IFDA (International Furniture Design Fair Asahikawa) has been held every three years since 1990. It is considered an important occasion for furniture makers in Asahikawa who have the opportunity to exchange ideas with designers from Japan as well as from other parts of the world. The International Furniture Design Competition, the main event of the Fair, leads us to the vision which indicates the future of wooden-furniture designs. In addition, it attracts public attention because of its competition in frontier designs. We think that furniture is essential in our daily lives. At the same time, it represents lifestyles. Thus, we believe, furniture should be well-designed and equipped to deal with the dynamic needs of consumers. We also think that as with universal designs, designs must keep up with the changing society and environment and should express new relationships between human beings and their lives, between human beings and furniture as well as between human beings and the environment. We believe that designs should contribute to the creation of a better life and a society. The objective of this competition is not only awarding worldwide honors but also introducing a fresh influx of designs into the Asahikawa furniture industry. Moreover, some of the works of the winners and finalists of past competitions were commercialized by furniture makers. Since Asahikawa is a trading center of high quality lumber, we seek designs to manufacture superb furniture with it. We hope that we can produce furniture in Asahikawa that will be treasured for a life-time by both consumers and makers alike. We are looking forward to seeing your wonderful designs which will enable us to realize our objective.