Japan:IFFT/interiorlifestyle living closes its doors on high note

IFFT/interiorlifestyle living (19 – 22 November, 2008) closed its doors on a high note. It attracted 26,912 visitors, an 18 % increase from the previous “International Furniture Fair Tokyo (IFFT)”. The fair was relaunched, fusing two essential trade shows in Japanese interior design / furniture sector: the furniture-oriented fair organized by International Development Association of the Furniture Industry of Japan (IDAFIJ) called “IFFT” and autumn version of “Interior Lifestyle” (Ambiente Japan & Heimtextil Japan) organized by Mesago Messe Frankfurt.
With 367 companies (301 domestic exhibitors, 66 overseas exhibitors) from 14 countries and regions filling up three halls at East Hall of the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition centre, “IFFT/interiorlifestyle living” delivered much wider ranges of high-quality products than the previous IFFT. The visitors found a variety of indoor and outdoor products including furniture, home textiles and lifestyle-related consumer goods.
Besides a wide range of high-end exhibited products, special presentations added colorful highlights regarding the usage of home textiles for stylish living space made the fair more informative and entertaining than ever before. IFFT/interiorlifestyle living: With new attractions “heimtextil x lifestyle brands”, “heimtextil TRENDS 2009/2010 Preview”, “TREND CAFE”, the 2008 fair informed and entertained its visitors.
A favourite highlight of the visitors was the “heimtextil TRENDS 2009/2010 Preview“. Heimtextil, the biggest international trade fair for home and contract textiles for decades, serves as a platform for manufacturers, the trade and designers from all over the world. The fair not only features the latest interior furnishing products and concepts but also highlights the trends for the next 18 months.
IFFT/interiorlifestyle living offered its visitors a chance to preview this Trend presentation for the coming 2009/2010 season. Mr. Eiji Honda, Representative of the Interior Culture Institute, said, “I have visited the Heimtextil over the past three decades and I feel that this year’s Trend is probably the best of all.”
Especially, the collaborative exhibition of the home textile editors and renowned Japanese lifestyle brands named “heimtextil x lifestyle brands” gained much attention. The participating Japanese lifestyle brands includes: Essence, Nazero, Rockstone, Sempre, Time & Style, WiseWise. And all the home textile editors collaborating with them are also world-famous editors such as Casamance, Christian Fischbacher, Designer’s Guild, KINNASAND, Need’K, Nya Nordiska.
The participants of this highlight said that it was a refreshing experience. Mr. Kohei Tokoo, contract design leader of Time & Style, commented “Honestly, the preparation for the fair was even harder than usual, as we have to get to know the textile products offered by our collaborative partner."
"We used their textile on the seating face of our chairs. I think that the beautiful textile gave our chair a new look, and visitors seemed to enjoy this refreshing style of exhibition. Compared to the IFFT 2006, where we exhibited last time, the new edition of the fair is much better. I mean better in the quality of exhibition and the quantity of visitors.”