For the first time more than 40,000 visitors came to the Stockholm Furniture Fair and Northern Light Fair. This year's fair broke several records and was bigger than ever.

The Stockholm Furniture Fair and Northern Light Fair, which took place from 8-12 February at Stockholm International Fairs, were bigger than ever. This year several records were broken. A total of 40,167 visitors came to the fair, which is an increase of 7% compared with last year when 37,445 people visited the fair. The Stockholm Furniture Fair and Northern Light Fair also strengthened their position as the most important meeting place for Nordic design with a record breaking 30,740 trade visitors compared with 29,349 last year.

The interest from foreign exhibitors and visitors also continues to grow. This year the number of foreign exhibitors amounted to some 38%. The biggest part came from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Italy. The number of foreign trade visitors increased from 4,504 to 5,096. Amongst the countries with the highest increase are Denmark (from 431 to 547), Norway (from 1,430 to 1,679) and China (from 11 to 22). The foreign visitors also came from a larger number of countries: 56 compared with 50 countries last year. Also the media interest continues to grow with 1,082 representatives registered, out of whom 251 were foreign.

- We notice that the fair has become an arena also for foreign players. The figures clearly show an increase in international involvement. Many people from the international design elite were here, both on stage in the Greenhouse and as exhibitors, says Charlotte Wiking.

The interest in design and interiors amongst the general public does not seem to have subsided either. The visitor number during the public day increased by 17% - from 7,098 to 8,340 visitors.