AHEC participated in this year’s Perspective, held by leading Italian design magazine The Plan, that serves as a major networking and inspirational event for leading European architects, building engineers, designers, and other key industry figures.
As part of our long-term strategy to “pull” demand by targeting decision makers along the specification value chain, AHEC’s European Director David Venables opened the event with his presentation “The New Age of Wood.” David’s introduction was followed by keynote presentations by guest speakers invited by AHEC, architect Alison Brooks and designer Maria Bruun, who shared their thoughts on working with American Hardwoods and how the use of wood has shaped their practices. 300 specially invited guests attended the forum in person, as did more than 100 additional participants who were connected remotely through livestreaming. In the aftermath of the event several thousand more and counting have viewed the event through The Plan’s web platform.
During the forum, AHEC also led two workshops focusing on American Hardwoods and their performance potential. The workshops were attended by key contacts in leading architectural, design and engineering firms from across Europe. Feedback questionnaires collected during the workshops showed that a significant proportion of the audience at each event were inspired to consider using American Hardwoods for the first time, or in a new application in future projects.
Hundreds of AHEC’s new Guide to Sustainable American Hardwood Species publications were distributed in several languages as well as links to the AHEC website for future communications. Many new architectural contacts were made by our staff and will be followed up in the coming months. The October issue of The Plan magazine was also distributed to all attendees and features an eight page article on AHEC’s “Forest Tales” exhibition held at the Triennale design museum in Milan earlier this year as part of our on going promotion of Red Oak, Cherry and Maple in the European markets.
For more information on AHEC and our global promotional programs as well as information on joining our association please contact Tripp Pryor at tpryor@ahec.org and visit us online at www.americanhardwood.org.
