A HUGE week in the Furnishing industry has seen us developing more Education and Training initiatives, releasing the AFA’s Toppling Furniture Prevention Best Practice Guidelines, contributing to the review of the entire Furnishing Training Package overhaul, updating...

How important is it to you to protect your brand and your I.P? It has been on the list of Top 5 issues for Australian designers and manufacturers years and is a constant source of angst for many. More recently it has been reinforced as a major issue due to...

$$$ Energy Savings, Employment Opportunities, Digital Transformation, Franchising and Senate Enquiries and $105K Penalties for non-compliance. All in a week’s work for the AFA. It can seem overwhelming, but the team at AFA are always here to assist and provide...

For over 135 year the AFA, in its various guises, has been doing its best to service the furniture and furnishing industry and remain relevant. It takes continuous evolution, ongoing extensive research, analysis and shape-shifting to continue to deliver strong...

Celebrating lifetime achievements. Scrutinising multi-million dollar foreign deals. Suppliers caught cheating the system. Unfair dismissal on the rise. Recognition of AFA Members. Connecting training to industry, and jobs, jobs, jobs. It’s all in a week’s work at the...

Can the diverse segments of the design industry co-exist? In order to answer that question, you need to ask ‘what is a designer?’ Product designers, interior designers, custom designers, process designers, project designers and the list goes on. The biggest challenge...

The post-Christmas purchasing frenzy is always followed by the increase in consumer dissatisfaction. The ACCC is concerned by this growing trend, which shows a 39 per cent increase in reports about consumer guarantee issues. Issues with faulty products and businesses...

This week’s design news is a little more personal for me, because this week we welcome a new addition to our family that is a true miracle of design. The creation of a new human being and all of nature’s incredible craftsmanship is to be admired and appreciated. Like...

It’s all happening. And it’s so exciting. Our recent partnership announcements have the design and furnishing industry in a spin. I mean it makes perfect sense to collaborate with genuinely aligned associations to get the best for stakeholders.  Learn more about our...

A total value of over $1.8 Billion worth of timber furniture was imported into Australia according to the ABARES 2018 12 month reporting cycle by ABARES. This is the raw $$$ value and does not allow for the value of GST or include flat pack, veneer, sawn wood or ply...

For a couple of years now, you will have been receiving a newsletter from the AFA almost every week and the feedback has been diverse, with some wanting more and others less. So we thought we’d trial a less frequent more focussed approach. Well the reaction has been...

Designers, Designers, Designers! Where are you? The constant demand for the AFA to link clients with great designers is overwhelming. From international projects to local high end products, and everything in between. BUT we just can’t keep up with the supply. So why...

Are you making it easier for your potential clients to engage with you? Trust me, I get it! It’s getting harder to connect with astute consumers, clients and buyers because there is so much 'white noise' out there, good and bad. So what makes you stand out from the...