It’s been three weeks since the end of Design & Construction Week, but if you are anything like us, it has taken this long just to get back into the swing of a standard work week. For the second year in a row, the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS) was co-located with the International Builders’ Show (IBS), and this year the two shows held at the Las Vegas Convention Center were joined by The International Surface Event (TISE), which was hosted by the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, also in Las Vegas.
For us here at CountertopResource.com, this was an exceptional event because it is the first that I personally had the pleasure of attending. I had a fantastic time meeting many of our longtime readers and clients in person for the first time and chatting with representatives and owners of some of the most prominent companies in the countertop industry. Not only was the show interesting and exciting on a personal level, it marked an upswing in overall attendance and the industry in general.
Design & Construction Week was held this year from January 20 to 22. It was the 51st annual event for KBIS, and including attendees and exhibitors at IBS, 2015 was a “banner year.” More than 500 exhibitors were on the floor in both the North Hall and South Hall while IBS was held in the Center Hall. The addition of the South Hall provided an extra 500,000 square feet of floor space for exhibitors and on-floor programming. Overall, 3,750 exhibitors spread across 4.7 million square feet of floor space participated in Design & Construction Week.
In all, more than 125,000 dealers, designers, suppliers and builders participated in the event, which is an increase of 5 percent over last year. In addition, more than 300 media representatives were on hand to cover what is the largest platform devoted to the kitchen & bath industry in North American. According to the Las Vegas Review, Design & Construction Week helps to make January one of the busiest months of the year for the Convention Center.
“Everything about this year’s show lived up to the promise of bigger, better and bolder,” said Bill Darcy, CEO of the National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA). “We were thrilled not only by the turnout but by how many innovations were introduced by exhibitors this year. We couldn’t be happier that the industry sees KBIS as the platform to successfully launch new products.”
Brian Pagel, vice president of the kitchen and bath division of Emerald Expositions, the company producing the show, also released a statement about the event. “KBIS 2015 and our participation in Design & Construction Week was a huge success. We are incredibly excited about the future of these events given the prospect of a stronger housing market in 2015.”
At KBIS 2015, I was able to get a few sneak peeks at some of the latest technologies and designs from a few of the most prominent surfacing manufacturers in the world. Formica had two new collections on display, and Wilsonart announced the company was introducing a new line of quartz surfacing (although I kind of had the scoop on that a little bit early.
A few miles away at the Mandalay Convention Center, TISE was being held in conjunction with Design & Construction Week. Last year, the event included SURFACES and StonExpo/Marmomacc Americas, and this year, it was co-launched with the all-new TileExpo, which brought together professionals from the stone, tile and flooring industries.
At TISE, I was in awe at some of the state-of-the art machinery that was brought out to display. One of the most prominent and impressive of these was the RoboSawJet from BACA Systems. However, Park Industries also made a distinct impression with the STORM Multi-Blade System and the HydroClear 90 water treatment system. Finally, I would be negligent if I failed to mention that ETemplate Systems walked away with the 2015 StonExpo Technology Award for its ELaser 3-D and 2-D measuring system.
Back at KBIS and IBS, representatives from the NKBA and the National Home Builders’ Association (NHBA), announced that the two shows will continue to co-locate through 2020, and KBIS 2016 is scheduled for January 19 through January 21 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. I am already excited for what this event will bring, and I hope to see you all there. And apparently TISE will once again be going on in conjunction with the other shows! I think it will be another one to remember…
