Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
After five days, German trade show Ambiente closed its doors yesterday (Tuesday February 14).
A total of 142,000 buyers from 154 countries made their way to Frankfurt to attend the consumer goods fair: an increase of almost 4% on last year.
Detlef Braun, member of the executive board of fair organiser Messe Frankfurt, said: “Ambiente is the international summit meeting of the consumer goods industry. Particularly impressive is the increase of almost 4% in the number of visitors, which was split equally between German and international visitors.”
They viewed the wares of 4,454 exhibitors from 96 countries (compared with 4,386 from 95 countries in 1996), presented across 308,000sq m in 27 exhibition halls.
More than half of all visitors (55%) travelled to Frankfurt from outside Germany; the percentage of international exhibitors reached a record level of 80%.
The top 10 visitor nations after Germany were Italy, China, France, US, Spain, UK, The Netherlands, Switzerland, South Korea and Turkey.
More than 3,000 visitors journeyed to Frankfurt from UK, which was this year’s Ambiente Partner Country – an increase of around 200 over 2016.
Curated by British designer Janice Kirkpatrick, the theme of the Partner Country presentation was ‘Providence & Provenance’, which made reference to the heritage of the industrial revolution.
There were also a variety of activities and events revolving around the UK on the Partner Country Day, All eyes were on English actress and model Liz Hurley who toured several exhibition halls. The star of the US TV series ‘The Royals’ checked out the latest kitchenware and tableware designs from the UK and Germany.
Next year, The Netherlands is the Partner Country of Ambiente and will use the opportunity to spotlight Dutch design.
Ambiente will take place at Messe Franfurt again from February 9 to Februray13 2018.
