First China International Frame & Art Expo

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Whynot

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
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Not that one of you may rush to visit Yiwu immediately after Atlanta, but I have a feeling that a good number of visitors' badges would probably spell well respected names of the frame industry. That may one day translate into their long acclaimed products putting on an Italo-Chinese dress.


For those of you who like to know everything about the world of framing, there is what their invitation at the show looks like.


China International Frame & Art Expo 2006

Invitation Letter



Add: Room 2103, Jinmao Building,

Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, China

Tel: (86) 579 5591272

Fax:(86) 579 5591715

E-mail： framefair@gmail.com

Contact Person: Grace





Dear Sir/Madam:



We are extending our sincere invitation for the first China International Frame & Art Expo which is being in Yiwu, China during September 17-19, 2006.



Sponsored by China National Light Industry Association, this expo will have over 1,000 suppliers .The exhibitors include frame manufacturers, art suppliers, and framing accessory suppliers from China. It also induced frame equipment manufacturers from all over the world. So please visit us.

The following products will be exhibited:

Photo Frames

Picture Frames

Mirror Frames

Framing Accessories

Frame Manufacturing Equipments
Oil Paintings

Picture Prints

Oil Painting Accessories

Other Related Products




This show will be very convenient and productive because of large number of exhibitors. During the show, exhibitors will introduce the latest technology in the framing and décor industry, the new product designs, as well as large variety of product offerings. We will also offer free seminars to discuss the industrial trend and opportunities. Several industrial leaders will give insightful speeches about the current frame and art manufacturing situation in China.



This show is also conveniently located in Yiwu city, the world's Small Commodity City. Yiwu is located southwest of Shanghai (4-hours' driving from Shanghai). Yiwu city is best-known for manufacturing and distributing small commodity products such as frames, socks, buttons, and zippers. It's also known as the art-and-craft product base in China. Over 35% of the art and frame product manufacturers -- 1500 manufacturers -- are concentrated in Yiwu area, comparing to 4,000 suppliers China wide. In Yiwu city, you will not only meet with the state-of-art frame and art manufacturers, but also have the chance to appreciate the traditional Chinese culture.



You may find more information about this expo on our website at: http://www.chinaframe.cn/. For more information, you may also contact Grace at (86) 579-5591716 or via email framefair@gmail.com.



We look forward to hearing your confirmation on attending the show.

See you in September.



Best Regards,





Grace

Organizing Committee of China Frame and Art Expo 2006

(Please find the attached file.)
 
I may be alone on this but it saddens me to see an expo such as this come to be. Most of our industry has already headed to the Far East because there are people over there who can afford to work for pennies on the dollar and now they are strong enough into our industry to sponsor an art and framing expo. I expect that any of the foreign exhibitors who take the bait with their new products or equipment should expect to see copies of their products on the international market within the year also.

Cornel, how would you feel if you were exhibiting your complete line of very well made closed corner frames in Yiwu this year and next September you saw a complete line of similar closed corner frames being exhibited in Atlanta?? And don't use the excuse that they could never copy the workmanship because, in the eyes and perception of the consumer, they CAN and WILL if given the opportunity. I expect to see many more pieces of Chinese framing equipment making their debut on the framing market in the near future and within 5 to 10 years we won't be able to buy a Bienfang press or a Fletcher mat cutter or a Pistorius chopper without paying more of a premium price than we do now. (OK, I know they aren't all made in the USA but they have proven themselves to be quality equipment.)

This is the trend of the future in most everything we buy and I guess nobody (consumers) really cares as long as it is convenient to buy and doesn't cost much.

Yiwu city is best-known for manufacturing and distributing small commodity products such as frames, socks, buttons, and zippers.

Socks, buttons, and zippers?? Gosh I wonder how long it's been since you could buy an American made pair of socks? Hanes is the only brand that I know of that is still made in the USA .............. I think. Buttons and zippers, maybe a few are still made here but who knows?? And now we all squawk about the cheap Chinese readymade frames but apparently there are enough sold to warrant (and help pay for) an art and framing expo in China!

Over 35% of the art and frame product manufacturers -- 1500 manufacturers -- are concentrated in Yiwu area, comparing to 4,000 suppliers China wide.

And who do you think these 4000 suppliers are selling to, Chinese art lovers??? I seriously doubt that their sales in-country total 10% of their total sales! The rest are being shipped to American stores where consumers who wouldn't spend a dime in one of our custom frame shops because they perceive our prices to be way too high are gobbling them up at a record pace.

The real conundrum is what can we do about these purchasing trends? We have over 4000 framers on the Grumble and maybe another 8000 to 10,000 scattered across this country who haven't had the pleasure of the Grumble as yet. Can we do anything about saving our livelihoods, our industry, and our businesses?? I know this all sounds so "gloom and doom" but I have worried about this for long enough that I think we DO need to get off our deadasses and start fighting back somehow. "It can't happen to us" has been the epitaph of many a small business in this country, I hope it doesn't become ours one day.

