From May 21 to May 24, 2023, an economic delegation of five furniture companies in New York, USA, was successfully carried out. The delegation was organized by the public agency Spirit Slovenia with the support of the MGTŠ Woodworking Directorate. The coordination of the performance was provided by the Wood Industry Cluster with the participation of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry – the Association of Wood and Furniture Industry and the Embassy in Washington. It is a further consolidation of business contacts in the US after delegations in 2017 (New York), 2018 (New York, Cleveland, Pittsburgh) and 2019 and 2022 (Chicago).

The goals of the delegation were to explore the market and its characteristics, to learn about current furniture trends and to find business opportunities and contacts for Slovenian furniture companies. A delegation counting five companies; Lesna Doors, Potočnik Furniture, Mlinar Furniture, Carpentry Tajhmajster and Carpentry Lavre has successfully completed the visit and established a series of new business links, which will continue to be able to provide them with concrete business. These are profiled providers who are addressing the US market with niche products for custom interior equipment and contract products.

The Slovenian wood and furniture industry lost a very good export position in the US market after the collapse of Slovenijales and the the most respected export furniture companies 15-25 years ago. With such delegations, we support companies from the wood and furniture industry to rediscover the very promising US market, which is a lengthy process.

In New York, the delegation visited the ICFF 2023 – International Contemporary Fair Fair, offering excellent insight into the trends of interior design and furniture design in the US. They attended a business event that was organized with four other delegations from Sweden, the Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria as part of the joint project “Furniture Go International“. In addition to the US market information and business opportunities in the field of furniture exports, the delegation also had a series of B2B meetings with US target contacts such as architects, interior designers, agents and companies for equipping interiors. A visit to New York was concluded with visits of furniture pop-up showrooms.

The event was organized by the public agency Spirit Slovenia, with the support of the Ministry of Economy, Tourism and Sport, Directorate for Wood Industry. The co -organizers are the Wood industry cluster and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia – the Association of the Wood and Furniture Industry.