By Stephanie Cornwall
Global manufacturers and retailers have made a successful start to the new business season, and the next month has more events and award dates for diaries.
Christmasworld, Paperworld and Creativeworld consumer-goods fairs, as well as at Floradecora, the floral market place, attracted around 87,000 visitors from 162 countries, an increase of 2%, in Frankfurt. A total of 3,023 exhibitors from 69 countries (2017: 2,920 exhibitors from 63 countries) presented their latest festive and seasonal decorations, fresh flowers and plants, paper, office supplies and stationery, and hobby, art and craft supplies to the national and international trade.
As we were going to press, the BRC Global Standards’ Food Safety Europe 2018, was preparing to open its doors, with this year’s focus being on ‘future-proofing food safety’. An impressive line-up of food safety experts were due to speak, with an opening keynote address from the Food Standards Agency on building a stronger and safer food industry post-Brexit, and from IBM, on how blockchain can enable food trust.
Delegates from Asda, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, McDonald’s were amongst those attending.
Next on the agenda is the 2018 edition of MADE, an event for manufacturers/suppliers of custom-made products. Healthy Food / Healthy Planet will be the central themes of the event, which will be held on March 20th and 21st at the Porte de Versailles Exhibition Centre in Paris, and will feature live events, expert itineraries, and exhibitions. Around 4,500 visitors are expected to attend.
Major names at Shanghai conference
A prestigious line-up of packaging designers and international brands has been unveiled for The Pentawards Conference, which takes place at ADF&PCD Shanghai. The major names include Shiseido, Herborist, ForceMAJEURE, Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts, BETC, YANG Design and Centdegrés.
The high-level, design-focused conference, will run throughout the event, which takes place on March 28th and 29th at the Shanghai Convention & Exhibition Center of International Sourcing. The leading brands taking to the stage, will draw on the very latest thinking, design trends, real-life examples and current news agenda.
Ippei Murata, Art Director of Packaging Design at Shiseido, will look at millennials as a consumer group, and explore how packaging designers can better understand them. Laurent Hainaut, President and Founder of forceMAJEURE, will focus specifically on packaging design within the retail sector, exploring why the future needs to be both interactive and responsive. Pradere Christophe, Design CEO & Founder at BETC, will explore ethical and sustainable packaging. Gu Chuanxi, Professor at Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts, will talk about luxury packaging, helping attendees turn their already luxury packaging designs into a total brand experience.
MS Xiaojing Huang, Strategic Director at YANG DESIGN, will analyse the latest design trends from the Chinese market. She will explore the consumer maturity within the region and review the impact this is having on cosmetic brand identities. Also concentrating on the cosmetics industry will be Matthieu Rochette-Schneider, Designer and General Manager Asia at Centdegrés, who will look at how companies should be designing for fast growth sectors, and in particular children’s skin care. Mr. Xu Jun, Chief Designer at Herborist/Shanghai Jahwa Corporation, is covering the consumer behaviour trends within the Chinese market, analysing cultural and societal differences in packaging.
The packaging design-focused conference will be hosted and chaired by Rhonda Jiang, Editor-in-Chief at Package & Design. The debate will consider challenges and opportunities facing the global packaging design industry over the next five years.
ADF&PCD Shanghai will also host The Pentawards Exhibit.