Call it what you may, I won't support any Chinese Art and Framing Expo for any reason and I hope that others have similar feelings.

Framerguy
 
Originally posted by Framerguy:
Call it what you may, I won't support any Chinese Art and Framing Expo for any reason and I hope that others have similar feelings.

Framerguy
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I so agree with everything you said! As I got ready for work this morning, I wondered if there was anything left that I buy that's not at least partially made in China. (You know, like my shampoo is American made, but the plastic bottle is Chinese.)

There are a couple other threads currently on Warped about China made products. What can we do?
shrug.gif
 
unfortunately - "business as usual" will keep the major retailers in great supply of "Made in China" products - including decorative art and frame products.
 
I received a brochure and invitation to attend this last week. Then I checked out the website. Holy cow! My eyeballs about popped out! :eek: Had the same thoughts as Framerguy. I got an anxiety attack just thinking about going there (and I rarely get anxiety attacks, FYI), so I quit thinking about going there!

Sorry, but it promptly went in the round file. Brrrr.

Yeah, what Framerguy said.
 
Sometimes it is better to let a certain kind of production go away, than to continue to compete for it. For example, there was a time when I changed the oil in my own cars. Today, I pay others to do it, because I no longer want to do it myself. I have found more profitable uses of my time.

Perhaps that kind of reasoning is why zippers and buttons are no longer made here. Production-quality frames may be on the list of items we are no longer interested in competing to make domestically.

Natural selection in the animal kingdom may seem ruthless, but it is absolutely fair, and perfectly orderly. Like animals, business markets evolve by the natural selection process of competition. The rule still is "survival of the fittest".

If an ostrich sticks his head in the sand when a predator threatens, he may miss an opportunity to survive. Boycotting a major trade show in China would seem like sticking one's head in the sand.

If that segment of the market were important to a frame-manufacturing business of mine, I surely would attend the show. I think it would be better to know that competitor's strengths and weaknesses, so I could at least decide whether to fight or flee.
 
Originally posted by Jim Miller:
Sometimes it is better to let a certain kind of production go away, than to continue to compete for it. For example, there was a time when I changed the oil in my own cars. Today, I pay others to do it, because I no longer want to do it myself. I have found more profitable uses of my time.

I don't understand your rationale or how it compares to China's growing surge of takeover of different businesses that once had a home here in this country. Wasn't it Ross Perot who mentioned something about that loud sucking sound in reference to jobs heading South to Mexico? In the recent past Mexico exported 90% of its production back to the US. And NAFTA, which seemed to work somewhat in the beginning, is just a joke around the watercooler today. Case in point, if things are so good in Mexico today, why do we have a record number of Chicanos crossing the border into the US trying to find work?? Today a large part of that sucking sound is directed West to China as they take many of the jobs that originally went to Mexico for themselves. The difference, Mexico established themselves as a low cost manufacturing market but they never invested in any education to go along with that market shot. So most of their people were stuck in the entry level of manufacturing and they had to entice trained personnel from other sources including the US job market.

China has education to go along with manufacturing and they are recognizing their elite in the design and the manufacturing fields and placing them in strategic positions for long term tenure. Make no mistake about it, China is a major force to contend with in the world market and they are getting more of a foothold in the world economy each year!

Your example of changing your own oil doesn't make much sense to me, Jim. How did your changing your own oil affect the oil industry or the oil changing businesses around you in a negative fashion?? I doubt seriously that you put even one of them out of business. And when you went over to the "dark side" and allowed them to change your oil for you, that should have had a positive effect on the area businesses that change oil. That't a far cry from what I am fortelling will happen when China has more time to get established in the art marketing industry and its associated side business like framing and those support businesses that keep us in materials to do our job.

Perhaps that kind of reasoning is why zippers and buttons are no longer made here. Production-quality frames may be on the list of items we are no longer interested in competing to make domestically.

And I have no quarrel with that line of reasoning.

Natural selection in the animal kingdom may seem ruthless, but it is absolutely fair, and perfectly orderly.

And you are absolutely correct on all points here also. But in the process of being "fair" and "orderly" the natural selection process culls out the sick, crippled, aged, and under nourished to allow the very strongest to survive.

Like animals, business markets evolve by the natural selection process of competition. The rule still is "survival of the fittest".

