Media OutReach
Trad To Tech: Craftsmanship Growing Inside the Most Beautiful Homes as MIFF Leads the Way
Instead, MIFF, taking place from 4 to 7 March this year across two major venues at the Malaysia International Trade & Exhibition Centre (MITEC) and World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur (WTCKL), unfolds like a conversation across generations, where chisels and circuit boards share the same floor. Here, traditional woodwork brands stand confidently beside smart home piece creators. It is in this unexpected harmony that MIFF reveals its true character: a place where craftsmanship has not been replaced by technology but expanded by it.
In today’s most beautiful homes, craftsmanship no longer belongs exclusively to the past. It lives quietly alongside technology—coded, calibrated, and refined—shaping furniture that feels both deeply human and unmistakably contemporary. At this year’s edition,this evolution takes center stage, positioning the fair not just as a trade marketplace, but as a living narrative of how tradition and innovation now coexist.
Ms Kelie Lim, General Manager of MIFF 2026, says, “Craftsmanship isn’t being lost to technology. It’s evolving, with technology now working alongside the maker rather than replacing the hand. At MIFF, this evolution plays out in real time—positioning the fair not just as a trade marketplace, but as a living narrative of how tradition and innovation now coexist.”
Craftsmanship in the 21st Century
In modern homes, where space is fluid and functionality is paramount, this new craftsmanship answers contemporary needs without sacrificing beauty. The result is furniture that works harder, lasts longer and feels effortless, an evolution of craft shaped by modern life.
This shift is evident in the work of manufacturers like, among others, SMART TOP, where advanced engineering meets refined furniture-making. Craftsmanship is expressed through precision mechanisms, seamless movement and invisible intelligence built into everyday living pieces. Automation does not replace skill; it amplifies it. Human expertise guides design, ergonomics and material selection, while technology ensures consistency, durability and scale.
Cultural Identity as a Design Constant
Yet, as technology advances, identity remains essential. Across Southeast Asia, furniture traditions are inseparable from cultural expression. You see them woven into motifs, proportions and materials passed down through generations. Among other exhibitors at MIFF 2026 are brands like TANGGAM that demonstrate how cultural heritage can remain a constant, even as production methods evolve.
TANGGAM’s work reflects a deep respect for regional craftsmanship, translating traditional forms and philosophies into contemporary furniture suited for global interiors. Subtle references to vernacular architecture, local materials and artisanal detailing are preserved, not through nostalgia, but through thoughtful reinterpretation. Here, technology becomes a bridge rather than a break. Digital tools allow heritage aesthetics to be refined, repeated and shared across markets, ensuring that cultural identity is not diluted by scale, but protected by it.
Embracing Tech to Preserve the Past
Perhaps nowhere is this balance more intimate than in the realm of rest. Sleep, one of the most personal human experiences, has become a new frontier for craft and technology.
Luxury Sleep exemplifies how advanced systems can preserve traditional values of comfort, care, and well-being.By integrating smart sleep technology like its AI BedMatch™ system developed with scientists at the Sleep to Live® Institute with meticulous material selection and ergonomic design, Luxury Sleep elevates an age-old craft into a future-ready experience. Sensors, adaptive support systems and data-driven comfort do not remove the human element; they respond to it. The craft lies in understanding the body, just as artisans once understood wood or fabric. Only now, the tools are digital.
MIFF 2026: Where Trad Meets Tech
What unites these stories is MIFF itself. In 2026, the fair emerges as a stage where craftsmanship is neither romanticised nor mechanised, but redefined. Exhibitors reflect a shared understanding: the future of furniture lies in collaboration, between hand and machine, heritage and innovation, culture and commerce.
MIFF 2026 is not simply showcasing products. It is presenting a philosophy of making, one where technology safeguards tradition, and craftsmanship evolves to meet the demands of modern living. Inside the world’s most beautiful homes, this new craft is already at work. And at MIFF, its future is being shaped.
