Planning for NeoCon is much like how I used to dream about Christmas when I was a kid. I love product design, and I love seeing how companies and designers have invested their time and money in the past year to bring a whole new generation of products to life. So as the press releases roll in and the product previews arrive, I plan my tour of NeoCon with great anticipation.
Naturally, as the economy fluctuates, so too does the number of exhibitors and their investment in both products and show spaces. This year the industry is doing relatively well, and the pre-show buzz is somewhere north of the buzzing of cicada’s on a hot June day on the East Coast. A big contributor to the buzz is the NeoCon app. Since reporting on the app last week, I’ve had a chance to get better acquainted, and I really like it. I predict it will fundamentally change how attendees navigate the show.
Despite having been the dominant trade show in the workplace design and furnishings world for as long as I can remember, NeoCon continues to gain momentum, even as other shows fade. After a few years of seeming stagnation, where nagging rumors about the future intentions of Vornado/MMPI/NeoCon relative to the show had most exhibitors on edge. But recently, increased investment in the infrastructure of the show is becoming apparent and that, along with some TLC toward tenants permanent and otherwise, has put everybody in a much better frame of mind.
My excitement to get to Chicago and see everything and everybody really started to build as companies began releasing information on their new products and services. Three of the most well-established and well-documented trends in workplace planning include collaboration as an aid to innovation, height adjustability as an aid to healthier workers, and demountable walls as a more flexible and sustainable approach to interior space division. The last couple of years have seen innumerable product launches addressing each of those trends, so I’m wondering how this year’s new products will build on those ideas.
Given the continued sluggishness of the European economy compared to our own, several European companies have decided to increase their presence and investment in the North American market. To that end, we will be seeing increased exhibits by European companies in both temporary spaces and permanent showrooms. Some are well known, such as Wilkhahn from Germany and Vitra from Switzerland; some are less well known or known only through a subsidiary, such as the Senator Group (parent of Allermuir) and Boss Design from the U.K.; and some are brand new, such as the Turkish company Koleksiyon, that will make its North American debut at NeoCon and will open significant showrooms this summer in New York and Dallas.
The list of showrooms that are always on my must see list is way too long to enumerate here, but looking through the pre-show announcements there are a few products and showrooms I can’t wait to see.
Koleksiyon‘s new high-walled, circular-shaped privacy pod called Oblivion™ looks like a unique approach to the free-standing quiet meeting space. Actually, I think it resembles a Richard Serra sculpture with meeting amenities. The company literature describes it as “a series of voids in a circular modality” in which “the round geometry of the structure promises a form of endlessness, in which there is no beginning or end.”
idesk benchingHaving previously reported on idesk, the new brand from Cherryman, I’m excited to see Carl Magnusson’s magnum opus in person at the company’s first-ever NeoCon exhibit, a 3,000 square foot temporary space on the seventh floor, next door to Koleksiyon’s first-ever space (read more: http://bit.ly/1JwvNBd).
Continuing its long-term collaboration with the Austrian design firm EOOS, Keilhauer is launching Wheels, a new seven piece ensemble of mobile seating and tables designed to support an idea lab, where the spontaneous exchange of ideas fosters creativity. Every piece – chair, stool, chaise, table, idea divider – is equipped with large casters attached to a lightweight steel rod frame to make the collection easily and instantly movable.
KI’s Sway lounge seating solution promises “true freedom of movement” via the unusual design of its mechanism. It provides an orbital motion that allows users to move freely from front to back, side to side, and everywhere in between.
Tandus Centiva’s new Indent broadloom carpet draws upon designer Suzanne Tick’s expertise in textiles to bring a high-tech aesthetic to the floor. Indent pushes the technology of woven floorcovering to new heights by incorporating the backing yarns into the overall carpet design. Through a weave draft that is unlike anything else in the marketplace, Indent utilizes voided dents in the warp to create architectural patterning.
Mohawk Group collaborated with Contract magazine’s 2015 Designer of the Year Martin Lesjak and his 13&9 Design to develop Moving Floors, a 24 X 24 carpet tile that varies in texture and pattern to create a sense of dynamism in the flooring.
Teknion Textile’s Textured Edge CollectionSuzanne Tick, will also launch her new Textured Edge collection for Teknion Textiles. It comprises five new textile and wallcovering lines, discussed in depth in officeinsight’s May 11th issue. (Read more: http://bit.ly/1QBQvOW) Wireless ProHaworth’s Workware Wireless Pro supports unlimited simultaneous sharing and communication for multiple users in real time. Wireless and secure at an enterprise level, content sharing is simple and intuitive regardless of participants’ physical location or device used.
The Davis showroom is always a must-see, and this year it will have on display a whole bevy of new designs by the German design firm Jehs+Laub. They’ve done a whole family of Tré benches, stools and tables, as well as a family of Ginkgo seating that includes my personal favorite, the Ginkgo Lounge. (Read more: http://bit.ly/1FI84Xr)
>Thomas Moser Contract, best known for handmade and gorgeously crafted solid wood tables and chairs will introduce the Cooper Chair, a new executive task chair. They wisely chose a master chair designer, Brian Kane, to design it, and he delivered what appears to be a highly covetable piece of furniture with full-on ergonomics and the impeccable quality Thomas Moser is known for.
If you’ve heard about virtual reality but never had an opportunity to experience it, this seems to be the year it comes to our industry. The potential benefits of virtual reality for selling workplace design are huge. I hate to think of the money spent on mock-ups each year that could potentially be saved if the virtual reality were good enough. At NeoCon, you will be able to experience a virtual reality demo at Configura’s CET Designer booth on the eighth floor, or across the street at DIRTT.
So if you haven’t done so already, download the NeoCon app and start planning your NeoCon. And while you’re at it, post some pictures of your preparations. Here at officeinsight we’re preparing to publish again this Friday – our big NeoCon Product Preview issue – so be on the lookout for officeinsight on June 12th.