furlong.
Elsewhere, Deknudt Mirrors is new to hall 3, and Ego Italiano and Gamamobel are new international names in hall 2.
The show’s new creative campaign – focusing on the theme New Arrivals – has gone live, alongside the website. With over a million page views and 196,000-plus unique visitors in the last year, the site offers exhibitors a show front where they can upload press releases, product information and product pictures – a key pre-show promotional tool.
For visitors, it is a vital resource for keeping up to date with who is exhibiting and what is going on. With so many manufacturers keeping new product launches under wraps until the show opens, the website is a key place in which to tantalise the audience, and promote product launches without giving anything away.
A new online feature for 2014 is the Interiors UK Community Zone. This is a free business facility for visitors and exhibitors, to help everyone make the most of their time at the show. Visitors can search for exhibitors, make contacts, book appointments and plan their visit using the tool. In a busy world, this is another new initiative created to improve the visitor and exhibitor experience and, ultimately, to benefit business.
