Institute of Indian Interior Designers & Dainik Bhaskar claim to present central India’s biggest exhibition of interior & building materials mega show at Abhay Prashal from 18- 20 Dec. 09.

The premier showcase of interior design, building materials, furniture and furnishings in Indore provides exhibitors with unique opportunities to develop new business strategies, and enhance existing ones.

It provides quality attendees, drawing attention of leading architects, interior designers, manufacturers, landscape artists, consultants and the end-users.

Celebrating new, significant, relevant and interesting hitting the market, the event is not ignorant about upholding traditional values of providing business opportunities.


The exhibition is offering a lot to learn for the engineering students. They will get knowledge about the modern interior products and global trends and also about the world’s top companies in this field. There will be a seminar on resolving queries related to interior and designing subject on 19th December, from 4 to 6pm.

Great Expectations: Godrej Interio Surges Greater Turnovers

Riding on expansion plans Godrej Interio, a business unit of Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co, is eyeing Rs.2,000 crore turnover by 2012-13. The division offers interior solutions for living room, bedroom, kids’ room, and offices.

The company was keen to strengthen its presence in laboratory and healthcare furniture solutions too. According to the senior officials the company needed to set up a production facility, preferably in south India, so that, pressure from its Vikhroli (Mumbai) unit can be offloaded.

Besides Vikhroli, the company now has a production unit in Guwahati and in Uttarakhand. The company is aiming to open more show rooms across the country to expand businesses.

Ethan Allen, the leading interior design company and manufacturer and retailer of home furnishings, USA is pleased to announce the induction of Chairman, President and CEO Farooq Kathwari into the American Furniture Hall of Fame.

During the last 36 years he had been working closely with many of the industry leaders. The American Furniture Hall of Fame stated, Farooq Kathwari has been the driving force behind Ethan Allen. As President, Chairman and CEO, his distinguished leadership is further demonstrated through his service to the industry, the community, and the world.

Mr. Kathwari came to the United States from his native Kashmir as a student at age 21. He worked at a printing company while earning his MBA in international marketing from New York University. In 1973, Mr. Kathwari and Ethan Allen formed a joint venture company to develop home accessories. The company merged with Ethan Allen in 1980. Mr. Kathwari became president in 1985 and chairman and CEO in 1988. In 1989, he led a management buyout of Ethan Allen and took the company public in 1993.

The American Furniture Hall of Fame Foundation, Inc. is an international industry-wide organization founded to research, collect and preserve cultural, economic and artistic history, as well as to honor those individuals whose outstanding achievements have contributed to the continued growth and development of the US furniture industry.

               Manufacturing Sector Registers Low Capacity Utilisation (23.12.05)

A few key areas in the manufacturing sector, such as wood and wood products, paper, beverages, textiles, tobacco, non-metallic minerals, metal products and transport equipment have registered negative growth, ranging from 5.22 per cent to 0.15 per cent in Capacity Utilisation during 2005 as compared to their capacities in 2004, according to an Assocham study.

In a Paper on ''Capacity Utilisation in Indian Manufacturing Industries'' released by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), wood, wood products, furniture & fixtures recorded a downward trend of 5.22 per cent from 86.2 per cent in 2003-04 to 81.7 per cent in 2004-05. Paper and paper products and printing & publishing experienced a fall of 4.89 per cent from 89.9 per cent in 2003-04 to 85.5 per cent in 2004-05.     
                       
               The Prospect Of the Furniture Sector In India Seems Positive (01.12.05)

Several agreements have been signed between local producers looking for technology and European companies trying to reach a market or to reduce their costs.

A recent on-field UEA research , co-funded by the European Commission, has allowed to identified some 150 Indian companies (furniture manufacturers and retailers but also banks, hotels, enterprises) wishing to start commercial and/or industrial co-operation with EU counterparts. Their company profiles are quite complete.

