GCC interiors market moving toward peronsality-driven design trend

For the first time in 12 years, the Office Exhibition joins forces with the INDEX International Design Exhibition in 2013 to co-locate in Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, which began on Monday and will continue till May 23.
"Both exhibitions are considered the Middle East and North Africa region's first and only interior super show," Frederique Maurell, the event director, said.
"As demand for interiors and fit outs mirrors project completions, refurbishments and tighter budgets were the trend during 2011 and 2012. Ideas such as better space management, flexibility and environmental sustainability in design and open plan layouts gained ground. The GCC interiors and fit outs market is now moving toward a more personality driven design trend as the market is coming back,” Maurell added.
The Office Exhibition of 2013 showcases exhibitors from countries, including Canada, China, Hong Kong, Italy, Jordan, the UAE, Korea, Malaysia, the United States and Singapore. Just like every year, the exhibition attracts visitors of importers, dealers, retailers, wholesalers and key decision makers of the related industry.
Jorge Almeida, export director of Guialmi, which has specialized for over 40 years in the development of office furniture solutions, told Arab News: "We have been exhibiting here in the Office Exhibition for the last seven years. It has been quite an important decision for the company to invest in the Middle East, as our first decision was to exhibit and showcase the products of the company in this market. I would initially say that it was not easy as it took us sometime to be able to sell and have our share of the region's market."
Almeida added: " However, year after year, we have done that and we have launched many products by adapting ourselves to the local needs and markets and we were eventually able to establish business deals here in the UAE followed by Oman and Qatar. We also had the chance to be involved in a few projects in Saudi Arabia."
On the Guialmi's future plans and potential opportunities in the Middle East, Almeida said: "In the mean time, our coverage in the Middle East is quite interesting, although we still feel that there is a lot more to go for. We are estimating that probably in three to four years of time these markets could be worth more than 25 percent of the total turnover."
On the effect of the recession, he said: "As a European company from Portugal, the recession has affected us. However, our 40-year company has a solid financial background due to its owners' policy of reinvesting the major returns back in the business. So, while the European market is suffering more from the global recession than others, we were able to diminish the impact of the crisis as we were already exporting to the Middle East and Africa such as Mozambique, Angola, Morocco and South Africa."
He added: "The region's market in the Middle East is very important for us. Therefore, we will get closer to the market by launching a sales branch of our company between 2014 and 2015; however, the location is yet to be decided."
Moving from professional office furniture to the early beginning of our life cycle, Arab News spotted Adex, a company of kindergarten furniture. The representative of the company said: "This is our first time to exhibit in the Office Exhibition. The company, however, has done many business deals here in Dubai so we do have existing clients in the markets."
She adds: "The purpose of our contribution is to increase the business. It is a small company based in north of Italy with a 40-year heritage of manufacturing kindergarten furniture using high quality of wood and coloring." On the opportunities in the Middle East she states: "In response to the European recession crisis, we are trying to find new markets to expand our target of audience. We are working on closing a deal with a distributor here in Dubai and are open to make business deals in other GCC countries."
The UAE's office furniture manufacturers also had their share of the exhibition. Office Touch Furniture Ind., a relatively new business, was founded by young Emirati entrepreneur Majida Al-Azazi in 2009.
Al-Azazi, who is also the CEO of the company told Arab News: "We have started with baby steps, which was highly supported by several governmental committees such as Mohammad Bin Rashid Establishment for small and medium enterprises as well as Khalifa's Fund. We decided to locate our factory in Sharjah to cut the manufacturing cost as much as possible."
Al-Azizi added: "Although we were challenged in so many stages of the business, we were able to develop our products from workstations to office chairs and sofas. We were also able to establish some important deals with many distributors in the UAE, and we have done projects for many governmental and private sectors in different Saudi areas of such as Taif and Qassim."
She said: "The exhibition provides a great opportunity for us to examine the products and quality of other companies and work on ours. It is very important for us to preserve the notion of using Emirati supplies throughout the company's manufacturing processes and we have important plans to expand our capacity and place another factory in the free zone of Dubai."