Exhibition guide

, 24-27 January, NEC January Furniture Show

Homeward

Above left: Signature Kauri Above: Wiemann’s Monaco

January Furniture Show will return to the NEC next month

January Furniture Show is gearing up to open its doors on 24 April to eager buyers and industry-leading brands, who can’t wait to be back.

With JFS being the interiors and furniture industry’s largest show, it will be a positive thrill to return to the NEC after nearly a two-year break due to the pandemic. This show is renowned for bringing together buyers and suppliers from across not only the industry but the globe, all to one place to thrive in the innovation-driven atmosphere.

Whether you are a buyer looking for furniture or a supplier looking to grow your client portfolio – there is something for everyone at the January Furniture Show. The vast array of brands and products brings together different designs, styles and price ranges for customers from all demographics. Along with the mix of classic and contemporary furniture buyers are able to explore different furniture options to match the customer’s desired style and price point. Plus, the show offers a broad range of products from lighting, dining furniture and beds to storage solutions, artwork, sofas and much more.

One brand that is hoping to make a splash with its new products is Wiemann, which will be showcasing its newly updated Monaco collection for the first time since its launch during the pandemic.

You will also be able to discover new brands like Signature Kauri. Having only started the business in 2019, Signature Kauri is looking forward to finally getting to showcase its range of coffee and dining tables at this year’s show. Its tables use ancient wood from New Zealand’s kauri trees and transform it into new modern home furnishings.

Interiors retailers can also find gorgeous fabrics and materials to suit a wide range of customer needs, such as worktops from Steve Bristow Stone Masonry. The brand’s passion for creating statement pieces has made it a premier supplier of bespoke granite, quartz and sintered stone worktops.

The January Furniture Show offers ample buying opportunities, but it also helps exhibiting brands, buyers and designers explore the emerging trends and changes in customer and supplier needs. Exhibiting brands can meet and connect with their clients easily to determine what new products they may be looking for and envisage what their brand can offer now and in the future. The show helps bridge the gap between supplier, retailer and then ultimately consumer, by bringing it all together under one roof. Visit: www.januaryfurnitureshow.com

Steve Bristow Stone Masonry

, 24-27 January, NEC January Furniture Show

No sweat

Drive sales with mattress protectors

National Bed Month is a great time to focus on the importance of sleep. It’s also a time to reflect and review missed opportunities within the retail environment. Protect-A-Bed is a global specialist in mattress protection and can significantly grow sales within this category.

‘In terms of hygiene, the average person sweats up to a pint of fluid a night. With mattress fillings being highly absorbent, your mattress if unprotected will absorb hundreds of pints of sweat in its first year of use alone. All of our mattress protectors use a Miracle Membrane, which is waterproof yet breathable and allows body heat to easily pass through, whilst preventing any sweat from entering the mattress. The protectors are machine washable, meaning you can keep your sleep zone healthy and hygienic.

Every Protect-A-Bed protector also includes a 10-15-year product guarantee and, when bought with a mattress, a 10-15-year anti-stain guarantee. Protect-A-Bed will have the mattress professionally cleaned to the customer’s satisfaction or buy the customer a new one if it fails and the mattress was bought with the protector. This promise is significantly powerful and is at the core of our philosophy. Supporting this is an award-winning claims resolution and customer service. Ultimately, in store it’s about creating value for the customer,’ says Paul Lake, Protect-A-Bed national sales manager

‘It’s in both the store’s and the customer’s interest to purchase and our speciality is driving in-store performance, so linked mattress and mattress protector sales are extremely high. The customer benefits from a healthy and hygienic sleep zone while the store benefits from increased sales revenue. Every customer who walks through the door, if buying a mattress, needs to buy a mattress protector. It’s in their interest to do so for many reasons.

‘Nobody else in the category has the same passion and focus to grow sales and that’s why we are the leading global brand in healthy sleep. The importance of every customer and every sale has grown significantly. Protect-A-Bed can help retailers maximise every sale.

‘To find out more, visit us at the January Furniture Show on stand J45 in Hall 5.’ Visit: www.protectabed.co.uk

RECRUITMENT

If you are looking to recruit staff for your furniture or flooring stores, looking for sales staff or reps for your manufacturing outlet, then INTERIORS MONTHLY offers a great package!

Our online package is just £175. Your advert will appear in our jobs section on the website until the position is filled or you ask us to remove. Our weekly newsletter, which is mailed every Thursday to 7000 industry professionals, also includes a list of these latest jobs. If you have both online and quarter page recruitment advert in our magazine, the cost will only be £250! Costs for larger recruitment adverts are available upon request.