Legislation on various ways of setting up business and on intellectual property rights exists as well as a lot of advantages for foreign companies to establish business alone or with partners in India . Indian government is continuously taking steps to minimize entry-exit barriers for foreign companies and government is facing pressure to liberalise the duty structure. Further, in comparison with other countries such as China and Mexico, where the time required to start a business is less, India still involves more legal fulfillments. Hopefully, in coming years these shortcomings will be done away with.

                      Kian Furniture Set Up an Exclusive Stores In India (15.11.05)

Kian Furniture, a $30-million Malaysian furniture maker, has set up an exclusive stores outside Malaysia in India. Ikian Furnitures Pvt Ltd, HC Dugar Group Enterprise, has brought Kian to India. The H.C Dugar Group was primarily into pharmaceuticals and the bottled water businesses. Kian offers a one-stop-shop for all requirements in lifestyle residential and commercial furniture. Kian’s winning edge lies in the commitments to quality and the stability to give classic designs a contemporary twist. Solid wood, either Teak or Compressed rubber wood with imported wood Veneers is used for the furniture. It isn’t just upper crust houses that are being dressed up in Kian’s designs. Corporate offices, Super-specialty hospitals, Schools, Restaurants, Cafeterias, Bistros, are all buyers of Kian, the world over. The cigarette butt resistant, spill and scratch resistant range of stackable laminated tables which look like they are marble or granite top, but are actually compressed rubber wood with laminated finishes are very popular in cafes, world over.    

       Plastic - The Potential Alternatives To The Indian Furniture Industry (02.11.05)

Plastic furniture has product benefits like being easy to maintain, excellent weatherability, light in weight and hence easy to handle, available in a variety of colours. With the availability of various types of plastics, these synthetic materials have found increasing use in the field of furniture, replacing conventional materials such as steel, aluminum, wrought iron, wood, etc.

Shortage of wood, its high cost and above all ecological concern have led to extensive use of plastics in furniture manufacture in developed countries. Since furniture industry is one of the major consumer of wood, any strategy for preservation and enhancement of forest resources would have to be linked with planned replacement of wood in furniture items. Availability of good quality wood and the time consuming costly process of seasoning have already pushed up the cost of wood beyond the reach of common man. Maintenance of wooden furniture by regular varnishing and polishing is also costly. The conventional alternatives of wood in the furniture industry are aluminum and steel. High-energy consumption by these metals has not made them suitable alternatives in larger scale. Therefore, plastics offer themselves as suitable and potential alternatives to the Indian Furniture Industry.

                                   Indian Furniture In Saarc Countries (20.10.05)

The lesser known Indian furniture industry is growing by leaps and bounds with Style Spa Furniture Limited planning to open showrooms in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) countries this year.

Style Spa, which earlier sold its products under the brand name of Gautier, Managing Director Arun Mahajan said, “We have been exporting office furniture to the United Kingdom, France, Dubai and Mauritius and the demand is growing. We are now tapping the home furniture market in Saarc countries which has a great potential. We plan to open showrooms in these countries, including Pakistan and Sri Lanka.” He said though exports to the UK doubled within a year and stood at Rs 8 crore, it was only 10 per cent of the total turnover of the company which is expected to touch Rs 75 crore this year and Rs 100 crore in 2004-05.

The K.K. Birla group company, which had its turnover of Rs 10 crore in 1998-99, has grown over the years and now as far as the product range goes, it has plans firmed up for furniture and home-related accessories like furnishings, table lamps, curios and artefacts. However, exports give a quality edge because the company had to compete with international brands. The furniture industry in India is still unorganised with only 20 per cent in the organised sector though the home furniture market in the world is worth Rs 20,000 crore and during the past three years it grew by 20 per cent per annum. According to a World Bank study, the organised furniture industry is expected to grow by 20 per cent a year and India, Russia and Brazil will witness a boom.

