IIR events were graced with the presence of 325 dealers & architects in Ahmedabad held on May 4, 2019 and 360 dealers and architects witnessed in Bangalore on May 18, 2019.
The essence of the Ply Reporter’s and Surfaces Reporter’s flagship event ‘The Talk of Town’ brings in and discusses on the core issues of Interior décor panel industry, surface materials in length & breadth to find out solutions putting them in-road to success along with architecture fraternity, design professionals and the trade conglomerates. This event took place recently in Ahmedabad and Bangalore as well after successfully concluded in Lucknow on April 06, 2019. The 10th and 11th edition of ‘The Talk of Town’ along with ‘India Interior Retailing’ (IIR) events have successfully concluded in Ahmedabad (on 4th May 2019) and Bangalore (on 18th May, 2019) respectively. Both the events were enthralled with renowned Town Planners, Architects, Designers, Real Estate experts, Traders, Entrepreneurs and Industrialists from entire wood panel and building material industry. Many industry experts, professionals, manufacturers, dealers, distributors and traders shared their experiences and views related to innovative marketing, promotions and retailing of wood and decorative panel products. Large numbers of participants including the traders were benefited with various types of business tips after question-answer sessions during different panel discussions at both the events. It also provided an amazing platform for them to engage in an edifying discussion about the city architectures getting connected to build networks, expand retail business and modify Showrooms etc.
The programs were moderated by Ms Madhurima Chowdhury. She said that Surfaces Reporter’s ‘The Talk of Town’ is a neatly designed nationwide conference aimed to connect, engage, and network, for the architects, designers and traders of wood panel fraternity. It has been travelling all over India to various cities, talking about issues & ideas that concern the interior design, urban planning, architecture community, establishing dialogues on important topics and bringing together the experts and traders of industry including wood panel industry and trade.
325 retailers & architects attainded at IIR in ahmedabad
The 10th edition of ‘The Talk of Town’ at Ahmedabad begun with a motivating address by Smt. Bijal Patel, Mayor of Ahmedabad and then the event became an engaging platform for exchange of ideas with panel discussions focused on stimulating topics such as ‘The Heritage City – Ahmedabad – Way Forward,’ Plagiarism in Design’ ‘Key Design Skepticism’, ‘The Journey of Interior Retailing in Ahmedabad,’ and ‘Innovations in Wood and Panel products.’
At the outset, esteemed panelists - Mr Jaxay Shah, Chairman, CREDAI, India; Mr Pradyumna Vyas, Former Director, National Institute of Design; Mr Yatin Pandya, Coowner, FootPrints E.A.R.T.H and Mr Utpal Sharma, Director, Nirma University discussed what's the way forward for Ahmedabad in architecture and design. Plagiarism has been plaguing the architecture and design industry since long. The community gained new insights into the subject as renowned architects Ar Hemal Shah, Principal Architect, Hemal Shah & Associates; Ar Hiren Patel of Hiren Patel Architects; Ar Bhadri Sonpal of The Grid Architects; Ar Ranna Parikh of Ranna Parikh Architect & Interior Designer; Ar Snehal Joshi of Snehal Joshi Architects; Ar Deepali Meni of Kunal & Deepali Associates; Ar Arpan Shah of Modo Designs; Mr Vikas Jha of JSL Lifestyle; Ar Niraj Shah of Ido design Solutions and IIID Ahmedabad Chapter
Chairperson shared their thoughts on the issue. Mr Jaxay Shah, Chairman, CREDAI, India said that Ahmedabad is posing for great opportunities for growth in times to come. I love the stress free Ahmedabad!
‘The Talk of Town’ at Ahmedabad included splendid minitalks by Mr Chintal Mehta of Chintal Design Studio; Ms Brinda Parth Shah of BPS Architects; Ms Chandni Patel of Studio Abhinay and Ms Heena Kokel of Array Design House. They shared powerful ideas and design stories around sustainability and designing for the common good through enriching presentations.
India Interior Retailing (IIR)
Following intriguing presentations on latest innovations in design and architecture from Fundermax, JSL Lifestyle, Amulya Mica, and Renson, the event unraveled the nitty-gritty of the India Interior Retailing industry through panel discussions.
Before the first panel discussion of IIR, Wade Asia’s founder and editor of Surface Reporter Ms Vertica Dvivedi
gave a comprehensive lecture on many important topics such as the growing retail culture in India, its modern appearance, market trends and changing consumer behavior. Ms Dvivedi said that the retail market has the most important role in the Indian economy but in spite of this, it is not fully organized. She also described the purposes of the formation of India Interior Retailing (IIR) by Bigsea Marcom (I) Pvt Ltd and announced the first annual conference of IIR to be held in national capital Delhi on 11 - 12th of October, 2019. Ms Dvivedi said that IIR has been set up with the aim of providing a common platform to retailers associated with this industry. Apart from being a knowledge sharing platform for retailers associated with this industry, this is also a solution provider to all entrepreneurs belonging to retail and wood panel industry.
