Furniture show

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32903, 29 April 1972, Page 16

Furniture show

Buyers from all parts of New Zealand will attend the fourth annual Furniture Trade Group Show of the Canterbury Manufacturers Association which will open in Christchurch on Monday. Eighteen manufacturing [firms will be exhibiting their latest designs—seven more firms than exhibited at the inaugural show. The show this year will be held at the White Heron Hotel, the Russley Hotel, and the Christchurch Brevet Club.

The problem of obtaining a venue in which all the items of furniture entered in the show can be displayed in the one place may be overcome next year. The group has made a tentative booking of the Christchurch Town Hall for May of next year. The organisers of this year’s show face a slight embarrassment in that firms entering the show have booked more space than is available, said the president of the Canterbury Furniture Manufacturers’ Trade Group (Mr Howard Smith). Some rationing of space among the firms has had to be done.

“The show is basically for the retailers, but it will be open to the public on the

third day. It is most important as a show window for Canterbury firms because it is obviously essential that manufacturers design furniture that retailers consider the public will buy,” Mr Smith said.

“A great many of the public, of course, will be interested in the design trends of the furniture to be available to them in the coming year.” Design awards

The group instituted a design award to be won at its inaugural show, and last year two awards were presented—one for hard furniture (din-ing-room suites and so on) and the second for upholstered furniture (loungesuites, etc).

This year a new system of judging will be introduced. The awards will be made on the votes of the buying firms. Retailing firms may well have three, even four buyers present, but each firm will be restricted to one vote in each award.

Improving. — Sir Leslie Munro, M.P. for Hamilton West, is still “improving slowly” in a Hamilton private hospital. He has been resting in the hospital for two weeks after a minor heart attack in Northland some weeks ago. His doctors are pleased with his progress.—(P.A.).