In 1997, at the IMM cologne fair, four publishers of home furnishings magazines, Joe Carroll of the United States, Franz Schafer of Germany, Takayoshi Nagashima of Japan and Keith Dunn of Australia, met to discuss the need for an organization in which they might meet to exchange editorial and marketing ideas. They decided to form an organization called the International Alliance of Furnishings Publications (IAFP).

In order to provide the highest quality information to the home furnishings industry only a country’s leading furnishings publication would be admitted to the Alliance. This criteria would both recognize publishing excellence and provide a non-competitive atmosphere where colleagues could openly exchange information.

Joe Carroll of the United States was elected Chairman in 1997. He held this position until 2002 when Keith Dunn of Australia succeeded him. He was renamed Chairman in 2007 and served for two years until replaced by the current Chairman, Pedro Ruben Romero Olivera of Mexico in 2009.

Nine countries were represented at the first meeting in Cologne. Since that time the membership has grown to seventeen. A requirement of the IAFP constitution is that a formal meeting of the entire membership must be held annually. Informal meetings are also held at other times throughout the years at various shows attended by the IAFP members. The annual meetings have been hosted by international fairs from US, Singapore, Malaysia, Turkey, Germany, Mexico, Brasil and China.

At the annual meetings members exchange marketing information, industry statistics, reports on the state of their country’s economy and outlook for the furniture industry. Upon request members freely exchange their editorial content with one another throughout the year. For each publication this is similar to having an editorial bureau in the leading countries around the world. In recent years communications with the global furnishings community has been focused in four areas:

Social Issues: With the enormous influence each magazine has in its own country comes a special responsibility to the reader. The IAFP selects topics of global concern to explore through its editorial content. The current interest in eco-friendly, sustainable furniture, or “Green” movement, is now being covered in news stories, feature articles and even special sections. By providing readers with a global perspective of what is being done in sustainable furnishings the IAFP hopes to communicate the progress that is taking place quickly and accurately.