The Board of Directors of the Italian trade fair Proposte has made a surprising announcement. After years of exclusion, the trade fair has decided to admit non-European manufacturers as exhibitors.

According to Proposte’s General Manager Massimo Mosiello and Piercarlo Viganò, President of the Board of Directors, this decision comes in response to a far-reaching shift within the furniture and decorative fabric industry towards greater globalisation. The only trade fair to be organised by manufacturers, Proposte has revealed that it no longer wants to close itself off from these market requirements.

“We made this choice very carefully and it was carried by the majority of exhibitors,” the statement said. The selection criteria have not changed since the first event in 1993. Only manufacturers of high-end furniture and decorative fabrics who are also committed to the internationally accepted rules on corporate social responsibility and sustainability may exhibit at Proposte.

At the forthcoming event from 27-29 April 2015, three luxury Turkish companies - Dina Vanelli, Penelope and Marteks - will be exhibiting in Cernobbio for the first time.

There will also be changes outside the exhibition venue in the famous Villa Erba on the shores of Lake Como. One of the owners of Proposte, Ascontex Promozioni srl, will coordinate the many fabric presentations, that are staged in hotels and showrooms concurrently with or even prior to Proposte, within a special event entitled “International Observatory”. Italian and foreign companies will be organised and located strategically at fixed exhibition venues such as the Grand Hotel di Como, Cernobbio Shed and Villa Bernasconi, solely for the duration of Proposte.

[ www.propostefair.it]