Please contact Jarrod on E: jbird@interiorsmonthly.co.uk T: 01565 631 397

, 24-27 January, NEC January Furniture Show

Pastel Paradise Holbrook two-door cabinet with glass pastel vase collection Left: Inspired Luxe Moorgate dining table and Hinks chairs

More and more

Gallery Direct has significantly added to its multi-faceted offer

Gallery Direct’s SS22 Collection debuted with new products across all its categories. It offers a range of more than 1,300 lines, increasing its catalogue to over 6,000 skus. The new collection features Gallery Direct’s second Design Project Packed-Flat and five other new trends, each offering a different look.

The trends include Pastel Paradise, which has a modern feel with a twist, with its unusual yet complementary pairing of versatile colours. Soft pastel shades of blush and mint combine with

Refined Neutral Voss slatted console table sumptuous textures and contrasting hard edges to create beautifully balanced and stylish spaces. Foliage can bring a harmonious feel by blending the tones to finish off the contemporary style. The Holbrook furniture range in pink or mint is key to this trend.

Offering a more understated look is Refined Neutral. Taking inspiration from the previous Scandi and Japandi trends, it features warm neutral tones and subtle additions of soft colour alongside the natural tones of wood, for a welcoming yet sophisticated feel.

Packed with style and form, Refined Neutral is a celebration of craftsmanship, materials and design to create light and airy interiors.

The Voss slatted console table is an example of Refined Neutral, offering unusual stylish design. Crafted from solid mango wood, with a natural finish to show the grain, it features slats along the back, which curve around the sides to the front. Black stud detailing on the slats adds the finishing touch.

Inspired Luxe is influenced by luxury trends and high-end interior design to add sophisticated and refined style to an interior, to offer the epitome of elegance. Materials full of texture, decadent fabrics and statement metallic detailing that enhances its monochrome colour palette, provide that all-important finishing touch.

Within this trend, the Moorgate dining table brings Inspired Luxe glamour to a room. The stylish, contemporary design features a white marble top paired with an eye-catching metal base, with a choice of a matt black or a brushed brass finish.

Re-imagining past traditional trends in an innovative way, classic shapes have been lifted with new fabrics and materials to create New Traditional, which gives interiors a classy, smart country-house feel. With a freedom to mix finishes and periods, New Traditional takes formal furniture and gives it a sleeker, more contemporary look, whilst also focusing on comfort.

Shape of Colour offers graphicinspired feature pieces with mixed proportions to create a modern art style of living. A relaxed view on colour palettes enables interiors to become bolder yet sophisticated, with curiously smart styling. Bold accents and bright colours combined with a variety of shapes give an updated take on 1970s inspired form and aesthetics, bringing this trend to life.

The full Gallery Direct offer is now online and will be on show at the company’s largest January Furniture Show stand next month. Visit: www.gallerydirect.co.uk

, 24-27 January, NEC January Furniture Show

Touch and order

Access your live business data wherever you are

The latest innovation provides shoppers access to all you can sell in-store

‘Created as a low-cost solution for the furniture industry, RetailSystem is by far the most widely used furniture-centric retail software management system in the UK and Republic of Ireland. The system was created by a furniture retailer so it was designed to deal with all the idiosyncrasies that our industry comes across on a daily basis, and over the past 18 years has developed to be the most comprehensive EPOS tool for our sector,’ says David Hewitt, RetailSystem head of global support and implementation.

‘FurnitureKiosk is our latest concept. There are many products you don’t want to display on your website for a myriad reasons – they don’t travel well, are not allowed to be sold online, are too heavy for carriers… the list is endless. So we came up with FurnitureKiosk, replacing all those suppliers brochures you can’t find when you want them and that are out of date as soon as they arrive.

‘What we have created is all of the products available to you displayed on an interactive screen on your shop floor. The customer can select a complex product for themselves, or sales staff can build the order on screen with them. Staff can also move around the store with the customer, building their wish lists or indeed their order.

‘Your team have all the client statistics at their fingertips, to give every customer the VIP treatment. If you aren’t using RetailSystem, the order gets emailed to you from the kiosk once completed; if you are using the EPOS, then it drops onto your RetailSystem dashboard.

‘Content for the kiosk is live. If a product is discontinued or a new fabric becomes available it can be updated instantly, as can any price increases.

‘The take-up of FurniturePay has been phenomenal, thanks to securing some amazing savings on card-processing fees. “It’s one of those areas you just don’t get round to looking at,” said one retailer to us, and we secured savings of more than £40,000 against its existing provider.

‘There are two further benefits to FurniturePay and they involve integration of the PEDs. Mis-keyed transactions (for example £24.90 v £249) can’t happen as the system will only let the correct value be processed. Fraudulent refunds are

RetailSystem is regularly updated also eliminated as the only refunds that can be issued are for sales that went through the system in the first instance.

