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Last week I attended the Las Vegas World Market furniture trade show and saw many new great furniture items. Before I mention the products I want to comment about the Las Vegas World Market. For the past decades, the granddaddy of furniture trade shows has taken place twice a year in High Point, North Carolina. However Las Vegas has a master plan to create a gigantic trade show complex dedicated to the furniture industry. In 2005, building A went up and the opening was a huge success. Last week, 2 huge building were filled with showrooms, as well as outside pavilions, and exhibitors at the MGM Grand. There were too many exhibitors and products for me to see even in a week. This July, building C will open with over 2 million square feet. More buildings are planned in the future.

There are a lot of politics involved as Las Vegas wants to take over as being the premier furniture show location while High Point is struggling to remain dominant. I place my bet on Las Vegas to win.

It is difficult to know where to start when describing interesting products that I saw. First, Chinese furniture imports remain strong, with pricing that is amazing, but what impressed me more was the quality. Some of the Chinese made furniture that I looked at was outstanding in terms of construction, details, and overall beauty. I have always been a proponent of free trade and have no issues with imported products as my basic theory is that it helps provide consumers with more choices, usually lower prices, and helps improve the economies of developing countries. We have our strengths in high tech and other advanced industries that offset the import side.

Entertainment furniture remains a major focus for many manufacturers. Propelled by the growth of flat panel televisions and the video gaming industry, innovative entertainment furniture is constantly being introduced. I saw prototype entertainment centers from Bush Industries that address the many functions such as wire management, speaker and component placement, as well as fresh designs. On the high scale end I saw a bedroom dresser that had a place to mount a flat panel behind a retractable mirror. When it is time to watch TV the mirror retracts and the TV screen appears!

A growing trend is for furniture manufacturers to go “green”. Green furniture is ecologically friendly, using trees from sustainable forests, eliminating toxic materials, and using packaging that is bio-degradable. Consumers should demand manufacturers to implement as many “green” processes as possible. I just read a Los Angeles Times article about Article Circle Polar bears about to go on the threatened species list.

The only disappointment I had in Las Vegas was not being picked as the $250,000 cash award winner. To attract publicity, increase attendance, and moreover to stab High Point, the Las Vegas World Market gave away $500,000! Each day 10 winners were picked that received $5,000 each while one lucky winner won $250,000. I was there on Wednesday night when 50 finalists were in front of the stage while 1 person was picked at random by the computer. The emcee was Robin Leach, best known for hosting the show “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”.

One last thing to mention is that I went to the MGM pool party and saw David Garibaldi. I was not familiar with his artistic talent but I saw him first hand create 3 great looking paintings. While he danced to a Frank Sinatra song he painted a beautiful painting of old blue yes. He made 2 more paintings, one of Elvis Presley and the other of my idol, Mick Jagger. Check out David’s website.

This summer I look forward returning to Las Vegas and the opening of Building C! Maybe I’ll have a another chance to win something but checking out the latest furniture is a great reward in itself.