She said that the country's retail culture is changing with rapid growth. To maintain fast and continuity in business, now there is a need to adopt state - of - the - art retail culture apart from traditional method of retailing. There are many options available in the market. Retailers are often confused about the fact that which business policy should be adopted to maintain a strong presence in the market. There are many more similar questions; whose solutions are being provided on the platform of IIR. Ms Dvivedi also expressed her happiness over the success of 'The Talk of Town' and 'IIR' in a short span of time and thanked the entrepreneurs involving rapidly in this.
Important interior retailers of Ahmedabad shared their success stories of retail business, helping everyone gain valuable insights on the interior retail market during the session on the topic ‘The Journey of Interior Retailing in Ahmedabad’. The father and son duo from two very prominent showrooms of Ahmedabad- Mr Bhavin Shah & Mr Prakash Shah (EDGE Studio & Builders Home) and Mr Pawan Arora & Mr Raghav Arora (Arodrape) shared their thoughts about where the retail industry is moving – the trends - the culture of showroom designing – their lessons – the successes & failures etc. The practical lessons they shared from actual market experiences The Ply RePoRTeR june 2019 www.plyreporter.com and 40 years of legacy in the business, and thus were invaluable! This session was moderated by Ms Vertica Dvivedi.
Another panel discussion of IIR was on the topic ‘The Need for Innovative Retailing of Wood & Decorative Panel Products’ which was moderated by Mr Pragat Dvivedi, Founder, The Ply Reporter. Prominent decision-makers and retailers in Wood & Decorative Panel products in Ahmedabad, such as Mr Alay Upendra Nagori, Vice President of Ahmedabad Timber Merchants’ Association; Mr Ashish Khandelwal (Neha Ply & Laminates); Mr Kailash (Ganesh Plywood); Mr Ketan Thakkar (Nippon Ply) and Interior Designer Mr Niraj Shah of Ido Design and Solutions were panelist of this session. All panelists expressed their views and shared the experiences about the retail culture of City, their story of a building up a retail brand, showroom designing, good market practices including the valuable and important suggestion for upcoming showrooms to the traders. The event was a great learning platform for all, emphasizing the need for a forum like IIR, which can effectively bring Indian Retailers, Architects and Designers, Traders from wood panel industry together and foster fruitful relationships.
During the event, Mr Sunil Thakore, GM-Marketing, Amulya Mica, gave detail presentation about the specialties of its leading and fastest growing Laminates brands in different categories and ranges and made every participant aware of his company’s success story and journey so far. He also shared in depth information about another product of company like Amulya WPC & PVC. He said that all the Amulya Mica Laminate brands and products are environmentally improved with low emission and low toxicity with extensive quality central processes. Company designs laminates very intelligently and use of the color is also amazing. The company is manufacturing more than 600 designs and 100 finishes like suede, matt, glossy and textured from imported design papers, he added.
Mr Sunil claimed that Amulya WPC is 100 percent termite Proof, Water Proof, Recyclable, Eco-friendly and flame retardant product. In Amulya WPC board– laminates can easily be pasted, High gloss, Matt, Deco paint, Texture Paint can be applied with less consumption of material, also ACP’s and Acrylic solid surface can also be pasted. Amulya WPC/PVC is available in Width from 2.5’ to maximum 6’ and in Length – Customized up to 20’ and in Thickness – 4mm to 20mm. The company’s presence lies across the country in all 29 states and 7 union territories. At present, the company is exporting its products to more than 20 countries, he said.
360 retailers and architects witenessed at IIR in Bangalore
Amid its uninterrupted journey across the country, the 11th edition of ‘The Talk of Town’ including IIR events took place in Bangalore city on 18th May 2019, where it got tremendous response and appreciation as usual. It was an amazing and informative event that witnessed the presence of the best of the best professionals from the arts, designs and wood panel fraternity. It also provided an amazing platform for them to engage in an edifying discussion about the city architects, arts, designs, and specially retailing in wood panel industry and trade.
The event was inaugurated by Ms Shobha Reddy, Ar Neelam Manjunath, Prof. Krishnarao Jaisim and Ms Vertica Dvivedi by lighting the ceremonial lamp. The first panel discussion began on an extremely interesting topic- ‘The City – Bangalore – Can We Revive What We Lost’ in which panelists were Ms Neelam Manjunath (Manasaram), Mr Anil Bhaskaran (IDEA Centre Architects), Mr Vijay Narnapatti (maya PRAXIS & School of Architecture, CHRIST), Mr Ravindra Kumar (Pragroup & Vagroup), Ms Shobha Reddy (Jalmitra & TREND) and Mr Anup Naik (Urban Frame - A Spacematrix Group company) shared their valuable insights. Ms Ishita Shah (Faculty & Researcher, Srishti Institute of Art Design & Technology moderated the whole session interestingly.
