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The Italian
He’s only been in the hot seat for six months, but already, Emanuele Guido, the newly appointed exhibitions director at Fiera Milano, is beginning to turn many traditional exhibition ideas on their head, determined to make lifestyle show HOMI stand out from the crowd. PG&H met up with him at January’s show to hear more about his vision for the next three years which will see him take the show in a new direction.
Way
A Global Perspective: HOMI Milan
Below: Emanuele Guido. Below middle: A brand new Reisenthal shopper made from recycled bottles.
culture while appealing to people from all over the world,” he explains. Going forward there will also be more emphasis on showcasing products for weddings - such as tableware, table decorations, textiles and candles - a market sector that’s becoming big business for Italian independent retailers and department stores who loan the products to event organisers, hotels and restaurants. As for trends, “we want our approach to be more concrete,” Emanuele states. “At HOMI in January, we focused on sustainability and have created a ground breaking project for 2021. (See Introducing #HOMINext below). At this year’s show, numerous companies showcased their green credentials, with a vast array of products developed using recycled and re-usable materials. Among them was a brand new multi-function shopper from German brand Reisenthal, distributed by the Gift Company, with each bag made by reusing 11 bottles. Another brand at the show, Glass Made, showcased tumblers made from recycled wine bottles. “We use those that are darkened to protect the wine and give them a new lease of life thanks to re-use,” explained co-owner Maya Lapp. Other sustainable products included re-usable recyclable steel cutlery and straws by Abert. As Emanuele points out: “We’re doing our very best to be different to the other trade shows, with exhibitors needing to understand that the retailer is changing in terms of their buying and their marketing. I always put myself in the shoes in the buyer, because they are the ones walking the aisles and have ‘the eyes of competence’, so it’s our role is to guide people to the most relevant brands and the new collections. Ultimately, it’s the products that will speak to them.”
Emanuele Guido isn’t afraid to break the mould when it comes to trade shows, and he’s got a three year plan, and plenty of ideas to give HOMI significant ‘points of difference’ moving forward. “For retailers to survive, they have to become personal shoppers for their customers,” he states. “Now is a difficult moment for Italian retailers, so this is a very important phase for us as show organisers. When people shop online they know what they want. It’s when they don’t know what they want and are looking for ideas that they go into a bricks and mortar store. It’s why, at this year’s HOMI, we introduced a new layout to accommodate different type of retailers. An example was the new Home Boutique & Design hall - which included Creazioni Italiane - where we mixed up the traditional show sectors and put them in one specific hall, to give independents the opportunity to see the type of products they would want to put in their stores. Our idea is not necessarily to separate buying categories but to work with the needs of different types of buyers. When you consider that most visitors to trade shows spend only two and a half days, they haven’t got the time to go into 20 different halls, so our At HOMI 2021, #HOMINext will be making its thinking is to give them everything they need to find in debut - a space dedicated to sustainability and one, maybe two halls, to make their visit more time creative upcycling. The first venture, Ecosocially, curated by ecosocial artist Luca Gnizio, will efficient and productive.” showcase his work, which uses diverse waste Again to help the retailer, HOMI will also be looking materials - such as denim jeans and scrap tyres to put the spotlight on solutions at the point of sale. to create innovative, functional works of art. “Taking tableware, homeware and contemporary stores The HOMINext project will also see Luca as an example, we will be reinforcing ideas for display directly engage with the show’s 600 exhibitors, with the aim of recycling their waste materials in in order to drive sales for retailers,” he highlights. order to achieve new creative artistic, functional, Another sector that Emanuele and his team are socially useful solutions. “This is a very ambitious looking closely at is home hospitality, seen as a project which will reveal the result of the first ever ecological co-operation between growing trend. “In the era of shared homes and hundreds of companies from various product areas,” stated Emanuele. “For the globalised B&B, there’s a very big market for companies taking part, this will transform the problem of disposal into a new resource for the business.” decorative home products for people who rent Above: Luca Gnizio with a chair made out of Levis jeans. properties and need to furnish them to reflect the
Introducing #HOMINext
Progressive Gifts & Home Worldwide
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