Trade Fair of Components for Furniture Production FURNICA
DREMA and FURNICA 2008 provided much valuable insight into the supply market for the wood and furniture industry. Nearly 800 companies from 21 countries showcased their offers on an exhibition area of 35,000 square metres.
Leading in this part of Europe
This year the list of exhibitors present in Poznań comprised virtually all leading suppliers servicing the wood and furniture sector. Pivotal in Central and Eastern Europe and Southern Europe, this show evoked much interest among Polish and international professional visitors, attracting more than 21,000 professionals. What they found in Poznań went far beyond the latest offers of different suppliers - fair guests could participate in interesting presentations and events.
The organisational concept of this year's edition involved the development of a maximally effective forum for exchanging specialist knowledge about trends and technologies. The rich thematic scope of DREMA (consistent with EUMABOIS nomenclature) guaranteed a comprehensive offer for visitors from sectors relating to: sawmilling, secondary wood processing, production of furniture, windows, doors, stairs and other wood products, including fancy wooden goods. Differences in the technological advancement of machines and tools displayed in Poznań give reason to believe that the current market offer provides a full range of solutions for both industrial and piece production, and for workshop applications.
At the FURNICA fair - organised for the third time - manufacturers could find state-of-the-art components enabling the development of even the most sophisticated furniture collections.
DREMA and FURNICA exhibitors received Poznań International Fair awards. A total of 12 products were honoured with Gold Medals this year. The Acanthus Aureus Competition Jury decided to present 13 awards to companies whose exhibition stands proved the most successful in reflecting corporate marketing strategies.
Furniture Factory Live - a treat for investors
Invaluable knowledge could be drawn from the special area called Furniture Factory Live, located in Pavilion 3. For the four fair days it served as the venue for the plant manufacturing furniture with unique designs, which will eventually be presented to charity after the show is over. This year's demonstration presented a daunting challenge for the organisers due to immense logistic effort required before the start-up.
- The success of this initiative - truly unique on the European scale - must be contributed to more than 40 companies involved in the project which closely cooperated with one another - says Miłosz Matelski, the Project Director.
Charmed with Detail
Professional visitors from the furniture sector could also draw inspiration from the special exhibition entitled the Charm of Detail - Light and Colour, which has become part of the FURNICA event programme. This sizeable pattern space attracted designers, students and people responsible for making decisions about the overall shape of furniture collections. Our special guest - Zuzanna Skalska, the trendwatcher from the Dutch VanBerlos Studio Plus Design agency, gave a series of absorbing lectures on the intertwining of design trends from various fields of industry, such as the interesting automotive realm, and the furniture sector. The presentations were accompanied by the latest edition of the profusely illustrated trend guide entitled "Inspiration without limits", which was presented to exhibition guests.
Knowledge on the sector condition
The 2nd Economic Forum of the Polish Wood and Furniture Industry Polwood was held on the second day of the show. The invited guests included representatives of economic and industry-related communities. Divided into three thematic panels, the discussion was focused on finding answers to such questions as: is Poland the wood-industry Eldorado? During Polwood Forum a special award was presented for the 2007 investment of the year. It went to Ludwik Olczyk, the owner of Olczyk Sawmill, in recognition of the dynamic development of his machine park.
Media response
In addition to catching the attention of numerous industry-focused media, DREMA and FURNICA trade shows - despite their specialist character - prove to be inspiring for journalists representing mainstream media: the press, radio and TV stations. During the four fair days 275 accreditations were granted, many of them to international media visitors. The exhibition received the most press coverage from Gazeta Wyborcza (both its national and local issues), Puls Biznesu, and Rzeczpospolita. Moreover, live coverage and highlights were broadcast by TV BIZNES, TVP Poznań, as well as Merkury and ESKA radio stations.
Similar Timing in 2009
The organisers would like to invite all interested parties to the next edition of DREMA and FURNICA, scheduled for 31 March - 3 April 2009. In the meantime however, the Poznań International Fair will organise plenty of other events addressed to the wood and furniture sector. April fair visitors will have a chance to turn into exhibitors, showcasing their finished products at MEBLE trade fair, to be held in Poznań in late May and early June. The Poznań International Fair would also like to encourage furniture producers to visit DREMASILESIA - MEBELTECHEXPO, the regional fair of wood processing machines and tools, which will take place on 3-5 October 2008 in Katowice.
