Encompassing two main islands and a region on the mainland, Xiamen is a port city on China’s southeast coast, across a strait from Taiwan. With its location near the sea and more than 12,000 stone-related companies in the surrounding region, Xiamen has become an important player in the stone industry. A total of one-third of its exports are stone products. As a result, the Xiamen Stone Fair has experienced significant growth in recent years and has developed an international presence. As always, the stone exhibition is scheduled from March 6 to 9, and will be a display of stone products, fabrication and quarrying equipment, and tooling and accessories from exhibitors around the world.

Since it was founded in 2001, the Xiamen Stone Fair has continually expanded. Visitors today will be able to tour a total of nearly 2 million square feet of exhibit area. The show will feature more than 2,000 exhibitors from 56 countries. Judging by past records, show management anticipates more than 150,000 attendees from 146 countries at the 2019 event.

Several prominent show features will be set in place to grab the attention of visitors during the four-day exhibition. Among them will be “Stone Infinite – Product Design Show.” Show management describes it as “a hub of marketable ideas – bringing infinite possibilities of using natural stone.” The exhibitions on display were chosen among a pool of applicants. Criteria included for the display to illustrate a story or lifestyle with natural stone, show stone’s marketability and demonstrate future technology. Among the 2018 participants was Coldspring for its project City Creek Center in Salt Lake City, UT, which is a mixed-use development featuring many water features that showcase the beauty of natural stone.

Another show feature that has grown in popularity is “Launch Out @XSF.” The objective is to help visitors source targeted products among numerous exhibits at the Xiamen Stone Fair. Hall C3b has become the exhibition hall dedicated for new products. Exhibitors in this area not only display their product at their own booths, but also present their products at a releasing conference. Show management reports that the exhibition space of Hall C3b has increased by more than 20% for the 2019 edition of the fair.

Educational sessions will also be prominent at the Xiamen Stone Fair. The World Stone Congress program, which was introduced in 2009, is composed of dozens of lectures from the world’s leading stone experts. Authoritative stone associations, such as the Natural Stone Institute, China Stone Material Association and China Chamber of Commerce for Stone Industry, bring featured seminars every year. Current topics such as high-end technology release, stone misconception and the expansion of stone knowledge and skills were included last year.

One of the most significant sections of the World Stone Congress is Stone Design Forum, which is composed of a series of sub-forums that are committed to broader partnerships between the stone industry and design community. Previous Stone Design Forums focused on the prospective development and emerging trends. It has attracted wide attention from around the world by delving deeper into the stone applications on architectural design, interior design, landscaping and product design. Stone Design Forum will start on the first day of the Xiamen Stone Fair.

This year will mark the 10th Global Master Architects Forum, which will be held at the Lujiang Hall of Xiamen International Exhibition Center on the morning of March 6th. This forum is organized by Xiamen Municipal Commission of Urban Planning, Xiamen Construction Bureau, Xiamen Daily, Organizing Committee of China Xiamen International Stone Fair and co-organized by the School of Architectureand Civil Engineering of Xiamen University, Xiamen Urban Planning Association and Xiamen Engineering & Consulting Association.

By building a professional knowledge exchange platform, this forum has gained great attention among architects and designers from around the world, and has become the industry’s must-attend event and a name card of Xiamen conferences. Moreover, Xiamen Municipal Government is doing great efforts to promote the cooperation between famous architects and local projects.

The World Stone Congress will also offer sessions for industrial promotion. This section aims to look for straight answers to tough questions of the industry, analyzing the government policy, sharing advanced concepts and lecturing on marketing strategy. For this year, topics will be “Green Quarry,” “Stone Company and Architects” and “Intelligent production,” which are currently “hot” issues in the stone industry.

For more information about visiting the Xiamen Stone Fair and to find out what’s in store once you are there, visit: www.stonefair.org.cn/.