The 2020 edition of imm cologne wrapped up on January 19, just before the COVID-19 pandemic peaked in Europe. The show saw over 128,000 visitors, as many regard imm cologne as the most important date on the industry's calendar. Among the approximate 82,000 buyers who visited the show grounds, around 50% are from outside of Germany. Expo statistics indicate that visitor numbers still saw a small g...

Due to the spread of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in the United States, many retail industries adjusted their business hours and even closed for two weeks before opening. The furniture factories listed in Taiwan such as Shengsheng, Jisheng, Shangyi, and Kestar were affected. The industry pointed out that this wave of epidemic will cause the furniture industry to freeze operations, in addition...

Wang Ping-Sheng, chairman of Agio, a high-profile furniture company in the global market, is poised to tap the building material market in Greater China with its Resysta, a new material mainly of rice husk and plastic for furniture and building construction. A patented technology developed in Germany, Resysta is made out of finely ground rice husk mixed with over 20 secret additives and featur...

Taiwan’s wooden furniture manufacturers experienced a golden age back in the 1970s and ‘80s, but beginning in the late ‘70s they began suffering from such calamities as (for them) industrial transformation, oil crises, lumber export embargoes, inflation, and competition from emerging markets in the third world. In the 1990s most of the Taiwanese producers in the line joined the mass migration to ...

In the face of growing rivalry from underselling competitors at a time when global furniture production has mostly shifted to emerging countries, Taiwan’s furniture industry has been on an persistent downturn for the decades, but suppliers in the sector of bathroom fittings and accessories are still able to fare well, mostly thanks to devotion to the continuous sharpening of their core competenci...

Outdoor furniture was once generally regarded as inexpensive furnishings with monotonous, frumpy styles and often distasteful tones, but no longer. Today alfresco furniture can have the same features as indoor furniture, mostly thanks to ever more consumers' changing lifestyles and entertaining habits, which inspire them to turn outdoor spaces into living areas as lavish, relaxing as indoor space...

Compiled by KEN LIU While some furniture makers in Taiwan have caught some global buyers' attention for being able to supply ergonomic OA (office automation) and residential furnishings, the majority continue to take a backseat to high-profile, branded makers in the West, who traditionally have been aware of the health-enhancing benefits of well-designed chairs, sofas and beds. The discussion ...

By KEN LIU Ever since China's market liberalization some 30 years ago that has drained much of Taiwan's furniture making resources to migrate offshore, the island's furniture makers have had to cope with thinning profit margins as Chinese suppliers gradually emulate Taiwanese peers on the mainland, set up their own shop with local labor to undersell Taiwanese partners. While business dynami...

By STEVE CHUANG While uncertain what effects lower crude oil prices will have on macro-economics globally, except that consumers in the U.S. and non-oil-producing nations will have more disposable cash, a report by Bloomberg BusinessWeek notes that housing starts across the U.S. in 2015 are projected to grow to 1.2 million from less than 1 million in 2014, indicative of a slow, but positive re...

By MICHELLE HSU With the rise of environmental awareness, the concept of "green" is gradually finding its way into works of creation, and paper is being applied ever more widely in furniture design and production as an eco-friendly alternative to solid wood. From the simple cabinets and seating items of the early days to the more sophisticated products of today, paper furniture has develope...