                          Global Furniture Fair In Mumbai 12 October (01.09.05)

The current value of imported furniture is estimated to be around Rs 8 billion crore and the annual growth rate in this sector is around 12 per cent, Liyakat Ali Khan, president, Universal Expositions group of companies has said. Addressing media persons here yesterday, he said the total size of the Indian furniture industry is estimated at Rs 3,500 crore and added that 85 percent of this in the unorganised sector.

He said that organised players could change the dynamics of the market. 'An interesting point to note is that between 1 Jan 2004 - 15 July 2005 India ranked first by importing 17 per cent of the total imports in furniture worldwide.' He also said that his company would be organising international furniture fair -Index 2005 at MMRDA Exhibition Grounds, Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai, from 12-16 October. The fair would be held concurrently with Inter-Furn-International Trade Fair on Furniture hardware, Intermediates and Wood-working machinery. Spread across an area of 30,000 square meters, Index 2005 is expected to have more than 200 participants from across the globe. ' With the furniture industry in India coming of age the Index International Furniture Fair has had a pivotal role to play in the furniture industry's phenomenal growth.', he said. The fair would also have a platform to national Institute of Design (NID) and industrial Design to showcase the talents of the budding elite Indian design specialist. Khan said that apart from drawing the target segment of professionals, the fair will also bring together the trade and segment industry such as trade buyers, importers and exporters. He said top international brands like Morso, Zofoli, Matteograssi, fabrics from Paula Lenti and the presence of design consortia like Milan 42 displaying artifacts, furniture and lighting products would be displayed at the fair apart from Indian exhibitors Kanu Hacker, Indoline, Faber, Kaff, Sleek, Akruti and Sorbiny.
                    
                              INDIA- Nilkamal Eyes Lifestyle Furniture Biz (10.08.05)

The Rs 460-crore Nilkamal group, which makes moulded plastic furniture, is diversifying into the lifestyle furniture business where it plans to set up a chain of branded stores across major metros and smaller cities. Over the next couple of years the group is planning to take `@Home', its branded imported furniture store to at least 25 locations in major cities and simultaneously set up over 40 franchisee operations in smaller towns and cities. "With disposable incomes and aspirational lifestyles at an all-time high we see a huge potential in the lifestyle and home furniture business,'' Hiten Parekh, Executive Director, said.

"We plan to target the mass market with our range of furniture imported from all over the world and corner at least 10 per cent of the market to reach a turnover of Rs 220 crore in the next five years,'' Parekh said. The domestic organised ready furniture market is pegged at Rs 600 crore annually. The company has already set up its first store, a sprawling 14,000 sq ft outlet in Pune, which retails furniture for every part of the house and lifestyle accessories, and plans to set up an additional eight stores this fiscal beginning with two in Mumbai and one in Ahmedabad. "We will invest Rs 40 crore initially for these stores and take the brand to Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Cochin in the second phase this fiscal," Nayan Parekh, Director, Nilkamal Plastics, said. While the Indian market is currently flooded with furniture from South-East Asian countries, Manish Parekh, Director, said the company will use its group expertise in the retail business and understanding of the market to ensure that its products are designed to suit the requirements of Indian lifestyles. "A lot of wardrobes abroad don't have the concept of locks while Indian homes require a security system and we are customising our range to suit Indian requirements,'' Manish Parekh said. Customers walking into @ Home stores can avail themselves of complementary interior design services and consultancy from interiors experts who will be available in-store. "We are in the business of home making,'' he said. Meanwhile, the company also eventually plans to design and manufacture its own range of furniture under the @Home brand to be manufactured locally. "We will manufacture sofas, chairs and metal products and will provide our design and specifications and outsource other home furniture,'' Hiten Parekh said. "Once the current business is consolidated, we will get into specialty stores like kitchen and bathroom accessories,'' Nayan Parekh said. Nilkamal has manufacturing operations in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India. The company sells 1 crore pieces of moulded plastic chairs in India alone every year and processes 45,000 tonnes of plastic annually for the domestic market.