Not so!! Not the "survival of the fittest" but the survival of the mostess and the quickest, in my opinion. If you are comparing the worldwide production of most any product and comparing that which is going on in China right now to "survival of the fittest" I am sorely missing the point of what characteristics make up the "fittest" in the world of manufacturing. They are taking jobs away from us at an alarming rate and it isn't because we have no training in these jobs anymore, it is because we as a nation of money mongering business leaders and CEO's are so enraptured with the Almighty Dollar that we will do anything to make an extra buck for a product even if it means taking the control for manufacturing that product and turning it over to an over populated and under developed country like China. A country of rice growers which hasn't posed any real threat to us for many years in terms of Nuclear warfare or military might but has silently been digging in their heels and schooling their youngsters to excel in all the modern needs of the Western world!! And each job that goes to the Orient is another job that an American has lost. I have much respect for the farsightedness of the Chinese people for it will be China who will emerge as a powerful manufacturing nation soon and we will finally open our eyes to the realization that we aren't as powerful as we once were! And it will be too late to make things right again.

If an ostrich sticks his head in the sand when a predator threatens, he may miss an opportunity to survive. Boycotting a major trade show in China would seem like sticking one's head in the sand.

There is a huge difference in sticking one's head in the sand in hopes that the trouble will somehow disappear and trying in some way to put an end to something that could potentially breed a major change in the way we conduct our daily lives and businesses! If you believe that boycotting a major trade show, which I don't personally believe this is just yet, is sticking one's head in the sand then I feel sorry for your lack of insight into what could conceivably happen to our industry if this materializes into a major event. If the Chinese continue to pull the very foundation of manufacturing out from under our feet as they attract more and more matboard technology and frame manufacturing technology and all the other side manufacturing that has kept the average framer in business for these past years we are going to wake up one of these mornings to find that our lives and our businesses are totally and completely made up of foreign materials. And you can take THAT to the bank!!

How much material "stuff" do any of you own right now that is made entirely in the US of A??? Unless you own a John Deere tractor or an older Harley Davidson bike, likely as not there isn't much that you can lay your hands on that is American made anymore.

If that segment of the market were important to a frame-manufacturing business of mine, I surely would attend the show. I think it would be better to know that competitor's strengths and weaknesses, so I could at least decide whether to fight or flee.

And THAT, my friend, is the most sensible thing you have said in this entire post. The ONLY reason to go to a show of this nature in a country which is slowly taking over the manufacturing of most of the world's commodities would be to try to come up with a good battle plan!

And even then who would ever care about those of us who are struggling to maintain our livlihoods in a business that isn't really an essential part of most other people's lives?? We really don't offer much that other people NEED!! What we have to offer is the icing on the cake of other's lives and home centered activities. Sure, some people really care about quality framing but how long will THAT trend last?? We have a series of generations coming along that are so oriented to the glitz and glamour of toys and gadgets and everyone has all they need or can get what they want by flashing a plastic card in someone's face.

No, all things considered, I think that show in China is just the beginning of something that could have a major impact on our lives and our livlihoods in years to come. Boycott that show, your damned right I'll boycott that show!! And I don't see any sand around MY ears yet to show that somehow I hope the problem will just disappear. I may be too old to do alot about what is on the horizon but I can assure those of you who are young enough to feel the need for security in what you are doing, that unless something is done and done soon to curb all this outsourcing to other countries, we are going to end up as a follower nation instead of a leader nation of which we have been so successful in the past.

Framerguy
 
I think we have been getting those invitations for at least three years so how is this the first?
 
Originally posted by JPete:
I think we have been getting those invitations for at least three years so how is this the first?
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I don't have an answer for you, Jeanette. That's how it was worded on the invitation that Cornel printed on this thread.

FGII
 
Originally posted by Framerguy:
...Your example of changing your own oil doesn't make much sense to me, Jim. How did your changing your own oil affect the oil industry or the oil changing businesses around you in a negative fashion?? I doubt seriously that you put even one of them out of business. And when you went over to the "dark side" and allowed them to change your oil for you, that should have had a positive effect on the area businesses that change oil...
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"Dark side"? Maybe I didn't explain it enough. Millions of us used to change our own oil because it was cheaper and more convenient than making an appointment at the dealer or service station. We didn't do it to put anyone out of business, we did it to save time and money.

Then along came 'FastLube' and other competitors in the drive-through oil change business. They made it cheaper and more convenient than doing it ourselves, so we quit that and started paying them to do it. Yes, it had a good effect on the local economy, because lots of folks got jobs in new businesses. Today, I don't know anyone who changes their own oil.

One point is that a couple of decades ago, an entirely new kind of business sprouted, and thrives to this day, in the long-ago-mature auto industry. And when it happened, what do you suppose the local service station guys had to say about it?

Another point is that no matter what happens in the evolution of an industry -- ours included -- some will think it is wonderful, and others will think it is woeful. But either way, the evolution still happens.

Most of us can not affect that evolution, but we can react positively by finding a new path to success.
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"Most of us can not affect that evolution, but we can react positively by finding a new path to success."

Well said Jim.
 
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