The Eco Design Fair is back and it’s packed full of new eco-friendly activities. We caught up with founder Sherry Poon to find out a little bit more about the event.

How did the fair come about? I work with eco stuff and I’ve actually had the idea for a long time. My husband and I live small and we eat organic. The place we live also uses eco materials. When we came to Shanghai, we used to look for these things and sometimes couldn’t find them, so it just grew out of my own experience. I thought there should be something, somewhere, in one place, on one day, that had it all. And that’s how we started.

How has the fair evolved? Originally, we had only 30 exhibitors and people came to buy things, but we found that they weren’t just looking for products. They wanted a place to meet their friends. They were going for lunch, sticking around and talking about the products they saw, and it was a whole-day event. So we thought, if this is going to be an all-day thing anyway, let’s give them other activities to enjoy, something they can use to learn more about environmental issues. We added things like workshops and activities for kids because we found that a lot of families were coming. We started having fashion shows and eco-organic food people can enjoy. Performances. Good atmosphere. It became bigger and bigger. Last April we had more than 80 exhibitors and a lot more visitors. There are going to be people there who are very gung-ho about being eco-friendly and people who are skeptical about it, but they will all have fun. If it’s not fun, why would you do it?

DETAILS

What: Eco Design Fair

When: Saturday, April 16 | 11am-5pm

Where: The Waterhouse Hotel

Web: www.ecodesignfair.cn