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Professional Designers Programme (PDP)
showcased
at
EFE
The Professional Designer Programme is a joint initiative by MTIB and MFPC to
enhance the Malaysian talent pool in the furniture industry.
AS SCHEDULED, IT could not have been a
better time and place than the international
EFE – the Export Furniture Exhibition
- at which to showcase what the threephased PDP has achieved insofar as honing
Malaysian talent in furniture design and
production. Launched in June 2015 with the
signing of a Memorandum of Agreement, the
Professional Designers Programme is a joint
initiative by the Malaysian Timber Industry
(MTIB) and the Malaysian Furniture
Promotion Council (MFPC) aimed at
integrating original designs and designers
into Malaysian furniture production.
About PDP
The PDP is envisioned to take research
in furniture design to the next level, i.e.,
original Malaysian designs of international
standards, and transform while adding
value to production of Malaysian furniture
into own design manufacturing (ODM),
in deference to reproduction [of the
design(s) of others under own equipment
manufacturing (OEM)]. Fully supported
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by the Ministry of Plantation Industries
and Commodities (MPIC), the grander
objectives, though, are to boost Malaysia’s
current annual average furniture export
value of RM8 billion to RM16 billion by
2020 and for the Malaysian wood-based
industry to stay strong and competitive in
world markets.
Hazmi Zakaria, Stephen Ting Eng Poh,
SIm Chia Yi, Nasaruddin Shah Morani
and Stephanie Ng Hui Sen, and
• MFPC’s Malaysia Pride** recipients,
i.e., Deep Furniture Sdn Bhd, Zone
Furniture Sdn Bhd Dynamic Furniture
Industries Sdn Bhd and Tawei Furniture
Sdn Bhd.
PDP Content
Funded by MTIB, the 2015/2016 pilot project
is run by a quartet of professional designers,
shortlisted from a pool of renowned
Europeans, namey; Filippo Mambretti,
Giorgo Biscaro and Manoto Bossi from Italy
and Belgian, Stefan Schöning. Programme
participants came from two sources, i.e.:
• MTIB’s TANGGAM* Designers:
Mohd Shahrul Anuwar, Mohd Sujak
Hasbolla, Addy Putra Zulkifli, Mohd
The year-long mentoring exercise, that
included entrepreneurship, culminated in
the showcasing, at the four-day EFE, of 20
prototypes by participating Malaysia Pride
Recipients, market-ready furniture of high
sales value and original design. Also, yet
another significant feature of the PDP, is the
approval for registration by the Intellectual
Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO)
of eight original designs from the Professional
Designers which rights MTIB will own. ■
(N.B. *TANGGAM is a MTIB programme to nurture and promote young Malaysian designers through competitions (e.g., MOBILI) and
international exposure. ** Malaysia Pride is a Quality Mark programme initiated by MFPC for high quality and design excellence in the
furniture industry.)