Angles on Design has been renting custom furniture to the tradeshow industry in Chicago and Las Vegas since 1987. The company partners with show management, exhibit houses, corporate event planners and the exhibitors themselves to play its part in the exhibit design process.
Opening the showroom:
Angles on Design moved to a new location in Las Vegas last June. The new space included a 20-by-30 furniture showroom. The showroom can be set up to stage any design combinations that an exhibit manager may want to see and is constantly updated with new offerings.
“I want our customers to feel welcome and drop in anytime to take a look or have us pull down (from the warehouse) an item so they can see it, measure it or sit in it,” said Rachel Fox, regional sales manager for Angles on Design. “This is new for us. We have never had a showroom before here in Las Vegas, so I am hoping the longer we are here, the more people will use it as a resource.”
Importance of the showroom:
In spite of all the product catalogues and virtual tours vendors have online for customers to browse through, it was client feedback that convinced Angels on Design to have a showroom. In order to improve business, the company regularly asks for feedback and having a physical showroom was one of the items most requested by its clients.
“A lot of times, pictures just don’t do furniture justice because you can’t experience it,” said Fox. “When you are looking at a catalogue, you can’t tell how comfortable a chair is or what is it going to look like when someone sits on it. Not as much as you can when you see it in the showroom.
The Warehouse:
The Las Vegas warehouse covers 16,000 square feet and serves as the storage location for the company’s entire Western U.S. inventory. The company also has an 18,000-square-foot warehouse in Chicago.
What they do:
Angles contracts with show management for a number of conventions in the Chicago area, but have yet to hold a consistent position in that market in the West. Locally, they have a deal with the Las Vegas Expo to be the official furniture provider. Once the company expands to a few key tradeshow cities in the U.S., it has plans to grow that side of the business nationally. The next market Angles plans to enter is Orlando.
“We work mostly with exhibit houses,” said Fox. “That is our bread and butter. Over the years, we have built those relationships very strong for the long term. The exhibit houses are our partnership as opposed to working with the exhibitors themselves, because when we work with the exhibit houses they get a piece of the business as well.”
Keeping up with trends:
Angles on Design has a few different ways it stays aware of new trends in the furniture design industry. The company relies on customer feedback and takes notice when demand of a specific item or design is high.
They are attendees on the floor for most of the furniture tradeshows in the U.S. The company stays in close contact with its manufacturers to find out what the hot items are for the coming year.
When something unique is required:
Angles will regularly get requests for extremely custom or themed furniture from an exhibit house. In these cases, the clients want the furniture in their exhibit to match their company culture. When this happens, Angles goes straight to the manufacturer to work on the custom design.
Final thought:
“We are not just a vendor, we are a piece of the puzzle,” said Fox. “Building exhibits is a very difficult job because there are so many aspects that go into the finished product. Even though we are a smaller piece of the puzzle, I think we are a key piece.”