The 32nd edition of the Malaysian International Furniture Fair (MIFF) 2026 will be held from 4 to 7 March 2026, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, across two venues: the Malaysia International Trade & Exhibition Centre (MITEC) and the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur (WTCKL). Be part of Southeast Asia’s largest furniture trade show from 9:30am to 6:00pm (March 4-6) and 9:30 am – 5:00 pm (March 7). For more information, please visit www.miff.com.my
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About MIFF
MIFF is the largest and leading export-oriented furniture trade show in Southeast Asia, showcasing the widest collection of Made-in Malaysia wooden furniture, home furniture, and office furniture. Since 1995, MIFF is a one-stop platform connecting a wider community of 20,000+ buyers from 140 countries and regions. MIFF is organised by Informa Markets, which is a part of Informa PLC, a leading B2B information services group and the largest B2B event organiser in the world.
Asia’s first Design & Innovation Festival announces its venue and key speakers — where Japanese design expertise meets the cultural diversity of Asia
| Name | SYNC Design & Innovation in SITE 2026 |
| Date | Friday, June 26, 2026 |
| Venue | Paragon Hall, 5th Floor, Siam Paragon, Bangkok, Thailand |
| Admission | Free (advance registration required) |
| Languages | Thai / English / Japanese |
| Website | https://syncforum.asia |
| Organizer | Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. |
| Production & Co-organizers | FOURDIGIT Inc., National Innovation Agency (NIA), Thailand |
| Supported by | Creative Economy Agency (CEA) |
| Production partners | Y’s Connection Inc., J-WAVE, Inc., iDID |
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Code4Mzansi highlights the growing strength of South Africa’s developer ecosystem and the role of youth-led innovation in shaping the country’s digital future
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – Media OutReach Newswire – 26 May 2026 – South Africa’s emerging developers are building close to the ground, with many of the strongest solutions at the inaugural Huawei Code4Mzansi finals focused on systems people use every day: township retail, healthcare, energy, agriculture, payments and the creative economy.
The competition was held in partnership with the Department of Small Business Development. “The Code4Mzansi competition is not just a celebration of achievement, it is a launchpad for the future,” said Minister Stella Ndabeni, whose department co-hosted the event and delivered the closing address.
The finals revealed a clear shift from building abstract digital products to practical tools that help small businesses trade better, communities access services more easily, and local industries solve problems faster.
Four finalist teams focused directly on the township economy, with solutions covering food safety verification for spaza shops, offline point-of-sale systems built for load-shedding, WhatsApp-native marketplaces for informal retailers, and community credit systems for SASSA grant recipients.
Others addressed AI-driven healthcare access, electricity theft detection, smart agriculture, financial infrastructure for the creator economy, and AI-generated African music.
Held at Huawei Office Park in Woodmead, the finals brought together more than 100 attendees, including government representatives, academic partners, industry leaders and media.
“The quality of the finalist solutions demonstrated the potential of local innovation to respond to real market needs,” said Steven Chen, Cloud CEO of Huawei Technologies South Africa.
Academic partners included the University of Pretoria, the University of Johannesburg, the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Cape Town.
“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and technology is their greatest accelerator. The participants here today are future entrepreneurs who will drive South Africa’s digital economy forward,” said Professor Thokozani Shongwe, Vice Dean of Postgraduate Studies, Research and Internationalisation at the University of Johannesburg’s Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment.
Industry partner rain also attended. Leon Nortje, Principal and Senior Architect at rain, said the competition offered a strong view of the country’s emerging technology pipeline.
“It is always good to see new projects and new teams working on solutions that are valuable and industry-related. We will be looking out for potential new employees,” said Nortje.
The winners
The finalists competed for a prize pool of R800,000. MAAT by SIMVAK was named the overall grand winner and received the Business Value Award, taking home R300,000. The platform addresses food safety and regulatory compliance in South Africa’s informal retail sector through AI agents, real-time product recall alerts, and counterfeit detection for the spaza shop ecosystem.
“The spaza network is the supply chain for most South African households,” said SIMVAK founder Shingirayi Mandebvu.
HealthHive by FTCK received second prize in the Business Value Award category, taking home R200,000, for its AI telemedicine platform that matches patients with the right medical practitioners based on their symptoms.
Auraa received the Grand Innovation Award for its AI music engine built to generate authentic African sound. The platform has been associated with an album that has crossed one million streams.
