Jim Ivanoff | ivanoff@bcwood.jp
As Japan’s inbound tourism industry has flourished, BC Wood has been putting more effort into targeting Japanese designers who work on hospitality related projects. While we have of course been exhibiting at related trade shows, we have also been active with the Japan Commercial Design Association. After showing some products at their Annual General Meeting in 2017, the association approached us about collaborating with them for this year’s AGM.
We came up with the idea of turning their AGM into a joint Canada-JCD design program. The Canadian Embassy in
Tokyo agreed to allow us to hold the event at the Embassy, which was well received by the JCD as many of their members were very interested in seeing the Embassy’s architecture and art gallery. While the JCD members often travel through Europe, the USA and Asia, both the Embassy and BC Wood saw this as an opportunity to expose the leaders in Japanese design to what Canada has to offer.
The Embassy gave an overall introduction to Canada during the afternoon session. BC Wood’s role was to conduct a Lunch & Learn where I had one hour to introduce our industry, mass timber, and examples of wood used in Canadian commercial facilities. My presentation was well received and since many of the designers are also 1st class architects there was great interest in mass timber. As we are in the midst of recruiting for this year’s GBM, I also used this opportunity introduce the Global Buyer’s Mission and the preceding Extended Missions. More follow-up is required, but I expect that some of the JCD’s key members will take part in the GBM. We will also have more opportunities to introduce Canadian wood products to them going forward.