Each year, the design world convenes at NeoCon in Chicago as more than 500 exhibiting companies unveil thousands of the industry’s most cutting edge, beautiful, and innovative products. I had a chance to attend the 2019 event, which took place June 10-12. Here are my nine favorite new products from NeoCon.
1. Watson Furniture Group – Cloud 9
This agile and mobile workstation is perfect for hot desk environments. Stations can be turned, rotated, rolled, and angled, connecting to countless configurations. Ideal for space saving while still providing plenty of usable and effective storage. This piece will function efficiently in a variety of office environments.
2. Andreu World – Conference Tables: Reverse Wood & Status
These tables bring a high-end design at an affordable price. One is solid ash and the other you can mix and match with a variety of tops, heights, and power configurations.
3. Clarus Glassboards – Flex Wall
These room dividers have a simple, elegant shape and add dimension to any space, as the glass follows a concave bowing to reach the floor. They are also highly functional with a hidden piece in the base that allows users to pick them up and easily roll them without having an exposed mobile base.
4. CF Stinson – designMix
CF Stinson came to play this NeoCon, including showcasing their new online tool, designMix. This free tool for designers is simple, easy to use, and provides excellent assistance when choosing color and fabric pallets.
5. Haworth – Digital Knitting
Haworth digital knitting for furniture is an innovative way to produce textiles. It allows for designers to completely customize each piece, all with zero material waste.
6. HBF – Lost & Found Fabrics
These fabrics look handmade but are extremely durable. Commercial textiles are expected to last longer, wear better, and be higher quality than ever before. Lost & Found is a creative option.
7. OFS – Obeya Room Division System
Rich wood tones in this room division system are unique, warming up an office space and making it feel more like home. Not to mention, the configurations and accessories are seemingly endless: cork board, slatted wood walls, counters, dry erase surfaces, curtains, frosted glass; you can practically build an office from it.
8. Steelcase - Flex Collection
If you have highly mobile and collaborative teams, Steelcase Flex Collection is a great option. Specifically designed for spontaneity, you can stay in the space and reconfigure the system to suit any office task, adapting on demand. When you’re done, convenient storage carts allow you to pack up and roll away, saving space and helping to maintain multifunction rooms.
9. Milliken – Change Agent Carpet
This modular carpet collection has two options: Brushed Metal or Magnetic Field. Brushed Metal features unidirectional movement in gradient alternating tones, while Magnetic Field features multi-directional movement with coarse accents. These carpets offer high-performance without sacrificing luxury design.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mary Bartlett, AIA, RID, LEED AP, is a Partner and interior architecture leader with Marmon Mok Architecture
Related Stories
Adaptive Reuse | Jul 10, 2023
California updates building code for adaptive reuse of office, retail structures for housing
The California Building Standards Commission recently voted to make it easier to convert commercial properties to residential use. The commission adopted provisions of the International Existing Building Code (IEBC) that allow developers more flexibility for adaptive reuse of retail and office structures.
Laboratories | Jul 10, 2023
U.S. Department of Agriculture opens nation’s first biosafety level 4 containment facility for animal disease research
Replacing a seven-decade-old animal disease center, the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility includes the nation’s first facility with biosafety containment capable of housing large livestock.
Adaptive Reuse | Jul 6, 2023
The responsibility of adapting historic university buildings
Shepley Bulfinch's David Whitehill, AIA, believes the adaptive reuse of historic university buildings is not a matter of sentimentality but of practicality, progress, and preservation.
Market Data | Jul 5, 2023
Nonresidential construction spending decreased in May, its first drop in nearly a year
National nonresidential construction spending decreased 0.2% in May, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data published today by the U.S. Census Bureau. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, nonresidential spending totaled $1.06 trillion.
Architects | Jul 5, 2023
Niles Bolton Associates promotes Jeffrey Smith, AIA, to President and C. Cannon Reynolds, AIA, to Managing Director
Niles Bolton Associates (NBA), a leading architecture, planning and design firm, announces leadership changes as a part of its ongoing commitment to future growth. Current Executive Vice President, Jeffrey Smith, AIA, has been named President and C. Cannon Reynolds, AIA, has been named Managing Director effective June 30, 2023.
Mixed-Use | Jun 29, 2023
Massive work-live-play development opens in LA's new Cumulus District
VOX at Cumulus, a 14-acre work-live-play development in Los Angeles, offers 910 housing units and 100,000 sf of retail space anchored by a Whole Foods outlet. VOX, one of the largest mixed-use communities to open in the Los Angeles area, features apartments and townhomes with more than one dozen floorplans.
Office Buildings | Jun 28, 2023
When office-to-residential conversion works
The cost and design challenges involved with office-to-residential conversions can be daunting; designers need to devise creative uses to fully utilize the space.
Architects | Jun 28, 2023
CSHQA hires first CEO in company's 134-year history
The Board of Directors of CSHQA announced the appointment of Ryan D. Martin, AIA NCARB as Chief Executive Officer.
Multifamily Housing | Jun 28, 2023
Sutton Tower, an 80-story multifamily development, completes construction in Manhattan’s Midtown East
In Manhattan’s Midtown East, the construction of Sutton Tower, an 80-story residential building, has been completed. Located in the Sutton Place neighborhood, the tower offers 120 for-sale residences, with the first move-ins scheduled for this summer. The project was designed by Thomas Juul-Hansen and developed by Gamma Real Estate and JVP Management. Lendlease, the general contractor, started construction in 2018.
Architects | Jun 27, 2023
Why architects need to think like developers, with JZA Architecture's Jeff Zbikowski
Jeff Zbikowski, Principal and Founder of Los Angeles-based JZA Architecture, discusses the benefits of having a developer’s mindset when working with clients, and why architecture firms lose out when they don’t have a thorough understanding of real estate regulations and challenges.
