Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Annual German trade show Ambiente welcomed more attendees this year – and recorded an increase in internationality on both the exhibitor and visitor sides.
The fair, which is organised by Messe Frankfurt, took place at Frankfurt am Main from February 12-16.
In total, 137,000 buyers from 143 countries (against 134,600 in 2015) visited the event. And for the first time, the proportion of visitors from outside Germany accounted for 55% of the total (compared with 53% in 2015) – more than ever before.
The top ten visitor nations after Germany were Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, UK, China, USA, Switzerland, Turkey and South Korea.
They viewed the wares of 4,387 exhibitors (against 4,814 exhibitors in 2015) from 96 countries spread over 308,000sq m in 27 halls of the Frankfurt Fair and Exhibition Centre.
Detlef Braun of the Messe Frankfurt board of management said: “The whole world does business here at Ambiente. Frankfurt in February is where the trends are set for the international consumer-goods industry over the coming year. An impressive demonstration of this was the high standard of German and international buyers.”
Exhibitor Nicolas Luc Villeroy, head of the tableware division of Villeroy & Boch, was also upbeat about the level of internationality at Ambiente. “We are very pleased with the course of business at the fair and the positive echo from our worldwide business partners, he said. “For Villeroy & Boch, Ambiente is the most important platform for presenting our new products to a global audience of trade buyers.”
Equally enthusiastic was Michel Nouafo, vice president of international household sales at Vitamix. He said: “As the leading trade fair for the consumer goods sector, Ambiente continues to be the most important platform for presenting our range of products and reaching new target groups. And, of course, we are looking forward to coming back again next year.”
Speaking from the visitors’ perspective, Thomas Grothkopp, director general of the German Association for Tableware, Housewares and Home Accessories, gave the fair a positive rating. He said: “The German and large parts of the European retail trade came to Ambiente. The days in Frankfurt were certainly well spent because nowhere else can visitors find such a wide variety of suppliers for the entire spectrum of tableware, kitchenware, gift articles and home accessories.”
In a ceremony during Italy Day at Ambiente, Italy handed the Partner Country Globe to next year’s Partner Country, the UK.
This year, Italian designer Paola Navone curated and designed ‘La Dolce Vita’: a wide-ranging presentation reflecting the broad spectrum of products offered by Italian Ambiente exhibitors.
German-Italian actor Mario Adorf was the guest of honour on Italy Day and toured several exhibition halls.
Next year, Ambiente will be held from February 10-14 2017 and spotlight British design.
