MANILA, Philippines - On March 14 to 17, the two most important furniture and furnishings sourcing shows in the Philippines merge into one impressive showcase alongside the March 2012 Manila FAME exhibition. CebuNext and Manila Now will be featured at the design and lifestyle event that is set to draw large numbers of local and foreign buyers to the SMX Convention Center in Manila.
Organized by the Center for International Exhibitions and Trade Missions (CITEM), Manila FAME is one of the longest running trade shows in the Pacific region. Last October, the Chamber of Furniture Industries of the Philippines (CFIP) and the Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation, Inc. (CFIF) decided to forge closer ties with CITEM by bringing their shows into the Manila FAME expo.
“This dynamic collaboration will definitely make for a bigger and better showcase. We no longer operate as individual shows but as a unified event. This coming together is our vision for the whole industry and we are doubling, even tripling our efforts to put on a great event to better serve the needs of our buyers and exhibitors,” said Eduardo Zuluaga, exhibition chairman for the Chamber of Furniture Industries of the Philippines (CFIP).
The October 2011 edition of the show proved so successful that buyers from 65 countries came to visit. It was the highest turnout of foreign buyers at the exhibition since 2008.
“And we are definitely expecting the March show to have an even greater response. It’s the buying season and trade visitors will be flying into the region to visit various exhibitions on the ASEAN Spring circuit. We have high hopes that Manila will draw in a substantial number of these overseas visitors,” shared Christina Gaston, Exhibition Chairwoman of the Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation, Inc. (CFIF)
The furniture hall will be packed not only with the finest in furniture and furnishings but with activities as well. One of the new additions will be The Hub, which will serve as a platform for networking and exchange in the show. The Hub would feature speakers coming from different disciplines to present their latest works and advocacies including famed branding consultant, Michael Cleghorn.
“One of the things we did in CebuNext was to organize a tour of showrooms and factories,” added Gaston. “We are using that same concept for the March show but we’re doing it in on a bigger scale. This year, our buyers can take their pick from close to 100 showrooms and factories to visit, as we extend the programme to include in Pampanga, Manila, as well as Cebu, and we will handle travel arrangements for them. This way, they can get to see first-hand how our designers and manufacturers produce some of the most creative pieces available in the market.”
Manila FAME 2012 featuring CebuNext & Manila Now: Asia’s Design and Lifestyle Event is the preferred destination for lifestyle products in furniture and furnishings, holiday and gifts, and fashion accessories. It will occupy close to 30,000 square meters of space at the SMX Convention Center. Buyers may pre-register via www.nextonenow.com.