Weekly home agenda: Nuremberg Toy Fair, Stockholm Furniture Fair

(Spielwarenmesse)

Toys fairs mark the beginning and end of this week's home agenda, with the 62 Nuremberg Toy Fair coming to a close on Tuesday, February 8 and the 108th New York Toy Fair starting on February 13.
In between, the latest household products will be on display at the 21st Ambiente in Frankfurt, Germany and Nordic furniture will be on exhbition at the Stockholm Furniture Fair.

62nd Nuremberg Toy Fair
February 3-8
Speilwarenmesse exhibition centre
Nuremburg, Germany

Widely acknowledged as one of the world's leading toy industry trade shows, last year's event attracted around 76,000 visitors from 104 countries. The Nuremburg Toy Fair gives industry professionals and consumers insights into the trends of the following Christmas as well as hosting a number of seminars on the international toy industry. In terms of both visitor numbers and industry stature, the event is far bigger than the Toy Fair (January 25-27) in the United Kingdom.
http://www.toyfair.de

Stockholm furniture fair
February 8-12
Stockholmsmässan
Stockholm, Sweden

Organized in cooperation with the Swedish Federation of Furniture Retailers, the Stockholm furniture fair is a meeting place for innovative Nordic designers. Last year the event attracted 750 exhibitors and 40,000 visitors of which around 25 percent were from outside of Sweden. The fair is open to the public on February 12 and provides a preview of next season's products and key Nordic design trends. The event runs concurrently with the Northern Light Show in the same location as part of Stockholm Design week.
http://www.stockholmfurniturefair.se/

21st Ambiente
February 11-15
Messe Frankfurt Trade center
Germany, Frankfurt

Ambiente is divided into three separate sectors - Dining, Giving and Living - each showcasing the latest household products. This year the trade show is also holding the 'International Design Competition' to award consumer goods which combine functionality with aesthetics. The trade show is one of the biggest of its kind in the world; last year's event attracted over 132,000 visitors, 46 percent of which were from outside Germany. Though equally as important as France's Maison & Objet for example, Ambiente focuses more on products with a mass appeal and applicable everyday functionality: in that respect the trade show is similar to Grand Designs Live in London (April 30-May 8) or Frankfurt's Tendence (August 26-30). 
http://ambiente.messefrankfurt.com/frankfurt/en/besucher/willkommen.html

108th Toy Fair 2011
February, 13- 16
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
New York, USA

One of the largest annual toy fairs, the NY event attracts over 1,000 exhibitors, 25,000 attendees, and is home to around 7,000 new product launches each year. The event is also home to the Toy of the Year (TOTY) Awards:  billed as the "Oscars of the toy industry," these awards honor the most outstanding new products in 12 categories and crown one the overall "toy of the year." Though the event attracts fewer visitors than the Nuremberg event, the Toy Fair New York, where Barbie first appeared, is widely respected and the TOTY awards are generally recognized as the industry standard.
http://www.toyassociation.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=toy_Fair