Interior Lifestyle 2008, that took place from 11 – 13 June 2008 in Tokyo,{Lifestyle Awards}

Interior Lifestyle closes with record breaking visitors
Interior Lifestyle 2008, that took place from 11 – 13 June 2008 in Tokyo, attracted the highest number of visitors ever in its history. The halls were packed and bustling, especially on the last day when over 9,200 buyers crowded into the fair, bringing the overall total to a record-breaking 27,390. The atmosphere was lively and feedback from participants was generally excellent.

With 652 exhibitors (419 domestic, 233 overseas) from 31 countries and regions filled four halls of West Hall at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition centre. The fair delivered a wide-ranging selection of high-quality products for cooking, living, furnishing and decorating as well as kitchen/tablewares, home accessories and home textiles.

Positive feedback from exhibitors:
For the 652 exhibitors, the fair was a great opportunity to start up business or to strengthen existing business in the high-end consumer goods sector. Many of the exhibitors gave positive feedback. Mr. Marco Fontao, sales manager of Dicame, S.A. said, “The purpose of our participation in the fair was to introduce the collection of our brand to the Japanese market and to find a distributor in Japan.

Among the visitors were importers and buyers from trading and commercial companies. It was the first time that we exhibited at a Japanese trade fair. Our products are known for their high-quality and are made of the finest raw materials. I believe that our products are suitable for the Japanese market, where high-quality is required.

After three days exhibiting at Interior Lifestyle, I am even more confident about our success in the Japanese market. Japanese buyers seemed to accept our products. Interior Lifestyle was very lively with many visitors over the three days. From the moment the doors opened in the morning until they closed in the evening, there was a lot of visitor traffic. It was nice to take part in such a growing fair.”

Special presentation for the latest interior trends:
One of the distinctive features of Interior Lifestyle is its series of special showcases and presentations highlighting international products and trends in design. With new attractions “NORDIC LIFESTYLE”, two Trend Cafes and the young designer presentation area, “neON”, the 2008 fair was more informative and inspiring than ever before.

Mr. Toji Sakamoto, sales manager of Product Marketing Service Co Ltd, Remarked with a positive statement, “Just on the first day, we had more than 400 contacts and more than 700 packages of promotional material were taken by visitors. We met many retailer. The first encounter with Interior Lifestyle was last year when I came as a visitor to the fair. Before that I was sceptical about the benefits of trade fairs from a cost-effectiveness point of view.

But after having visited the previous Interior Lifestyle, I made up my mind to take part in the fair. Interior Lifestyle is known for its high-sense exhibition style, so exhibiting at the fair seemed to be a big advantage for our branding strategy. I am very happy about being able to exhibit in the special exhibition zone, “NORDIC LIFESTYLE”.

As an agent that promotes the Norwegian furniture, “Rybo”, we were very lucky to make our first debut at the fair in the
very year when the Nordic lifestyle was being highlighted. I would like to come back in 2009!”

Interior Lifestyle Awards:
The Interior Lifestyle Awards are given to products that deserve special recognition for design innovation or their popularity. Products at the 2008 fair were judged by a panel of opinion leaders, including representatives from the Japan Interior Designers Association (JID), the Japan Design Consultants Association (JDCA), the chief editor of Mono Magazine, the chief editor of Nikkei Design, and Mr. Kohei Takata, a concept planning director of the fair. As there were many exhibitors with well designed products, competition for the awards was intense. Five exhibitors won awards and a presentation ceremony was held on the evening of the first day. The winning companies were:

• JID Design Award: IOTC Inc.
• JDCA Design Management Award: YOnoBI
• Mono Magazine Award: foodesign guzzini
• NIKKEI DESIGN Award: Onao Co., Ltd.
• Interior Lifestyle Young Designer Award: sora design works

A furniture designer of sora design works, a winner of the Interior Lifestyle Young Designer Award was delighted at the news that she had been nominated to take part in the ‘talents’ showcase at the Ambiente 2009 – the world’s largest and most prestigious consumer goods fair held annually in Frankfurt am Main.

“When I visited a friend’s booth at the fair in 2007, I thought that I would like to participate in the fair. neon is a brilliant project to give our young designers a chance to promote ourselves to business enterprises! I met all kinds of visitors from many different industries and got some offers for collaborative work with several companies. In the beginning, I was worried not to be chosen as one of the designers to take part in this project. So, I was very happy to be able to exhibit at neon. I never expected to be honoured with such a special award. I cannot wait to go to Frankfurt next February!

The next Interior Lifestyle is scheduled to take place from 3 - 5 June 2009 at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition centre. Please also check out the new trade fair showcasing a wide-range of interior products; IFFT/interiorlifestyle living” which will be held from 19 – 22 November 2008 for the first time.