NEW YORK, New York — SURTEX® Asia is gaining momentum as Chinese manufacturers look for original artwork for their products according to Penny Sikalis, show manager and vice president of GLM, the show organizer.

The latest addition to SURTEX will debut August 25-27 at the Kerry Hotel in Pudong, Shanghai. Sikalis projects that more than 50 top textile design studios from UK, Europe, North and South America and Japan will exhibit and more than 1,500 manufacturers will attend the first time. The Kerry Hotel is located right near the Shanghai New International Expo Center, home of Intertextile Shanghai. Penny Sikalis

“SURTEX Asia was launched because research conducted by GLM points to thousands of companies in China that are targets for buying good surface design,” Sikalis said. “In the interior textiles sector alone, there are some 3,500-4,000 textiles firms, and some 500-700 wallcoverings firms. Nearly 40% of them are situated in East China, in close proximity to Shanghai, which is the design hub of China.”

The attendees at SURTEX Asia include producers of decorative fabrics, home textiles, wallcoverings, curtains, upholstery fabrics, floor coverings, contract textiles and apparel textiles. Surface design trends will be presented to these manufacturers through a series of lectures hosted by SURTEX.

Surtex is 27 years old and is considered a global marketplace for selling and licensing designs. Surtex Asia is the sister exhibition to Surtex in the USA May 19-21, 2013 at the Javits Convention Center in New York. SURTEX began in 1986 with less than 100 exhibitors and is expected to grow to 325 exhibitors this year, Sikalis said.

This year, there is a new section at SURTEX USA called ‘Atelier,’ dedicated to design studios and designers like Diane Harrison, Giacomo Barzaghi and Design Works International who primarily sell their art and designs outright,” Sikalis said. “This area will be characterized by an intimate, yet more open floor plan in a distinct and private environment. Atelier exhibitors represent the most talented and sought-after textile design studios from around the world, offering the most trend-forward prints, patterns, repeats and documents for product development needs across a multitude of categories

For further information about Surtex Asia, contact jerich@glmshows.com in the USA and jsprafkin@media-pacific.com.