Our friends Jeff and Rachel, fresh from the launch of bambuhome.com, recently visited Chicago, IL to participate in the 2008 International Home & Housewares Show. Of course we were curious what goes on at the show, and asked them to send us a recap. Here it is… our first guest blog.
———-

Written by Jeff Delkin, bambuhome.com

60,000 visitors…
from 100 countries…
to see 2000 exhibitors…
including the titans of the Housewares industry…

and bambu.

The three day International Home & Housewares Show attracts the buyers from every major retailer in America and thousands of others from around the world. It’s the largest Housewares exclusive show in the world.

We were met with huge enthusiasm for what we do; the products we create and the business approach we take from both current supportive customers, to interested newcomers. People see something different when they stop by our booth.

And this year they certainly did… we introduced our new booth design, a first of it’s kind for this or any other show. The materials are made from 100% FSC-certified wood, the wood is adhered with a proprietary soy-based adhesive and then finished with a water-base eco-friendly finish. Best of all (particularly for us booth builders), the booth is built with no hardware and requires no tools except for a rubber mallet.

The design aesthetic of the booth reflects our products and our imagery – soft edges, rounded corners, and sweeping curves. Like ourselves, the originators, Simple Furniture Company, is also members of 1% for the Planet.

Green was the theme this year at the show. If there was any doubt, the green wave is upon us. There was a lot of ‘talk’ about environmental-friendly materials and products, but in many cases, the spiel was more spin than substance. There were only a few stand-out products that stood above the obvious greenwashing. A lot of good being focused on, but a lot of spin, too.

On the one hand it’s great to see the green wave build. It’s getting more conversations going. But it’s also going to require people to work harder if they are going to get beyond the surface speak.