Largest meeting place ever for Nordic design

Last weekend saw the end of the 60th Stockholm Furniture Fair and Northern Light Fair at Stockholmsmässan. This year’s exhibition was the largest ever held in Scandinavia, and Stockholm Furniture Fair and Northern Light Fair have consolidated their position as the most important meeting place in the world for Nordic design.

In total, Stockholm Furniture Fair and Northern Light Fair received 38,422 visitors, 699 fewer than last year. However, the number of trade visitors increased slightly. Fewer visitors from the general public attended this year. The number of foreign trade visitors also increased, from 20 % to 23 %. This means that a total of 4995 people came, an increase of 600 compared with last year. The countries with the largest increase in visitor numbers were Norway, from 1229 to 1477, followed by Finland, with 1094 visitors compared with 989 last year. Denmark also showed a slight increase, from 699 to 727. Foreign visitors came from 55 countries in total.

“We are very pleased with this year’s visitor numbers, bearing in mind the poor weather that affected us. The exhibition saw an increase in visitors from Tuesday to Thursday afternoon, when the snowstorm paralyzed planes, trains, buses – virtually all transportation. However, the exhibitors were very happy. We have received nothing but praise. In terms of quality, the exhibition is consolidating a high level in all halls. Stockholm Furniture Fair and Northern Light Fair are maintaining their position as the second most important exhibition in Europe after Milan,” comments Cecilia Nyberg, Event  Manager, Stockholm Furniture Fair and Northern Light Fair.

This year’s Stockholm Furniture Fair and Northern Light Fair, with over 40,000 m2 of exhibition space, was the largest exhibition ever held in Scandinavia. It also incorporated a number of new features, including a new KITCHEN & BATHROOM zone and the project Hello, which dealt with issues regarding the anatomy of meetings in an inspirational exhibition and series of talks.

“The talk show format used for presenting the series of talks was very popular and discussion has now started. Hello is a project that will be in development for another two years. This year’s Guest of Honor was Arik Levy. His lounge in the entrance hall was a success and functioned just like a meeting and relaxation area for visitors, which was his vision,” explains Cecilia Nyberg.

Interest among press and media is continuing to grow. This year 1,175 media representatives were issued with accreditation, an increase of 101 compared with last year.
 
The next Stockholm Furniture Fair and Northern Light Fair will take place on February 7-11, 2012.

For more information, see www.stockholmfurniturefair.se and www.northernlightfair.se or contact Lotta Signeul, Media Information Manager, telephone +46 (0)8 749 43 79, e-mail lotta.signeul@stockholmsmassan.se