‘The world’s most widely used accounting software, QuickBooks by Intuit was chosen to integrate with RetailSystem. It has been in operation with our US clients since 2021, and while the cost and time savings are superb, the real benefit is it doesn’t make mistakes. From the initial sale through to the yearend, it’s as automated as you want it to be. No matter where you are, you can see exactly what’s in the till at each store, what you owe suppliers, what customer deposits you’ve taken – it’s all there live.

‘We partnered with Shopify last year to produce some outstanding websites and bring clients of our original WebSystem along for the ride. We decided to provide a changeable template, build the content, upload all the high-resolution images and have it ready to go for nothing upfront, and use a monthly subscription to cover the cost in the long term. We have a policy on all of our modules and products that there is no long-term contract: if you aren’t happy you can walk away with a month’s notice. Again, the take-up has been phenomenal and we have over 100 WebSystem Shopify websites live or in the build stages. Visit us at the NEC to find out more.’ Visit: retailsystem.com

, 30 March – 3 April, Delhi IHGF Delhi Fair

Welcome back

The show’s 53rd edition will return in a physical format

The show is returning in a physical format

Having been moved back to the end of March because of the pandemic, the IHGF Delhi Fair will return to the city’s India Expo Centre & Mart for its 53rd edition.

There will be 2,000 exhibitors across 14 halls and 900 showrooms, with theme pavilions, artisanal fare, live craft making, presentations, workshops and seminars to be part of the experience.

Expect new product innovations developed by manufacturers over the past few months. IHGF Delhi Fair brings in fascinating lines and handcrafted fusions in woodcrafts, home textiles, art metalware, EPNS ware, furniture and accessories, glassware, fashion jewellery and accessories, hand-printed textiles, shawls, embroidered goods, lace, toys, housewares, decorative, gifts and general handicrafts, lamps, lighting and home accessories, candles and incense, pottery, terracotta and ceramics, Christmas and floral decorations, dry flower, potpourri, handmade paper products, leather, lacquer and marble crafts and nautical instruments.

Home textiles and furnishing feature exquisite blends of handloom, power loom and manmade fibres through to natural organics, dyeing and printing, embroidery and hand painting, and many design-led crafts, offering plenty of choice. There are carpets, rugs and flooring manufactured in more than 14 craft clusters, each with its unique material blends, design and construction.

Furniture and furniture accessories are expressed in wood, metal, combinations and blends, enriched with cuts, carving, etching, inlay, paints, polish and distressed elements. Garden ornaments and bathroom accessories offer a blend of the old and new, sheer opulence, rustic ethnic and stylish contemporary. Lamps and lighting embrace trends from baroque to chic, from simple lines to extravagance. Among festive decor, expressions of art and cultural influences usher in the celebratory spirit, while core decoration collections, affluent decor ideas and gifting as well as packaging offer plenty of choice. In housewares, gifts and decoratives an extensive mix of customised and innovative decoratives and collectibles appear alongside an eclectic range in modern, directional and unusual middle to high-end lines that emphasise material, design and value.

The show is organised twice every year in Spring and Autumn editions, by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts, the apex organisation representing handicraft manufacturers and exporters in India. EPCH facilitates its 10,000plus members to customise and offer unique styles and quality products to the global sourcing community. Beyond providing business platforms to buyers and sellers, EPCH also provides information about the sector to international buyers. Visit: www.ihgfdelhifair.in

Buzzing

Retailers turned out in force at the show

INDX Furniture saw an enthusiasm for new products and appetite to buy

Retailers turned out in force at the INDX Furniture show at Cranmore Park, Solihull from 23-25 January. The second edition of the show to take place under the INDX Home branding after September 2021’s debut saw exhibitors quick to hail the show a success.

‘Once again, it was a pleasure for HTL and Corium Italia to be given the opportunity to exhibit at INDX Furniture. As usual, the show was well organised and very well attended. It was great to see so many customers – there was a real buzz around the showroom and an enthusiasm for new products,’ says Mark Flint, HTL UK md.

‘Rauch Furniture exhibited at the INDX Furniture show at very short notice, following the postponement of the January Furniture Show at the NEC. It was essential for us to re-connect with our customers and take the opportunity to have face-to-face meetings and discuss upcoming product developments. In this respect it was a great success, and we’re delighted with our decision to attend. The show itself had a professional, yet friendly and personal feel to it, and buyers were positive and amenable to placing stock orders, discussing new floor displays and refreshing their stores. Both the visitor numbers and quality of

customers were excellent, and a number of high-profile retailers attended. There was certainly an appetite to get back to normal and enjoy the live show experience. All in all, a great show which we were very pleased to be part of,’ says Darrell Cooper, Rauch Furniture national sales manager UK & Ireland.

