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CIFF Office Guangzhou – 2014 A Review
John Sacks
The new ‘Guangzhou Circle’ – a 452-foot-tall, 914,000 sq ft building by Joseph di Pasquale, China’s latest skyscraper, breaks away from traditional skyscraper design ethos of the west—and does so in dramatic fashion.
©John Sacks 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
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CIFF Office
CIFF is a group of furniture related shows held in March/April and September each year with
separate sections and dates for domestic and office furniture as well as areas for production
machinery and components. Each section is large enough to keep the most avid enthusiast happily
engrossed for the shows’ duration without needing to looking at any alien products. CIFF Office is
held at the Canton (the former name of Guangzhou) Fair Complex, although from 2015, the
September elements of the CIFF shows will be moving to Shanghai.
Perhaps because of the size of everything Chinese, the tendency is to divide everything up, so for
instance, eight halls displayed nothing but office seating – enough to sate the most enthusiastic
appetite. Desking, tables and storage covered another eight enormous halls and ‘accessories’, a
further three.
The trend of Western shows in recent times has been to reduce their timescale; in contrast, this
year, CIFF Office was extended from four days to five. Despite this, the crowds were massive,
sometimes, overwhelming, especially on the first few days. Some of the larger companies coped
with their hoards of visitors by roping off areas of their booths for ‘VIPs’ where entry was restricted.
This lead to the somewhat incongruous situation where visitors were prevented from seeing the
exhibitors’ newest products, as if they were state secrets.
Perceptions and attitudes change over time. However strongly views are held, the truth will
eventually alter opinions. It can take years, or even generations, but slowly, inexorably, people’s
minds will be changed. Reality and perception are never in line; if they were, the marketing men
would be out of work. They’re always trying to push the perception so that appreciated values
exceed the reality. Hide your light under a bushel and the market will think little of you, or worse,
not know you at all.
The ethereal concept of quality, so hard to grasp or promote, is like that. After World War 2, fuelled
by massive demand for almost everything, Japan’s manufacturing industries quickly grew to become
a major World force. Their prices were very low and competitors in Europe, slower to rebuild after
the war, struggled to compete. Stories of the poor quality of Japanese goods took hold, partly
generated by some real howlers and partly, no doubt, encouraged by rivals. It took many years for
perceptions to change and it is difficult to imagine now, when Japanese manufacturing quality is
almost revered internationally, that there was a time when anything which carried the slogan, ‘Made
in Japan’ was considered rubbish.
Today, China’s manufacturers are going through a similar process of evolution. The birth and
explosion of capitalism at the end of the 20th century released enormous energy and low labour and
operating costs allowed China to grab a very large share of world markets. In many (most?) cases,
goods were sold on price alone, designs were ‘emulated’ from the West and quality was suspect.
Standards and norms were ignored and service levels depended on the customer being prepared to
buy large volumes, on long lead times and inflexible colours, finishes, payment terms and attitudes.
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Is this changing? Oh yes! Higher labour and other costs have reduced price differentials and are
forcing Chinese suppliers to pay more attention to their customers’ demands. Designs are moving
from ‘me too’ towards originality, albeit occasionally verging on the quirky. The real change however
is in manufacturing quality which is frequently now at, or near, World class. This will, in due course,
come to be understood by the buying public who will, over time, reconsider and reassess their
perception of goods from China to the extent that high manufacturing quality from Chinese
manufacturers will be taken for granted.
And what about design, innovation, originality? This year, all the stages of the transition from poor
imitations of Western products to demonstrations of a spirit of genuine independence were on
show. There were unfortunately still plenty of copies of Herman Miller’s Sayl and Mirra chairs,
Dauphin’s Perillo, Vitra’s Eames side chairs and many others, but there were also examples of the
dawning of self-expression. Some of these, such as Adriano Baldanzi’s work with Bojie Furniture’s
new stacking chair and Lightspace’s breakout furniture from several Dutch designers, were the
result of co-operation with the West.
Boije stacking chair Adriano Baldanzi
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Many of the exhibition stands were very large, well designed and attractive. Last year we saw real
grass turf laid underfoot. This year it was the turn of the sandy beaches strewn with stones. Not only
did they set off the furniture very effectively, they seemed to be perfectly practical.
Lightspace breakout furniture
Several exhibitors, for example My Idea Office and Jiulong Yousheng, were showing exciting
creations from a new generation of design graduates from Chinese universities.
My Idea’s oak bench, on sandy beach
Why are Chinese manufacturers taking faltering steps away from ripping off US and European
products? For many, it’s the highly practical reason that they want products they can export to the
West, which is seen as increasingly difficult if they are offering copies.
This is not an international show. Yes, there were plenty of visitors from the USA, Europe, South
America, the Middle East and India but, unlike 2013, when a sole Danish company was showing their
height adjustable tables, there was not one office furniture exhibitor from outside Asia. A badly
missed opportunity, as the overseas exhibitors participating at February’s 100% Design in Shanghai
will testify - they were rushed off their feet.
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There were some Western products on show, represented by local partners and importers. Onlead
showed SBS’ HÅG chair and My Idea were partnering Codutti‘s executive furniture from Italy, but as
neither was particularly prominently presented, these products were not attracting much interest.
There was little in the way of clearly discernible trends in desking and workstations. Various
variations on the bench theme could be seen, many with desk-up screens and some with an Asian
twist, but there were also many small cubicles and freestanding workstations in a multitude of
shapes, sizes and colours. Jiulong Yousheng from Foshan were using beautifully crafted diecast
aluminium for bench and table frames and black, stitched PVC, pressed onto MDF and combined
with stainless steel inserts for their stylish reception and desking products. Six of their very clever,
individual, flip-top sectional tables clicked together to form a full or partial circular meeting table.
Jiulong Yousheng workstation, training tables and black PVC and
stainless steel reception unit.
Sunon showed some attractive desking, especially their new Spark range, as well as ‘Jane’, a new
line of modular breakout furniture with sofas, stools and mesh screens to create temporary or
permanent enclosures.
Jane by Sunon Sunon’s ‘Spark’ workstations
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The Japanese giant company Okamura had a large, bright, attractive stand showing familiar classics
such as Contessa and Baron chairs, as well as some stylish new models.
Muffle by Okamura
Breakout seating has arrived in China and there were many brightly coloured sofas, stools, and
ancillary pieces, as well as a few half-hearted attempts at enclosures. One of the best companies in
this sector was Linyu who were partnering with Xinda Clover. Their chairs and sofas showed some
attractive designs, quality upholstery skills and intelligent use of die cast aluminium.
Linyu seating
One interesting feature was the number of companies showing furniture for children with ideas
taken from office furniture. Boije’s B1 children’s task chair was one example, with its seat height and
arm and rake adjustability. Another was Milon who showed a chair with sensors that sounded
alarms and played messages – in Chinese of course – when the occupant’s posture became less than
perfect!
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Boije B1 task chair Milon’s child’s posture foster chair, with sensors
For delightful seating comfort, nothing could beat EMA’s task chair with its heated massage
mechanism and a wide range of programmes to soothe, mould and manipulate your body into
paroxysms of pleasure.
EMA massage chair
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For future years, the show organisers and exhibitors need the self-confidence to open the event to
exhibitors from around the world. All would benefit – the visitors from seeing the world’s best
products; the overseas exhibitors by gaining access to a truly massive market and the local
manufacturers, from the improvement to their businesses which be stimulated by being put up
against some serious World-Class competition. ©John Sacks April 2014
Little and Large?
Ethereal violinists
Some sundry signage
5pm Changing of the (security) Guard
A demonstration of the art of the calligrapher.