#neocon2016

Another NeoCon trade show for the contract furnishings market has come and gone. Members of the Full Circle team joined the event mid-June to experience all that Chicago’s Merchandise Mart had to offer.  

While we were inspired by many impressive showrooms and new product launches, we were most thrilled to reconnect with our friends from various manufacturers, suppliers, and contract dealerships. It was exciting to see our clients excel with smart marketing and striking design.  

A few interesting trends from the show that we observed overall:

Designing around experiences and differentiation – The Merchandise Mart is filled with hundreds of spaces all fighting for 40,000 visitors’ attention, which can be overwhelming. Designing around a visitor’s experience with an eye towards how to be “different” vs. simply “better” helps clients to stand out.

Expression of craft – While the manufacturing of many furniture products is highly automated, it was great to see many firms bring back the craftsmanship that happens within a portion of their product range.

Mellow colors – While the use of color was wildly variable, one trend we saw in sync with more contemporary clients was colors that are muted, soft, and subdued.

Retro graphics – A number of brands chose to express their message through an interesting, freshened version of graphics pulled from the great designs of the 50’s and 60’s. This made great sense for those brands that originated during that era.

Greenery – While a bit overwhelming at times, many spaces were lavishly accessorized with greenery, including succulents. While providing warmth and character, these plants helped instill a sense of calm among the sea of chaos.

While this was not the first trade show event that I have ever attended, I do have to say that it was by far the largest. Neocon, hosted in Chicago every summer, is North America’s most important design exposition and conference for commercial interiors. The show paves the way for the release of thousands of new products and has remained focused on being at the forefront of changing commercial design and business trends.

In conjunction with displaying new commercial products, the show offered special tours, seminars and workshops for both professionals as well as students. Neocon 2016 hosted well over 50,000 designers and entrepreneurs, all encompassed in over 500 companies located worldwide. Keynote speakers included David Rockwell of Rockwell group, Paul Scialla of Delos and Oana Stanescu of Family.

I was especially impressed with snowsound, a company that produces acoustic panels. They set up a small room at the show that was surrounded by their paneling. The sound quality was immediately muted impressing me greatly.

According to their website, the porous surface of freshly fallen snow can absorb almost 100% of sound wave energy and is why we experience quieter outdoor conditions just after a snowfall. Inspired by nature, snowsound  technology mimics these properties to absorb sound and eliminate echo for a more peaceful environment.

Also featured was Maya Romanoff, a designer brand and the largest manufacturer of handmade wallcoverings in the United States. Their fiery copper tiles were outstanding and also featured in Interior Design magazine 2016.

What I was most impressed by however was Oana Stanescu and her incredible speech that she gave Wednesday morning. According to Oana, who grew up in Romania and has a thick Romanian accent, "success comes from being humble." And her recent design project has done just that. Her young team of architects, are working toward constructing a massive floating pool for the New York City public. According to Oana, " New York is an incredible place to live. You can do almost anything here. Anything, except swim in the river.Manhattan is surrounded by water, and but the water is too dirty to allow the 8 million people who live here to enjoy it."

It started with a simple goal: what if you started by cleaning it piece by piece? And what if you could change how New Yorkers see the rivers, just by giving them a chance to swim in it? + POOL is designed to filter the very river that it floats in through the walls of the pool, making it possible for New Yorkers and its visitors to swim in clean river water. The layered filtration system incrementally removes bacteria and contaminants to ensure nothing but clean, swimmable water that meets both city and state standards. No chemicals, no additives, just natural river water. Like a giant strainer dropped into the river, + POOL is designed to clean up to half a million gallons of water every single day. It started with a simple goal: what if you started by cleaning it piece by piece? And what if you could change how New Yorkers see the rivers, just by giving them a chance to swim in it?

The quartet recently wrapped up their Hudson River Float Lab, which tested their filtration system in real river conditions by collecting data every 15 minutes for six months.