Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
The organisers of Spring Fair Birmingham say exhibitors at last month’s event reported steady orders and high levels of interest in new products and trends.
The Kitchen and Dining sector saw new housewares launches from, amongst others, Le Creuset, Imperial and Typhoon, while the likes of Royal Doulton, Alessi, Portmeirion, Wedgwood and Churchill China used the fair as a launchpad for tabletop introductions.
Celebrity chefs were out in force at the show. Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen was on hand to discuss his range of cutlery for Arthur Price and tableware for Royal Worcester, while Raymond Blanc demonstrated his culinary flair and a new range of Wüsthof Trident knives on the Haus stand. James Martin, star of BBC television’s Saturday Kitchen, was also at the NEC to launch a range of new products with Denby.
“We tend to write a lot of orders at the show and we had a fantastic year last year, and we’ll look to be in line with that this year, if not slightly better,” said Denby’s Martin Duggan.
Oxo reported a “fantastic response” to its new range of Pop storage items, while John Newcomb of Imperial commented: “Spring Fair this year was substantially better than last year, with orders taken on stand up by 50%. It was quality not quantity though and most major buyers I expected to see were there. We’ve already committed to 2009”.
Also returning next year are newcomers to the fair Orli Products, which launched the Grab It plastic oven mitt, and Textiles Scotland.
