The success of the business meetings between Brazilian designers and foreign shopkeepers/importers during High Design Home & Office Expo, from August 8 - 10, in São Paulo, has already yields results. Approved by the participating studios for the opportunity to present the unique features that are part of the Brazilian designer furniture, the Raiz Project initiative for the internationalization of the Brazilian design service - a partnership between Sindmóveis Bento Gonçalves and Apex-Brasil - will be repeated in March 2018, during Movelsul Brasil, in Bento Gonçalves (RS), home to the association that carries out the project.

Taking part in approximately 60 meetings, the agents from the United States, Canada and England were able to see the products by either visiting studios in São Paulo or at the High Design Expo, where several designers exhibited their pieces.

Importer Ash Twinson Christian, who represents the British companies Sources Unlimited UK and Kelly Christian Designs, sees good prospects for importing pieces from Lattoog Design, Amelia Tarozzo and Paulo Alves. He intends to invest in these designers to represent them and take the Brazilian creations to both the UK and the Asian high-end market. According to Ash, currently the Brazilian design has its quality recognized in the United Kingdom, but people believe it is excessively expensive. "I'm not referring to scale models. Products do not need to have the price charged by the Chinese, but the price must be such that someone with an income of up to 100,000 pounds a year could afford," he says.

One of the US importers, who works with more popular design lines for a major American retailer, also hopes to tailor the pricing to absorb the work of some of the designers he had business meetings with. His company has a development team that can suggest adjustments and local suppliers to minimize costs in case the goods are imported. He is also studying the opportunity to license the Brazilian pieces.

Negotiations at Movelsul Brasil

Movelsul Brasil fair, held since 1977 by Sindmóveis Bento Gonçalves, has the Buyer’s Project as one of its main concurrent initiatives, generating business between the furniture manufacturers and foreign shopkeepers. In the last event, in 2016, 780 business meetings were held between 120 Brazilian companies and 30 guest importers. For the coming year, the largest Buyer’s Project in the history of the fair is being planned, featuring 50 foreign guests brought with the support of Apex-Brasil, through two sector-based projects: Brazilian Furniture (Abimóvel) and Raiz Project (Sindmóveis). This initiative gains even more representativeness with the negotiations between buyers of designer furniture and Brazilian designers.

Movelsul Brasil 2018 will be held from March 12–15, 2018, at Parque de Eventos in Bento Gonçalves. For more information, visit www.movelsulbrasil.com.br.