NeoCon will furnish your mind with the power of design – three days of pure energy, new thinking, new resources, and bursting with new products. I am off to discover thousands of innovative products and resources for corporate, hospitality, healthcare,and residential interiors from more than 700 showrooms and exhibitors. NeoCon is North America’s largest design exposition and conference for commercial interiorsbut I ALWAYS find something that works in my business from wallcoverings to the new paint forecasts to seating and textiles. Here’s a preview.

Dream Home at the Merchandise Mart

A must-see for all attendees. I never miss to see what new inspiration I can gain.

Julia Edelman for Buckingham ID

Julia believes in mixing aged objects with modern elements and it shows through in this welcoming space.

Michael Abrams for Michael Abrams Limited

Wanting simplicity and elegance enveloped in  luxury was Michae’ls goal in this bedroom.

Wallcovering by LG

LG Hausys debuts its new line of vinyl wallcoverings designed by Anya Larkin. Seventy four new patterns from animal prints to damasks and crinkle looks will be shown. Booth 8- 4116.

NUB by Patricia Uriquola for Andreu World.

Love everything this prolific designer does. Love the fact that a childhood memory inspired the chair… ”I used to play with my grandmother’s bobbins for making lace,” she recalls. “These small wooden bars were playmates that I have now reimagined.” Traditional woodworking techniques, gently updated, produce the wing chair and side chair’s notable beech backrest: Its bars widen at the height of the lumbar region, alternating to add dimensionality. The frame comes in red, white, or black lacquer and 21 wood finishes. Multiple solids and patterns are available for the seat upholstery. Merchandise Mart 10-132

Hear Patricia Uriquola  Tuesday at MCA for a lecture sponsored by Luminaire and featuring her groundbreaking work for B&B Italia.  See you there.

Haworth Collection

Employers shrinking the size of their offices and staff have translated to tough times for office furniture manufacturers. One example of a company looking for revenue beyond cubicle and desk chair sales is Haworth. The Haworth Collection is the company’s foray into offering crossover products for the home based on their experience as a commercial furniture manufacturer. The aim is to offer high quality products which are designed to compliment a residential environment but contain functionality and durability derived from their commercial office furniture heritage. Merchandise Mart 312.

So after posting the preview of the Haworth Collection this bit of news came across my desk. =Looks like they are really serious about moving into new markets….

Retailer Crate & Barrel announced today that it will carry three products from contract furniture giant Haworth.

“With two great brands coming together, our customers can get beautiful, high quality products previously only available on the commercial market,” says Raymond Arenson, executive vice president for merchandising and design for Crate & Barrel. “Haworth’s products make a great addition to our portfolio of products.”

The three products sold will be the new Eddy table, available in July, followed by the Very Task and Very Conference chairs, available in August.

“With this Crate and Barrel relationship, Haworth can take another measured step into the retail world,” says Tom DeBoer, Haworth product manager. “We find ourselves pulled in the retail direction due to beauty and quality of our products and with the trend of office and residential coming together. We are excited to work with a great retail brand like Crate & Barrel.”

The products will be in Crate and Barrel catalogs, on crateandbarrel.com, and at more than 100 of Crate & Barrel’s retail stores across the country.

The Very chair to be carried by Crate and Barrel

Next up in our Preview:  Textiles.

Here’s a sneak peek of what NeoCon  ’09 will have to offer next week. From textiles to technology, Neocon never disappoints.

Maharam Digital Projects combines content and execution, making the work of today’s leading artists and designers affordable and accessible as a curated repository of images printed using the highest quality digital techniques available.  Digital Projects is a carefully curated repository of museum quality installations for walls, including two 10′ by 36′ works by Douglas Gordon and Karel Martens. Digital Projects can be used for contract and residential applications; this versatile medium provides visual vocabulary drawn from emerging and established artists, internationally renowned graphic designers, and longtime Maharam collaborators.

Defining Leather through design. Whatever you can create can now come to life in genuine leather and then be upholstered onto the furniture piece of your choice. SIF Technology is raising the bar on creativity in the contract market with its new Digital Leather image process-a unique printable laminate that permanently fuses high resolution aniline and semi-aniline colors, full color photos and graphic images onto and into the surface of genuine leather. What a perfect way to showcase it but with the Pantone Chair.