The Future Star Award went to e-Khadi, a community credit and stokvel platform giving SASSA grant recipients access to essentials at their local spaza shops, supported by AI-assisted credit scoring and fraud detection.
The People’s Choice Award, voted by the public on Huawei’s social media channels, went to DevRift, a semi-finalist in the competition, who took home R100,000.
Minister Ndabeni delivered the closing address, positioning Code4Mzansi within the government’s agenda for youth entrepreneurship, small business development and digital inclusion.
“Our task is to ensure that innovation does not remain a moment of applause, but becomes a pathway to enterprise creation, digital inclusion, and sustainable growth,” she said.
“Thank you to Huawei for being a perfect partner on the journey that we are travelling, and of course, those that matter most, the developers who dared to compete,” she said.
Code4Mzansi forms part of the global Huawei Cloud Developer Competition. In its inaugural edition, South Africa attracted more participants than any other country: 1,041 across 353 teams, including 176 enterprise teams, resulting in the highest enterprise participation rate among all competing markets. Twenty semi-finalists were selected before the top nine advanced to the final.
For the finalists, the work is just beginning. As Minister Ndabeni said, “Go home today proud. But tomorrow, wake up, build again.”
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About Huawei
Founded in 1987, Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. With 213,000 employees operating in over 170 countries, we serve more than three billion people worldwide.
Huawei is committed to bringing digital to every person, home, and organisation for a fully connected, intelligent world. In 2025, Huawei generated CNY880.9 billion in revenue, reinvesting 21.8% (CNY192.3 billion) into R&D, with about 53.7% of its employees working in R&D. As a private company fully owned by its employees, Huawei focuses on customer-centric innovation and open collaboration to create lasting value and drive technological breakthroughs globally.
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Congratulating Dr Lai on her achievement, John Lee, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), said that the HKSAR can “transform from a ‘supporter’ of the country’s great aerospace endeavours into an ‘executor’ “.
“This not only demonstrates the HKSAR’s capability in contributing to the country’s development into an aerospace power, but also showcases how Hong Kong could better integrate into and serve the overall national development,” Mr Lee said.
“This mission is of great significance, as it is not only the first manned spaceflight mission during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, but also the first time for a payload expert from the HKSAR to participate in it.”
The Shenzhou-23 crew will conduct on-orbit rotation with the Shenzhou-21 crew. The crew, including Dr Lai, will stay in the space station and conduct multiple experiments and applications in various fields such as scientific applications.
The Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry of the HKSAR Government, Professor Sun Dong, led a delegation to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center to witness this historic moment. Members of the delegation included other government representatives, I&T experts, youths and students.
“I truly believe this is a great demonstration of Hong Kong integrating into and serving the overall national development through concrete actions, while contributing our strength in I&T,” Professor Sun said.
” ‘Science and technology is primary productive force, talent is primary resource, and innovation is primary driver of growth.’ The HKSAR Government will continue to drive the development of I&T, accelerate the establishment of an international I&T centre, and make greater contributions to building our nation into a strong power in science, technology, and aerospace.”
Commissioner for Innovation and Technology of the HKSAR Government, Mr Ivan Lee, said that the Government had been providing funding support for universities and research institutions in conducting aerospace technology-related projects through the Innovation and Technology Fund.
“In 2024, we launched a special call for funding applications, inviting universities to submit project proposals related to aerospace technology. Following a selection process, we supported six projects. Among them was the Multi‑Spectral Imaging Carbon Observatory (MUSICO) developed by a team from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology,” he said.
On the Tiangong Space Station, Dr Lai will conduct experiments including operating the MUSICO — the world’s first lightweight, high-resolution synergistic observatory for carbon dioxide and methane emission point sources.
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Dr Lai is a Superintendent of the Hong Kong Police Force. In the recruitment exercise of China’s fourth batch of preparatory astronauts launched in 2022, she was successfully selected as a payload expert and was deployed to the China Astronaut Research and Training Center for training.
Before embarking on the historic spaceflight, Dr Lai expressed hope that it would inspire more Hong Kong youths to devote themselves to the field of I&T, thereby contributing to the country’s scientific and technological self-reliance and strength.
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