Modern trends, high quality materials and impressive furniture products await visitors to Sofia, Bulgaria this month, promises the organiser of the World of Furniture and Technomebel exhibitions.
Organised by Inter Expo Center, together with the country's Branch Chamber of Woodworking and Furniture Industry, the two co-located shows – one dedicated to finished product, and the other machinery and components – will feature exhibitors from Bulgaria, plus Italy, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Portugal and Poland.
More than 30 representatives of companies from Armenia, Belgium, the UK, Germany, Georgia, Canada, Romania, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland joined the shows' hosted buyers programme in 2017, and this scheme – which aims to bring architects, interior designers, furniture producers and wholesale and retail chains, plus machinery producers, experts and specialists, into contact with the fairs' exhibitors – has seen good uptake again this year.
This year's event will host the eighth edition of the Bulgarian Furniture of the Year design competition, which celebrates the best Bulgaria-made furniture. It will also see the addition of The Design Meets Interior, a forum exploring the development of the market and interior trends, and of how Bulgarian companies have positioned themselves globally.
The annual value of the Bulgarian production in the furniture sector is about €500m. “The sector is steady, the interest of foreign markets is sustainable, and our companies produce furniture for the whole of Europe,” comments Galin Gospodinov, chairman of the Branch Chamber of Wood and Furniture Industry in Bulgaria, who says that 30-35% of the product generated in the country is exported.
