Every year I look forward to going to the big NeoCon trade show at the Merchandise Mart, and this year's show met my expectations. It was so much fun to get to see all of the new products that are available now, as well as getting a chance to learn about some things that have been around for a while that I never knew about.
Which brings me to Lina Bo Bardi's Bowl Chair, which is now being produced in a limited edition by Arper. I found out about the chair last year while perusing Arper's Pinterest board, and it was love at first sight. Monday evening I braved torrential rains to see the special exhibit that Arper put on in partnership with the Graham Foundation.
Yes, I fall in love too easily with chairs. Here are some more chairs I saw and loved.
I also love clever displays. This one from the Grand Rapids Chair Company reminds me of a set from a Wes Anderson movie.
It's like a dollhouse.
Speaking of dollhouses, the model home in the Benjamin Moore booth reminds me of the Barbie Totally Real House from 2005, which I used in The Doll Project.
Arc|Com had a fun and colorful display.
And so did Momentum.
And how adorable is the Carnegie Fabrics wall of upholstered cushions?
Buzzi Space was cute and quirky, as usual.
My two favorite showrooms were right across the hall from each other. Here they are in alphabetical order.
Izzy+
KI
And I also really liked ICF.
And Leland.
My favorite color palette was what PPG put together for their Frank Lloyd Wright collection.
Shades of lime and chartreuse were popular accent colors at this year's show.
A lot of the showrooms that featured bright colors last year had noticeably more subdued color palettes. (Click here to see what the Groupe Lacasse showroom looked like last year.)
Popular colors include the dusty teal color in the pillows and ottoman above.
Gray was the neutral of choice.
The influence of 1980's and 90's postmodernism is quite evident.
Knoll even used the pattern Memphis Group designer Ettore Sottsass designed for Abet Laminati in the late 70's, squiggly lines inspired by bacteria in a petri dish, which was ubiquitous in the 80's.
Speaking of squiggles, among the many things you can customize are Roomio's light fixtures.
Which would look great with these tiles by Karim Rashid for Mosaico Digitale. There is also the option to digitally print custom designs on the tiles.
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| Mac Stopa |
There were some other displays that were also products of collaborations with artists.
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| Aurora Borealis by Dorothy McGuinness |
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| Chris Silva |
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| resin sculptures by Phillip Low |
And some other artistic touches.
And then there are the products that will revolutionize artistic expression, like the amazing color-changing ink in Eink's Wovin Wall. So many possibilities for mind-blowing art installations.
I always like to see new product lines being launched at NeoCon. West Elm is making office furniture now. It looks good.
Other places I just found out about are:
Satori Japanese Wall Finishes
Uhuru Design
Goebel Furniture
Aesthetic Metal
Source International Design
There were some interesting options if you ever want to use acoustic panels as a design element.
I was also really impressed, as I am every year, with the floral arrangements on display.
I took a lot more pictures than the ones I'm featuring here. If you want to see the rest of them, click this link to view them on Flickr.
[Update, 6/19: I have now added the names of the artists featured here as well as a video with information about the Eink Wovin Wall.]
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