Around 120 people, from design and architecture students to professionals, participated on two qualification workshops held by the Design Center Paraná in August 2006 in Santiago del Chile. The events were organized at request of Impress Decor Brasil, a group supplying products for surface decoration. The workshops integrated the launching of a new product line by Masisa Chile, a multinational company producing and selling wood panels for furniture and interior architecture.

The first workshop took place on August 16th and its program included a "repentina" with around 90 college students with the topic " Toys from sheet residues". The "repentina" is a design project activity carried out in a group to stimulate creativity and generate ideas for new products, services and concepts.

On the second, which took place on August 17th, a group of 35 professionals of designers and architects from furniture companies participated on an ideas workshop. This activity consisted of the application of techniques and exercises to identify innovation opportunities and new project developments.

In both workshops, participants could be present to these lectures:

• Lars Engman, design manager of IKEA Sweden, a store chain specializing in furniture. He spoke about the value of furniture design for industry, store owners and end consumers;
• Glaucia Binda, products and marketing coordinator of the group Impress Decor Brasil, who approached trend in patterns and furniture finish.