Posts from — June 2010

I’ll be speaking in Houston, TX Saturday, July 24, 2025 for Design Arts on the following topics:

Textile Technology 8:00 am - 12:00 pm

Design professionals have a responsibility to their clients to understand how today’s fabrics are produced and how it affects their health, safety and welfare. With a production process involving the use of over 2000 chemicals and thousands of gallons of water, we explore textile production as it relates to building codes, energy codes, GOTS standards, LEED, cradle to cradle certification and sustainability. This seminar also narrows in on weaves, printing processes, dyes and finishes to provide an understanding of the various characteristics and properties that make fabrics appropriate for use in interior environments.

World Tour: The Hottest Designs from Around the World 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Trend watching is more than spotting the next new color, fabric, or hot designer. It’s about observing change and understanding how to transform change into opportunity: Opportunity for higher financial returns and opportunity for increased well-being for the end-user. We first explore trend dynamics, then look at the newest products and trends from some of the world’s leading design shows. We also examine how best practices and transformative changes from other industries can be applied to your designs, your marketing, your sampling and your business. Finally, we look at how social and cultural currents will impact design over the next 5 to 10 years, including advances in information technologies, universal and barrier-free design.

Visit Design Arts for more details.

Share/Bookmark

I’ll be speaking in Dallas, TX Friday, July 23, 2025 for Design Arts on the following topics:

Textile Technology 8:00 am - 12:00 pm

Design professionals have a responsibility to their clients to understand how today’s fabrics are produced and how it affects their health, safety and welfare. With a production process involving the use of over 2000 chemicals and thousands of gallons of water, we explore textile production as it relates to building codes, energy codes, GOTS standards, LEED, cradle to cradle certification and sustainability. This seminar also narrows in on weaves, printing processes, dyes and finishes to provide an understanding of the various characteristics and properties that make fabrics appropriate for use in interior environments.

World Tour: The Hottest Designs from Around the World 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Trend watching is more than spotting the next new color, fabric, or hot designer. It’s about observing change and understanding how to transform change into opportunity: Opportunity for higher financial returns and opportunity for increased well-being for the end-user. We first explore trend dynamics, then look at the newest products and trends from some of the world’s leading design shows. We also examine how best practices and transformative changes from other industries can be applied to your designs, your marketing, your sampling and your business. Finally, we look at how social and cultural currents will impact design over the next 5 to 10 years, including advances in information technologies, universal and barrier-free design.

Visit Design Arts for more details.

Share/Bookmark

I’ll be speaking in Nashville, TN Friday, July 9 2010 for Design Arts on the following topics:

Textile Technology 8:00 am - 12:00 pm

Design professionals have a responsibility to their clients to understand how today’s fabrics are produced and how it affects their health, safety and welfare. With a production process involving the use of over 2000 chemicals and thousands of gallons of water, we explore textile production as it relates to building codes, energy codes, GOTS standards, LEED, cradle to cradle certification and sustainability. This seminar also narrows in on weaves, printing processes, dyes and finishes to provide an understanding of the various characteristics and properties that make fabrics appropriate for use in interior environments.

World Tour: The Hottest Designs from Around the World 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Trend watching is more than spotting the next new color, fabric, or hot designer. It’s about observing change and understanding how to transform change into opportunity: Opportunity for higher financial returns and opportunity for increased well-being for the end-user. We first explore trend dynamics, then look at the newest products and trends from some of the world’s leading design shows. We also examine how best practices and transformative changes from other industries can be applied to your designs, your marketing, your sampling and your business. Finally, we look at how social and cultural currents will impact design over the next 5 to 10 years, including advances in information technologies, universal and barrier-free design.

Visit Design Arts for more details.

Share/Bookmark

So I’m back from a whirlwind trip to NeoCon. We saw some amazing new products in the sea of seating. More on that tomorrow. For now, my top three favorites were:

C.F. Stinson’s Sta- Kleen dry erase upholstery fabric

Suzanne Tick’s Memory Glass for Skyline Design

Dietiker’s new chair- Ono- in an inspired color palette by Arik Levy

If you want to see the best of NeoCon. Read NeoCon Live’s daily postings. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Neocon Day 1

NeoCon Day 2

NeoCon Day 3 Don’t Miss Apartment Therapy’s post about NeoCon ideas you can use at home!

Share/Bookmark

NeoCon 2010 opens tomorrow and I am off to walk the aisles and see the showrooms to get my annual dose of creativity and innovation from the contract industry. Here are my perennial favorites and my list of must -stop- and- sees in the next couple of days.

Knoll Textiles- I can’t miss the new Knoll Luxe Rodarte collection.

Lowell

Keats

Maharam always delights the eye.

Designtex too!

B & B Italia to see the Patricia Uriquola Outdoor Collection- Crinoline.

Mecho Shade will show their sloped shades.

Bergamo Fabrics introduces Aligator Viscose.

Perennial fav- Maya Romanoff shows the Meditations collection of hand made paper by Nepalese artisans. The luxurious texture and shimmer of Meditations wallpaper may look glamorous, but it’s also a feel-good product: Production of the handmade lokta paper employs Nepalese artisans, requires minimal energy use, and offers a portion of profits to Aid to Artisans.

Tricycle unveils the Ample Sample winner and I need to get the inside scoop if they are branching out into more industries.

This year’s winner is Steven Rothe’s Cynch Stool. Rothe, a designer from Minnesota with 11 years of experience who works for Meyer, Scherer, & Rockcastle, Ltd., explains, “The Cynch Stool’s aesthetic was driven by the goal of creating a piece of furniture that was crisper, softer, and streamlined, while not being overly heavy to allow for easy mobility of the object.”The design for Cynch is a classic combination of form and function. With a clean and minimal aesthetic, this stool is able to meet realistic stresses while weighing less than 30% of a comparable design of solid carpet tile. By using less total resources on top of a design that already takes advantage of almost 100% of every tile, Cynch allows the design waste stream to go further. And by being held together with mechanical fasteners and straps, the stool is completely recyclable at the end of its life span. The Cynch design offers minimal cutting, a simple assembly process and a lighter yet attractive stool, making it a cinch.

Herman Miller- the list goes on…. Plus, I know I’ll find a gem or two hidden in the temporary suites or find a great new source from the new exhibitors.

Monday, June 14th, Susan and I will be presenting a seminar in the Fine Design Residential Seminar Track titled: High Impact Materials for High Income Projects at 2:30-3:30 on the 15^th floor.

While I am there, I’ll be checking out the Guerilla Truck Show at Fulton Market- it’s the sixth year where young designers back up 18 wheelers to a loading dock and for 4 hours showcase their newest work. Participating groups include Strand Design, Object Society, Studio Murmur, Object Design League, and Uncommon. Object Society in it’s second annual show, offering more exciting new furniture and designed objects from even more of Chicago’s best independent designers. In the auxiliary gallery, Object Design League will be showing work from their 2010 workshop: Bags, based on the popular Midwestern game Cornhole. The public is invited inside to play our special “Bags Course,” featuring 15 designers’ interpretations of games with projectiles and targets.

If yousee me in the booths. Stop and say hi!

Share/Bookmark