‘We would like to thank the organisers for inviting Julian Bowen to showcase our products at the show; we would also like to thank AIS members and retailers who made us feel very welcome. It was a great opportunity for Julian Bowen to present our extensive, value for money ranges which were well received, helping us to gain many new floor placements,’ says Emmett Lenaghan, Julian Bowen md.

The show saw 25 brands take part: 3C, Actona, Alstons, Ancient Mariner, Andrena, Artedi, Ashwood, Corium Italia, Firmans, G Plan, Hill & Hunter, himolla, HND, HTL, Ideal, Jual, Julian Bowen, Papaya, Rauch, Relyon, Sealy, Stella, TCH, Unique and Wood Bros.

‘The AIS team was delighted to be able to host a live format show, and once again, the show was well received by our industry colleagues. Footfall has been excellent, and we would very much like to thank all those who attended for their continued support: it was great to see so many familiar faces and to be welcoming so many newcomers. We couldn’t have delivered the show without the continued support of our suppliers, whose collaboration led to a very meaningful event in what continues to be a very challenging period. We look forward to seeing everyone again soon,’ says Emma Rackley, AIS director of furniture & home.

INDX Furniture will take place again in the Autumn. The next INDX home event will be INDX Beds & Bedroom on 26-27 April, also at Cranmore Park. Visit: www.indxshows.co.uk

Univ rsal

Area Sales Manager - South Coast/South West Due to pending retirement, we are looking for an enthusiastic, results driven individual to strengthen our UK sales force. Victoria Carpets & Design Floors house an extensive portfolio of both carpet and hard flooring (LVT) solutions.

The ideal candidate must be able to demonstrate:

• The ability to build and maintain strong customer service relationships • Be self-motivated • The ability to multi-task, manage time effectively and produce IT based data on time, every time. • Display a ‘can do’ attitude • Residential based customer facing sales experience

Benefits of the role include a competitive basic salary, uncapped bonus, company car, phone, tablet and expenses.

Applicants should send a CV and a covering letter to Mark Paice at mark.paice@myvictoria.co.uk

TERRITORY MANAGER

Exciting Sales opportunity

Due to retirement Beds, Cambs, Warks, Northants

Defined territory subject to recruitment Earnings £50,000 +

Cormar Carpets is the UK’s leading manufacturer of tufted carpets, supplying stylish, quality carpets to the retail, contract and wholesale trade throughout the UK. Due to retirement, we are looking for an enthusiastic and committed individual with the ability to realise the full potential of the territory. Knowledge of the carpet trade is not essential, however previous sales experience is required as applicants must be able to demonstrate a proven successful sales record. The ideal candidate would live within the counties described, although the defined territory will be subject to the successful candidates location. We will also accept applications from those who live in close proximity to the areas shown. An above average salary and benefits package is available for the successful applicant, including basic salary plus commission on sales, company car and pension scheme. Previous applicants may apply.

Please send your CV and covering letter summarising your relevant skills and experience for the attention of Carla Grant - HR Manager, Cormar Carpets, Brookhouse Mill, Greenmount, Bury BL8 4HR. Or email carla.grant@cormarcarpets.co.uk Closing date for applications: Wednesday 9th March

RECRUITMENT

If you are looking to recruit staff for your furniture or flooring stores, looking for sales staff or reps for your manufacturing outlet, then INTERIORS MONTHLY offers a great package!

Our online package is just £175. Your advert will appear in our jobs section on the website until the position is filled or you ask us to remove. Our weekly newsletter, which is mailed every Thursday to 7000 industry professionals, also includes a list of these latest jobs.

If you have both online and quarter page recruitment advert in our magazine, the cost will only be £250!

Costs for larger recruitment adverts are available upon request.

Please contact Jarrod on E: jbird@interiorsmonthly.co.uk T: 01565 631 397

We’re Hiring... SALES REPRESENTATIVE

Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire & Bedfordshire Great Salary + Benefits

Penthouse Carpets Ltd, a leading manufacturer of tufted wool carpets, is looking for a highly motivated and confident sales representative to take over Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire.

Reporting to the Sales Director, you will be field based and be responsible for all sales activity within the territory. The successful candidate will be organised, enthusiastic, confident and must have excellent communication skills. Previous sales experience is essential along with a good understanding of computer systems and their operation in a modern office environment.

Please respond in the first instance with your CV and covering letter to:

Lisa Crossley, Human Resources

Penthouse Carpets Ltd, Buckley Carpet Mill, Buckley Road, Rochdale, Lancashire, OL12 9DU or email: lisa.crossley@penthousecarpets.co.uk