Afterwards, an informative presentation by DURADOOR happened where Mr Gautam talked about the different Door products, Doors colors, designs, technologies and success story of company DURADOOR. Mr. Gautam talked about the various range of the Doors mainly like Natura range is inspired by nature itself, Signature Series of Doors which comes with exciting variants includes wood, Glass and Aluminium, Soft touch - Luxuries, smooth texture and soft touch and Fire Resistant Doors with complete safety of Homes.
Duradoor is a division of NCL Industries Ltd. (NCLI) – flagship of the NCL Group which has built a reputation for introducing innovative building materials and accessories in the Indian market. Over the past 40 years NCL and its sister concerns have come up with products which have added to the elegance, aesthetics and sophistication of buildings and structures, Mr Gautam Added.
The second panel discussion started on topic “Designing For Happiness & Wellbeing.” The presence of Prof. Jaisim K (Jaisim-Fountainhead), Inderjeet Kembhavi (Kembhavi Architects Foundation), Anshul Chodha (Santuary Architects), Beena Patre (Visiana & Nouveau Euro Furniture), Vijaya Bhargav (Ostraca), Elayraja Mayavan (MVYN) made this discussion an electrifying one. Ms Vertica Dvivedi, founder of WADe Asia outstandingly moderated the panel. The session saw several sharp and astute observations from all the panelists.
Amulya Mica presented about their company offerings and achievements along with their new launched and their specifications to the audience again in Bangalore. Their innovative offerings make it stand out in the world of laminates, Textures, colors and design along with its strong market position and business strategy. Mr. Surendra Tharad along with Mr Vikas Poddar of Radheshyam Plywood, Channel Partner of Amulya Mica gave presentation about the experience of Different range of products and successful journey of his company in wood panel and laminate Industry. Soon after the beat boxer - Mr. Abhishek Bhaskar made everyone nodded to his beats at the event.
Then there was time for the 4th electrifying presentation of the day by Mr. Rajesh Nair from Trojan Plywood, who showcased their innovative products and shared the happiest and successful journey of the company. He said that the Quality, Trust and Value are the three key factors behind the success of Trojan's in Indian market. He said that Trojan's products are preferred by India's leading architects, interior designers and discerning home owners. These specialized products, add beauty, value and distinction to the end products in which they are used. He also gave the detail presentation about the Different Brand of Trojan Ply including Trojan Signature, Trojan Platinum, Classic, Gold etc. He claimed that Trojan ply offered 100 percent calibrated plywood. Boiling Water Proof (BWP), Lifetime Warranty, Selected Gurjan & Hardwood Species, Chemically Treated, Structurally Balanced, Quad Press Technology, Core Protection Technology and Borer & Termite Proof are other main specialties of Trojan Ply, he added.
Moving on, the third round of the enlivening panel discussion happened among 5 talented architects- Gauri Gore (Edifice), Kavita Sastry (KS Designs), Meghana Dutta (Studio Decode), Gururaj Paknikar (Kabra Architects) and Jaya Rayaprolu (Design Harmsony). They shared their powerful ideas and initiatives for social change in power packed, crisp and succinct manner.
Post lunch Mr. Pragath Dvivedi explained everyone why we need a retailing platform like India Interior Retailing (IIR). He threw a brief light on the need and advantage of process driven working for retailers than just profit driven. He elaborated the process driven model, which would be sustainable for retail community. He explained the mission of IIR for benefit of entire interior retail community and appeal all to attain the annual grand event IIR, which is going to organize in Delhi on 11-12th October, 2019.
In other next panel discussion, Retail Space Designers, Architects and Showroom owners - Sanjay Agarwal (FRDC), Vivek Vashistha (Myinnospace), Geetha V G (FAC-Architects), Siddharth H K (The High Wall) and Swathy P. S. (IKAA Design) shared their views on ‘The Evolving Retail Culture in Bangalore’. They were involved in an intuitive discussion on various topics related to main subjects such as the current scenario of showroom designs in Bangalore, how technology is an enabler in showroom design, how showrooms should be designed
that can be easily upgraded from time to time, key aspects of designing a great Interior Retailing experience and futuristic showrooms.
The fifth panel discussion, moderated by Pragat Dvivedi, Founder of the Ply Reporter provided valuable insight into ‘The Need for Innovative Retailing of Wood & Decorative Panel products’ and highlighted through inputs from experts. Tushar K Ganatra (FABWOOD| Kayu & Kov), Jignesh R P (AAREN INTPRO), Surendra Patel (Wood Nation) and Mr. Indrajeet were the panelists. The enthusiasm of the attendees was intact even at the end of the event.
Both the events in Ahmedabad and Bangalore were conducted by Mr. Rajiv Parashar, Editor, The Ply Reporter. While addressing the participants during the events, Mr Rajiv Parashar said that ‘The Talk of Town’ and ‘IIR’ were launched by Bigsea Marcom (I) Pvt Ltd group to provide a common platform for traders so that they can share their experiences and industry related activities and also discussion on industrial development. Mr. Rajiv Parashar also thanked all the entrepreneurs for their huge and active participation in the program.