Habitat Valencia Forward will feature new spaces and its new strategies will make it an even finer showcase

The International Furniture Fair (FIM), is heading towards the upcoming show with the aim of consolidating itself as the place where Europe´s creative talent comes together

This year´s showcase will be using new spaces, improved segmentation and a product offer that reflects changes in the marketplace  - a strategy designed to position the event as a European point of reference and give industry professionals a close-up view of the latest in the world of the home.
  
The organisers have devised a plan that will make the showcase even more powerful, attract visitors and create a unique setting for staging the second half of the year´s biggest event relating to the home.  The plan has the support of all the industry bodies and its results will be revealed this coming September.

The investment in the upcoming exhibition, which runs from 24th to 29th September at Feria Valencia, reflects the needs of an industry that is in the full flush of a process of change.  According to Miguel Ángel Giménez, who is heading up the project, "we have worked to establish ourselves a something different, a setting that is at once a business platform and an event that combines design and quality.  All of this together with the added value of training and a design culture that produces the creativity that defines us and makes us different."

A showcase brimming with new features

This year´s showcase has been redesigned to both offer as much as possible to those professionals who visit and enhance the image of the event.  On the one hand, space has been rationalized to make the stands as profitable as possible and promote integration and facilitate the striking of new deals between companies. On the other, there will be a linear link between all the stands, whilst level 1 will house the biennial shows for lighting (2008) and products relating to the home (2009). 

With its new segmentation the exhibition will be using spaces for the first time that it has never used before.  One example is the venue´s lobby area, which will house this year´s Nude exhibition, the new "The House of..." project and Domus Mediterránea.

With its new features and product groupings the exhibition is taking a new turn, evolving in line with the market and providing the changes the latter demands.  In this respect the intention is to expand the product offer and create a comprehensive exhibition that offers what distributors, manufacturers, suppliers and the end user are looking for.

The exhibition will therefore feature creations by Spanish and international designers and companies, segmented according to lifestyle and flowing through a series of interconnected spaces representing all aspects of the home: High End Decoration, Accessories and Textures, Classic, Modern, Upholstered Furniture, Rest and the Cutting Edge.

Lifestyles, the house of...

This year Habitat Valencia Forward is launching a new project: "The House of...".  A novel initiative, it will recreate the lifestyles of famous people in a hommage to their professional careers in the world of the home.

The new project will recreate the homes of several personalities in an exclusive space and by means of a number of elements designed as an extension to those personalities.

What the organisers are hoping to do with this project, apart from intriguing the chosen protagonists, is to create expectation amongst visitors as, by moving through the new space they will discover the most unknown facet of these public personalities.  The intention is that those being honoured should express their feelings, tastes and emotions in a unique, personal home that brings together the different propositions on show at Habitat Valencia Forward.

Training sessions

Beyond the business it generates, Habitat Valencia Forward is positioning itself as a forum for discovering and learning about the present and future of the home. The event is this year launching a series of training sessions to put the theory of the present and future of the home into practise.

Well-known professionals will reveal the keys to creating the perfect shop window, improving the quality of customer service at the point of sale, the latest trends in colours, materials, shapes and textiles, and the latest technology.

This represents a clear opportunity and added value for professionals visiting the exhibition, as they will they will be able, here to bring themselves right up to date with  the very latest in the world of the home.

New designers

The exhibition is a dynamic space that pushes back boundaries and, through Forward, supports young designers and the culture of design. This cultural platform is as focal point for cutting edge design that where visitors can discover trends and explore the innovations that are emerging from the world of the home.

Following the succes of last year´s exhibition the organisers are working to design a larger, more attractive space in which to show the work of budding professionals for whom design is their form of expression. The aim for 2007 is to increase the number of projects displayed and maintain the standard and exposure of this part of the exhibition, which is why it is being located in Feria Valencia´s main lobby area.

Because this is one of the areas with the highest footfall, Nude is set to become a very valid platform for creating synergies between the companies taking part in Habitat Valencia Forward and the young professionals. The organisers also hope that the new location will promote the culture of design and add to the showcase´s creativity so that it becomes a point of reference for European creativity.