These are a few new companies I just found out about.
Here are a few new products:
Here are a few floral arrangements I loved.
One thing I enjoyed as an artist was seeing the way the showrooms and trade show booths used art in their spaces. What a great original piece. (Of course, I'm biased because it fits right in with my style)
Momentum Textiles hired an artist to design textiles for them, made great tote bags with the fabric and gave them away, and even brought the artist to their showroom to create a live drawing. Her name is Shantell Martin and she is based in New York.
Spec Furniture also had an artist working in their space Monday. He drew on one of their tables. Unfortunately I didn't get his name.
Izzy sponsored a coloring contest and the prize is a Sylvi sofa. They also let us color on a Sylvi sofa with Sharpies.
By the third day, the sofa had been colored in very well.
At KI, they also provided materials for coloring.
As far as color trends go, everybody is using the Pantone colors of the year, often paired with grey.
Grey is the popular neutral. Triangles and irregular polygons are popular geometric motifs.
I also had a chance to see the new look of some of the public spaces around the Merchandise Mart. I really like the new grand staircase.
But I think they should have let KI, Herman Miller, or one of their many other commercial furniture tenants design the food court. It lacks a certain je ne sais quoi. It looks unfinished.
Compare that to KI's showroom.
See what I mean?
Overall, I had a really good time and am glad I had a few days to do something I love. I'm looking forward to next year.
To see all the pictures I took, click here.
