Wow what a cool trade show… Lets start out this review with the basics, and not how cool I think the city is…
The trade show is pretty small, maybe 200-300 furniture and home decor companies. At least 80% are furniture, and maybe 20% home decor (although many furniture manufacturers do sell accents, too).
They have a lot of nicer goods suppliers from around Asia. Especially from Indonesia, China, Vietnam, and Mylasia. Whats nice, is that you can get your work done, with a very nice assortment of product in a few days. There were lots of Austrailians at the show, and it seems like the show is still primarily focused on exporting, and not as much on the actual Singapore market.
This is also the most diverse furniture show I’ve been to. If you go to Manila FAME, or Ciff Guangzhou, all those shows tend to have a majority of local suppliers, but in Singapore, its pretty diverse, with suppliers from Singapore, Taiwan, China, Malysia, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand. They are a bit higher end suppliers, but the value still seems good, and the design content is really good.
The only show I’ve been to that is more diverse, is the HK Housewares show, but that is not a furniture show, but has more home accents.
So, onto Singapore. First off, there is a Hard Rock Cafe in the Airport! Getting into the city is super easy, and only costs $1.20 (US) via the MRT (subway). It goes strait to the Expo, too. So, getting around is simple, and clean. I’ve never been in such a clean city. The tunnels underground are spotless and polished.
If you can find a good deal near the Raffels or anywhere downtown, its fantastic. Really good curries can be had in the Indian Quarter (? not sure about that name). And little pockets of nice restaurants and outdoor food stalls are scattered around the Central Business District. Overall, I had a great time and saw some really cool products. If the furniture indstry is really slow, the vendors here seem less worried and were quite busy.
