Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Home, the new homewares and interior accessories trade show, and Top Drawer, alongside which it was launched at London’s Earls Court last month, together drew 13,990 trade visitors.
The organiser of both exhibitions, Clarion Events, says the figure is an increase of 34% on that of Top Drawer’s 2011 attendance.
Home presented a collection of over 180 UK and international design-led brands in a high-quality environment, and attracted buyers from top retail names including John Lewis, Harrods, Utility, Selfridges, Divertimenti, Kitchen Kapers, Lakeland, SteamerTrading, Fortnum & Mason, Avoca, Heals, Harvey Nichols, House of Fraser, Laura Ashley, Amazon and Liberty.
Leading international retailers included Mitsukoshi & Takashimaya from Japan, Lane Crawford of Hong Kong, Amazon USA, La Rinascente of Italy and Beymen of Turkey.
Key upcoming trends were much in evidence at the show, which saw a strong contingent of Scandinavian exhibitors showcasing the best of Nordic design, along with home-grown talent flying the flag for innovative British style.
Many of the stands suggested that modern and retro were to be important trends for yet another buying season, while at the same time there was a sense of nostalgia about some of the products, with familiar everyday homeware items being reinvented for a new generation.
Clarion Events’ business development director, Ian Rudge, described Home as “an impressive launch; a rare example of a show where everything comes together to create a memorable experience. We couldn’t have asked for more – great show design, fantastic supportive exhibitors with the right products and thousands of happy, enthusiastic buyers.”
Clarion said that Top Drawer had also exceeded expectations, providing visitors with the largest-ever selection of design-led exhibitors in its history, at a sell-out event. The show offered a 15% increase in the number of exhibiting brands and recorded a 32% uplift in the number of buyers attending the event on more than one day.
