My latest Contribution to UK Furniture News Trade Magazine - detailing my observations on the promising changes in the Irish furniture and Interiors market

1. PArTNEr COMMENT | 7
“A chair is still a chair, even when there’s no one sitting there. But a chair is not a
house, and a house is not a home.” And so the lyrics go, as I listen to Luther Vandross’
(arguably definitive) version of the Bacharach classic.
In Dublin, where I write from, that lyrical phrase is a loaded one. Now more than
ever, it is subject to layers of meaning in a country that has been haunted by the
trauma of losing one’s home and property – looking back to the evictions in the Land
Wars of the late 1800s and, more recently, the property crash of the late Noughties,
where sovereignty was once again part of the equation.
What has this got to do with our line of business? Quite a lot when you realise
that our feelings towards the property sector in this economy has an acute impact on
market confidence, and in the consumption of furniture and interiors products this side
of the pond.
Unsurprisingly, the volume of house sales in Dublin rose 17% last year, alongside
retail sales rising 8.9% in 12 months – helped mostly by increases in the furniture and
lighting sectors.
For the first time in five years, we can confirm that demand for family homes in
Ireland most definitely outstrips supply, especially in key urban hotspots. And over
here, a family home for the majority has got to be a house – the kind that you own (this
is a state in which rental tenants have lacklustre tenancy rights relative to those on the
Continent).
The growing momentum in house purchases, sporadic bubbling of property prices
in hotspots and fresh growth in mortgages being offered by our banks, signify the
prospect of new homes at last, for, since the crash, a somewhat displaced lot, looking
to find roots again.
I am glad to report that our rolling blog on the Irish Furniture & Interiors Fair
website gets updated almost weekly now with positive news on the property and
furniture retail front, aided by the Irish Home Renovation Tax incentive and new retail
and property developments north of the border too.
So, as stakeholders we should be pleased, as new Irish homes on the horizon will
pave the way for a more functional interiors market that can count on growth again.
And all the anecdotal feedback from our exhibitors looking to showcase this year has
been positive, as some plan for growth again.
Yet part of me is wary – not of growth, but of practice. We would like to think more
suppliers and trade buyers will react with sustainability in mind – the long-view
pragmatic sort of sustainability, that doesn’t look for quick bucks, and concentrates
instead on building a solid marketing-led foundation, strong relationships using honest
dealings, and terms that engender trust and loyalty for the long haul.
I suspect the successful furniture traders and suppliers who we deal with now have
navigated the last storm by doing just that, and I have a lot of respect for them that do.
Stay tuned as we talk to them and reveal their stories!
“As stakeholders we should be pleased, as new Irish homes
on the horizon will pave the way for a more functional
interiors market that can count on growth again”
Furniture News enjoys partnerships with a wide
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exhibitions, and invites a spokesperson from each
to share their views each month …
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Ireland’s coming home
Elish Bul-Godley works for Exhibitions Ireland to organise the
Irish Furniture & Interiors Fair, Ireland’s principal trade show,
which will next take place between 5-7th October at Dublin’s
RDS. The blog Elish refers to can be found within the news feed
at www.irishfurniturefair.com – interested parties can also keep
abreast of the show by following @FurnFairIRL on Twitter.
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