Fall Updates & Orgatec Fair

Wheels up

Our partners have been active with travel this Fall. We attended M&A SoCal (speed dating between bankers and PE firms, hosted by ACG) in Los Angeles last month. We toured the Clerkenwell Design Neighborhood in London several weeks ago to get a better sense of the commercial/architect/design scene in Europe. And have just returned from Orgatec, Europe’s major commercial furniture exhibition, held every two years, in Cologne, Germany. Now we return to North Carolina for the High Point Market. Next month we will be in Napa for four days for the AHFA CEO Summit followed by several days in New York for the BDNY hospitably show – always a favorite. In between we’ve had  regular visits to clients and prospective clients. The frequent flier points are stacking up.

Orgatec Fair

Team Stump visited Orgatec to take a deep dive into the European commercial furniture scene. This every-other-year show, in beautiful Cologne, showcases commercial furniture manufacturers with a focus on Europe (Germany in particular). We were impressed with the crowds, energy and professionally organized fair. Koln Messe is a massive grouping of 10 exhibition halls with temporary stands (or booths) and excellent technology for ease of entering the buildings, plus plenty of foods options and open public seating options for meetings and sit-downs. We saw lots of AI influence in product development and marketing techniques, and a much more noticeable focus on sustainability than in the US (a few notable demonstrations: salmon-skin leather and zero-plastic packaging!). The buildings also had a good deal of Chinese vendors hoping to grow their European business, likely as a hedge against potential future US tariffs. It’s amazing how focused the international community is monitoring the US election – we were asked who would win the presidential race almost every meeting. Also, Europe is facing a more challenging economy than here in the States, so many firms are eyeing the US for investment and growth.

A few other key observations:

• Over 90 exhibitors presented some form of phonebooth / modular meeting space offerings.
• Only 4 US companies exhibited in total.
• While only temporary exhibitions, the presentations were impressive with huge investments to create an attractive and inviting place to conduct business, particularly in the two largest venues (Hall 6 and 9).
• The EuroZone is approximately the same size as the US market, however, with dozens of separate countries, languages and business norms these companies face a very complex structure for competing effectively and challenging decisions on where to allocate capital:
  • With two live sell-side assignments in the office/contract/commercial space, we found this market very helpful in understanding the global marketplace and potential areas for trans-Atlantic investment.