Interior Lifestyle Tokyo took place from 17 – 19 July 2019 at Tokyo Big Sight’s West halls and closed with great success. The show attracted a total of 21,597 visitors and 770 exhibitors (Japan 609, Overseas 161) from 26 countries and regions, who displayed their newest products and provided insight into the latest industry trends.
Specialized paper trading company, TAKEO Co. Ltd. was founded 120 years ago and decided to exhibit at Interior Lifestyle Tokyo for the first time, as a means to expand their business network. Tsuneaki Hanyuuda of the Business Development Department said, “It is very useful to be able to speak face to face with high-quality visitors, such as manufacturers and designers, who I have never met before.”
In addition, Fumihiro Sakemi, CEO of office furniture brand FIEL commented, “We continue to join Interior Lifestyle Tokyo, because the fair enables us to reach our targets. ”Kodai Iwamoto, Product Designer at FIEL added, “The show is good and puts an emphasis on supporting young people, especially in the NEXT and TALENTS zone.”
The atrium hosted a special zone this year: The Corner Shop – How to make a market –. It provided inspiring encounters between buyers and products, and included a pop-up store as market guide for exhibitors, which drew a lot of attention. The demonstration program by Japan Style and Hyggelig Hours – the special highlights in Nordic Lifestyle – and the talk show event Lifestyle Salon, were also very well received.
NEXT zone – Best Buyer’s Choice and Young Designer Award
Tadatomo Oshima, buyer at IDÉE, selected this year’s “Best Buyer’s Choice.” The winner of the “Young Designer Award” was chosen by Nicolette Naumann, Vice President of Ambiente. This award promotes the next generation of the interior design industry. The winner gets to exhibit at Ambiente in 2020. Both awards were announced on 17 July, the first day of the event, and selected from this year’s NEXT zone.
Best Buyer’s Choice 2019
Atsuko Ohkoshi of ‘rétela’: The winning product is an apparel item repurposed from upcycled Indian baroque print fabric. Tadatomo Oshima from IDÉE showed interest in working together with rétela, because IDÉE has realised a successful project with a similar concept in the past. Ohkoshi was grateful to be a laureate.
Young Designer Award 2019
Kiyomi Kodama of ‘KODAMA TOKI’: Nicolette Naumann evaluated the harmony between the modern tableware with gold decoration from KODAMA TOKI positively. Kodama was very excited to join Ambiente in Germany next year.
