Historical Contextualization of Yecla Furniture Fair:
The municipality of Yecla has undergone an economical and historical transformation which has been shaping the town as an industrial site linked to furniture and upholstery manufacture. However, this Furniture Fair has gradually become a reference regarding the economic impact of furniture industry at national and international level.

The existence of almost 500 companies dedicated to the manufacture of furniture, upholstery, side furniture and items related to wood located in Yecla can explain the industrial development of the municipality. This development cannot be separated from the worry and initiative of the entrepreneurs in Yecla, the main economic driving force in the town.

The oldest proofs of the industrial origin of furniture in Yecla were found in documentary sources from 18th and 19th centuries containing information about the activity of numerous carpenters, operators and coopers. These were traditional professions related to the manufacturing of several wood products. It was also the nineteenth century that witnessed the existence of mechanical sawmills and chair and table workshops, products which were sold in the bordering provinces.

The arrival and acquisition of more modern machines and the worry among a lot of bosses of the aforementioned workshops led to the municipality of Yecla’s industrialization process. The following piece of information is worth mentioning: in 1927 a dining room model manufactured in Yecla was awarded in the “Exposición de Valencia” (Valencia Furniture Exhibition). That model was very successful and was manufactured in big series to be sold in the domestic markets.

Pedro Chinchilla Candela and Rafael Azorín Fernández’s entrepreneurship, who were first to establish themselves as cabinetmakers in Yecla, were followed by José Villanueva or José Cano Candel, Tomás Pou Alonso, F. Beltrán Puche Súcar, Francisco Azorín Tevar (Muebles Lino), whose companies set up an industrial fabric model to a greater or lesser extent which today is the backbone of the local economy.

However, the first great crisis in the industrial sector, which was experienced in the 20th century, ruined the little family workshops and those with a certain resemblance to industries which had been set up. In 1949 the creation of the furniture workers’ Cooperative (Cooperativa Obrera de Muebles, COMED) launched by the archpriest from Yecla, José Esteban Díaz, helped to palliate the town’s disastrous economic situation.

Around 150 workers were employed in this Cooperative. Mr. Edmundo Palop, Doctor in Fine Arts, says that “inside the town’s outer walls, we could find crème de la crème of Yecla’s cabinetmakers and also the most decisive temperaments”; however, because of different circumstances, the Cooperative encountered financial difficulties and suffered “a downturn in the normal running of the factory”, which led to the final closure.

Thus, many workers set up their own furniture manufacturing companies. Some of them are still active and exhibit their furniture in the Yecla Furniture Fair.

The first furniture fair in Spain
The year 1961 marks a milestone in the industrial activity of furniture industry in Yecla, when 15 furniture factories, 2 upholstery workshops and one veneered-furniture manufacturer took the unanimous decision to hold a local furniture exhibition in the Pious Schools of Yecla (los Padres Escolapios de Yecla).

The great success of this initiative, reflecting the business worry of industrialists from Yecla immediately became a bastion for the rest of the furniture companies in the Region of Murcia; in 1962, the contest was renamed “Feria Provincial del Mueble e Industrias Afines”. It was the first official edition and it gathered 24 exhibitors and 700 square metres of space, which makes the trade fair of the furniture from Yecla the first fair in the furniture industry held in Spain.

As a result of this initiative, the products manufactured in Yecla became known and began to gain great recognition in the domestic markets. Furthemore, exhibiting at the Yecla Furniture Fair became an interesting proposal for furniture manufacturers. Until 1967, the number of exhibitors participating in the fair increased by around 20 % yearly, a situation that caused an uninterrupted demand for space. For this reason, the Executive Committee of the Fair considered to build an exhibition building.

New facilities
The facilities of the Yecla Furniture Fair have gone through various remodelling and enlargements, being the last one in 2002. They have changed its appearance, in both administrative and meeting areas and its surroundings, and the exhibition area.

At present, the exhibition building occupies 17,000 square metres of space in which we can find a total of 130 exhibitors. Without a doubt, the symbiosis between the furniture industry in Yecla and its Furniture Fair has enabled business growth over 50 years and therefore, far reaching economic and social impact. It must be emphasized that industrial development of the furniture industry in Yecla has had ups and downs, at times insuperable, but this sector has also demonstrated the ability to adapt to the present socio-economic change at the national and international level.