Carpet and Flooring Expo: 5 – 8 December 2023, Istanbul Expo Center

Carpet and Flooring Expo (CFE) will be held at the Istanbul Expo Center from 5-8 December 2023. Tüyap Exhibitions Group will organise the trade fair in cooperation with Istanbul Carpet Exporters' Association (İHİB) and Southeast Anatolia Carpet Exporters' Association (GAHİB). There will be around 400 national and international participants. The exhibition will cover an area of one hundred thousand square metres in eight halls.

İlhan Ersözlü, General Manager of TÜYAP Fairs Productions Inc., highlights Turkey's significant role in the global carpet trade: "Turkey currently accounts for 17% of the world's carpet trade volume. Through CFE 2023, we aim to promote new agreements and increase our export volume to 25%."

According to the trade fair organiser, the global carpet market is valued at $64.99 billion in 2022, is expected to grow to $97.41 billion within a decade. Turkey, which produces almost half of the world's carpets, is a key player in these global gatherings.

Ersözlü said: "Currently, our fair has nearly 400 participants, of which 75% are from Turkey and 25% are international companies. We've seen substantial interest from manufacturers in countries including Iran, China, England, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Indonesia, Morocco, Ukraine, Egypt and Jordan. Our goal is to host one of the largest trade fairs in this sector.”

CFE will offer a diverse programme of events for its visitors. As part of these events, the fair will host artist and designer Fırat Neziroglu, founder of MythAI Özgecan Üstgul, digital artist Ecem Dilan Kose, Bilgen Coskun and Dilek Ozturk, founders of In-Between Design Platform, Assoc. Prof. Mustafa Genç, a researcher of Turkish cultural heritage with a focus on traditional handicrafts, and Phil Pond, Trend Intelligence Director at Scarlet Opus. There will also be a keynote presentation during the exhibition by one of the world's most renowned trend forecasters, Li Edelkoort, on 6 December at 16:00. Li is known for predicting shifts based on social and cultural currents and relating this information back to the interior and design community. She will be discussing emerging interior design and decorating trends and how they will influence changes in the rug and carpet industry, including materials, textures and colours.

Visitors to the fair can expect to see handmade and machine-made carpets, rugs, mats, prayer rugs and textile floor coverings. The show is expected to be a trendsetting event not only for the carpet industry but also for designers, architects and decorators.

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