Several innovative, technical methods were fundamental to the success of these Momentum fabrics. Classique features a unique carving finish which results in a vertical rib effect on the face of the velvet. Sartorial’s dimensional pleat construction is unusual in the industry. Most pleated or puckered fabrics are created using a stretch yarn or a finishing or chemical process which can lead to a flattening of the pleat during the upholstering process or through standard use. It took more than five years of experimentation for Momentum’s collaborative mill professionals to achieve a hand-woven pleat effect in production. While Sartorial is not the only pleated fabric on the market, it is the only pleated fabric which is also embroidered. Delano features a Trieste yarn which is a custom made novelty weft yarn from Italy. The striations that the Trieste accomplishes are unique. They are long and graceful rather than the shorter, choppier striations most often seen. This very special yarn was used in tandem with a carefully fashioned woven structure to create an unusually soft and slick tweed look. 

Designers want a web experience that reflects and enhances their design and product selection process. The Virtual Library by Mannington Commercial delivers on these desires by complementing the creative process and keeping key tools at a designer’s fingertips. The Virtual Library, the first of its kind for our industry, enables exploration from any location with online access and shortens the sales cycle – all while reducing unnecessary use of valuable space in design firms’ libraries or contributing to landfill waste.  This immersive online experience uses 3-dimensional and Flash technology to simulate the experience of being in a product library for every hard and soft surface floorcovering in Mannington Commercial’s complete product mix, and to stimulate exploring and experimenting with product choices with virtual flip book technology -letting designers flip thru  pages the same way as a designer would look through a paper catalog.

As its name suggests, Stucco  by Geneieve Bennett resembles molding sculpted on a plaster wall, but it is actually a cleverly designed, three-dimensional wall panel adorned with cut leather pieces. The resulting composition of abstracted leaves and flowers comes just in time for spring. While custom colors and sizes are available, it comes standard in a 30 1/3-inch-by-39 1/3-inch panel.

Finally, My favorite- I have already downloaded it!

 With Colorsnap by Sherwin Williams you can discover how coordinating colors and bringing ideas to life is easier than you ever imagined. Find a color you love, snap the photo and receive the matching Sherwin-Williams paint color and coordinating palette. And it’s all FREE!

• Choose a color that inspires you and match it with one of our 1,500 Sherwin-Williams paint colors.
• Receive a coordinating palette that complements your color.
• Find your local Sherwin-Williams store where the experts will help you bring your vision to life.
• Save colors to your “My Saved Colors” library for future inspiration.

Tricycle’s Ample Sample competition again challenged designers to rethink and repurpose carpet samples after their usefulness to a design project was finished, to make a design product. They weren’t disappointed as designers answered their call; making beautiful and useful objects with upcycled materials. The best (and my favorite) part is that each designer must also submit blueprints and/or instructions of their designs.  In the spirit of design democracy, they are available for free download to design firms and individuals around the world

The judges have deliberated and here are the 2009 Ample Sample finalists and winner. If you’re going to NeoCon in Chicago; check them out in person where the finalists’ products will be showcased. The finalists include:

Jake Tompkins of JMBC Design – Magic Carpet Ride

Sean Miller – Mailbox

Heather Wright and Christina Jih – Plush Petal Pendant

Wuthichai Leelavoravong – Shoe-Keeper

Sean Miller’s Mailbox

The Plush Petal Pendant used a cylindrical, reclaimed lampshade frame which allowed for 32 strips. This fabrication used exactly 2 carpet tiles. The shade was designed for the reuse of materials, and the absence of glues and adhesives. This picture is an actual fabrication which is lit by a spherical compact fluorescent bulb.

An Eco-Friendly Hammock, Magic Carpet Ride, inspired by the paper chains of childhood that utilizes the texture and feel of carpet to create a more comfortable and relaxing surface.

AND THE WINNER IS……

Cut, Clip, and Hang. There are only 3 simple steps to create “Shoe-Keeper”.  Shoe-Keeper was inspired from the close (physical) relationship between the carpet and shoes. Importantly, there is no waste in this design. To keep a pair of shoes, we need only a half of the carpet tile. Besides its main function, we can also use Shoe-Keeper as decoration on a wall by mixing and matching different colors and patterns of carpet tiles.