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At Haus Aussel: Where ZOW began
It all started with four supplier companies

It all started with the four supplier companies Berg, Döllken, Egger and Westag & Getalit. They put on a presentation about themselves and their product highlights at the Haus Aussel design workshop in the East Westphalian town Rheda-Wiedenbrück which was at that time the platform on the regional supplier industry showcased new ideas. It was as a result of the focus weeks, which were the first of their kind to focus on visitors from the furniture industry and interior design, that the industry came up with the idea of organising a trade fair just for the supplier industry of East Westphalia. A name for it was quickly found: there was a MOW in Bad Salzuflen, so the new trade fair was to be called ZOW.

However the first ZOW wasn’t held in Bad Salzuflen, but at the Musterring trade fair centre in Rietberg.The contact at that time was the Höner family, who owned the Musterring trade fair centre as well as the listed Haus Aussel in Rheda-Wiedenbrück. Who would organise the trade fair? This question was also quickly answered, as Dipl.-Kaufm. Peter H. Meyer, who was the Managing Director of Haus Aussel, had just become self-employed. As the former Managing Director of Duropal and Musterring, he had excellent contacts in the furniture industry. No sooner said than done, the first ZOW trade faie East-Westphalia took place from 7 to 11 March 1995 in Rietberg with 49 exhibitors and 1400 visitors.

Much has changed since then, yet one thing has always remained the same: the high level of appeal of a specialist trade fair which has held its ground in the market through the quality of its customer contacts and thereby grown steadily. By 1997, however, the trade fair had outgrown the space available in Rietberg and ZOW organiser Survey decided to relocate to the trade fair centre in Bad Salzuflen. ZOW finally settled in the furniture region of East-Westphalia and had no intentions of leaving. By this time, exhibitor and visitor numbers had already tripled and ZOW began to win a permanent place in the German trade fair landscape for the furniture industry. In terms of organisation, the coming years would see continuous change, yet the unique workshop concept with its open and transparent trade fair architecture and many individual services for exhibitors and visitors remained the same.      

ZOW: a trade fair goes global

By the time ZOW made its debut in Italy in October 2001, the abbreviation ZOW, which naturally stood for Zuliefermesse Ost-Westfalen, had established itself internationally as a brand. From there, it went global: 2002 saw the first ZOW in Spain; in 2004 ZOW set foot on Russian soil, in 2005 the growth market enticed ZOW to China and in 2007 ZOW was invited to the Bosporus for the first time. Not all ZOW events have enjoyed the same rapid and positive increase in exhibitor and visitor numbers, but the supplier fairs have now won a place for themselves in their respective markets. A total of 2500 exhibitors and
80 000 visitors worldwide take part in ZOW each year.

From its original purpose as a supplier fair for the furniture industry, a goal which has been planned and run successfully for years, the supplier industry is now focussing on new target groups. The main new target group is made up of architects, interior designers and designers, for whom ZOW in Bad Salzuflen has provided an individual forum since 2006 with the architecture lounge. They are important multipliers for profitable commercial property in industrial interior design, trade fair construction and retail design. ZOW has always seen itself as a driver behind innovative topics for the furniture industry and therefore wants to create added value for its visitors. This is why the 15th ZOW in Bad Salzuflen in February 2009 is showcasing exhibitions on “lightweight construction” and “new materials”. Mediapoint shows how furniture and media can intelligently grow together and the RFID factory reveals how you can save time and money in business.

M Technology Award for concentrated design competence

It is the product innovations and concept solutions of the international supplier industry, however, that form the focal point of each ZOW. The M Technology Award, which has been presented to ZOW exhibitors since 2007 by the iF International Forum Design Hanover, recognises top new products in the supplier industry and is presented at ZOWs worldwide. The furniture supplier industry is synonymous with a high level of innovative force and concentrated design competence and this year visitors will once again be able to see exactly that: from 9 to 12 February in Bad Salzuflen, from 19 to 22 March in Shenzhen, from
2 to 5 June in Saragossa, from 1 to 4 October in Istanbul, from 21 to 24 October in Verona and from 23 to 27 November in Moscow.
The story continues...