Neocon Review an international perspective. John Sacks. JSA Consultancy Services. June 2012

Transcription

1 Neocon Review 2012 an international perspective The open State Street bridge welcomes visitors to Neocon John Sacks June 2012 John Sacks June All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 Published by 3 Field Court, Gray s Inn, London, WC1R 5EP, England info@jsacs.com Tel:

2 Review The temperature in a sunny Chicago on Monday soared to a withering 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 Celsius), which encouraged the hoards of first day visitors to Neocon to stay inside the air conditioned Merchandise Mart, rather than venture outside. Although few would admit it, there had been some advance trepidation as to whether this Neocon would generate the excitement of shows gone by. The Merchandise Mart owners denied rumours that the show did not have a long term future by publishing the show dates for each of the next ten years. Pre-announced product launches were rather thin on the ground. An economy which could be stronger, and the uncertainty of an election year combined to cause concern. In the event, there were plenty of visitors genuinely interested in the products displayed and in the companies displaying them, as well as planning on having a good time. Manufacturers trucks lined up outside the Merchandise Mart There weren t many major changes in showroom locations and configuration. Teknion had taken more space and now occupy over 16,000 sq. ft., and a few companies, including Izzy and the Steelcase group of companies had consolidated their spaces. As with all good trade shows, Neocon provides great networking opportunities and evidence of both casual, and rather more formal, pre-arranged get-togethers could be seen wherever you turned. The show s 700+ showrooms and other exhibitors are spread over five floors of the iconic 1930s Art Deco Merchandise Mart, covering well over 1m sq ft. The 2

3 permanent showrooms do not interconnect, but instead are individual units, and because the floors are interwoven with intersecting corridors, the time and distance needed to cover the show is much greater than for conventionally arranged exhibitions. As usual, the temporary exhibition areas on the 7 th and 8 th floors of the Mart accommodated both many small, and not so small companies either from overseas, wanting to dip a toe into the US waters, and also more established local manufacturers who preferred not to take a permanent showroom on one of the other Neocon floors (3 rd, 10 th and 11 th ). This year however, especially on the 8 th floor, there was evidence of a number of larger, more professional displays of serious products which started to generate considerable visitor traffic as early as Tuesday morning. Trends Exhibitors responses to the current market conditions differed, but few of the many new products launched were the result of the massive investment in design, development and tooling we have seen in previous years. Instead, following what has been seen in Europe over the past few years, there were many examples of mainstream office furniture companies venturing into soft seating, attracted no doubt by lower development costs and faster times to market. What was termed collaboration technology was also exploited by Haworth, Steelcase, Teknion, Izzy+, KI, Tuohy, Vitra, and many others, all of whom showed furniture and devices which allowed people to contribute to, and share the results of, collaborative work, invariably grouped around large display screens. European design continues to be strongly influential in the US market, not only with an ever increasing number products being commissioned from named designers from the UK and Italy and Germany, but also in the styling of US designed products. Task seating lines are ever sharper and slimmer in appearance, and that trend can also be seen to a lesser extent, with executive seating. Height adjustable workstations, common in many countries in Europe, were for the first time to be seen everywhere in the permanent showrooms of the larger manufacturers, rather than just on the exhibition booths on the temporary floors. Breakout furniture, including soft seating and high backed upholstery products, previously seen here only from European companies such as Vitra, was very much in evidence in the showrooms of most of the manufacturers, even those never before involved in upholstered products. The high backed seating units, with claims to good acoustic properties, were often combined with low tables and large display screens for shared inputs to presentations and discussions. 3

4 As for colours, unlike the organic browns and greys seen at this year s Milan Fair, Neocon was bright and bold with orange, reds, greens and still whites everywhere. By far the most popular fabric for occasional seating was felt, plain and patterned, and in every colour of the rainbow. It s environmental and acoustic properties were being promoted, but there must be some concern as to how hardwearing it will prove to be. The companies Teknion, Davis and Nucraft (who won the Best of Competition with Passport designed by Joey Ruiter) were the three companies which together swept up many of the Best of Neocon awards, with four apiece. Nucraft s Passport solo and duo Knoll s space leaned heavily on retro notions and styling, and included Florence Knoll s Private Office, Richard Schultz Petal Table from 1960 and Bertoia Diamond Seating from More up to date offerings were the Toboggan Chair and Big Table from Antenna Design. Knoll Petal Table (1960) Toboggan 4

5 Knoll s Big Table Chuck Saylor s Izzy+ has shown great liveliness and creativity for several years. The Nemo Bar and Trellis, introduced in concept form in 2010, has been developed and extended to good effect. Izzy+ Nemo Bar & Trellis 5

6 KI announced the signing of a new product licensing agreement with Boss Design from the UK and had a good display of their chairs, as well as showing KI s own new Lightline moveable seamless glass wall system. Boss Design seating KI s Lightline OFS won a Gold Award for Trace, another collaborative product, this time based on Daniel Korb s 11 system which has now been developed to include power and data outlets in conference tables. One of the most exciting products at this year s Neocon was JumpSeat from Wilson Troup s Sedia Systems and designed by Ziba Design. This was an elegant and simple auditorium seat formed from two plywood panels, one fixed and the other which folded down on a hinge to form the seat Jump Seat from Sedia Systems 6

7 Tuohy showed Jess Sorel s Coda Collection of stylish executive furniture and Andreu World from Spain displayed some attractive contract seating products. Coda collection from Tuohy The enlarged and redesigned 10 th floor showroom of Teknion was noticeably brighter and more attractive than most and they had several new simple workstation ranges as well as the Gold Award winning Logiq technology for cloud-based monitoring and controlling of workstation power consumption and DNA, a system of modular breakout furniture. Teknion s DNA Keilhauer from Canada showed some attractive seating products including Talk, conceived for Keilhauer by Eoos, a new system of acoustically effective seating, and 7

8 tables, to accommodate and optimise face to face meetings and Loon, the new Gold Award winning stacking occasional chair from Tom Deacon. Talk by Keilhauer Innovant from New York showed an electrically height adjustable version of their Gold Award winning FORm benching system where each workplace can be separately adjusted. FORm Benching from Innovant As usual, Herman Miller s showroom was probably busier than any other, although they were showing fewer in the way of exciting new products than many others. Their stated aim was to support groups working together and foster a sense of community that enables people to do their best. Range extensions for Canvas 8

9 Office Landscape included products designed specifically for small group settings, and the company also showed the Luxo 360 desk lamp. Crowds at Herman Miller and the Luxo 360 lamp Haworth announced they were driven by (their) desire to help unleash the power of collaboration pretty much in line with Herman Miller and others. They were among the manufacturers showing high-backed seating with their Tulip Lounge chairs designed by Marcel Wanders and upholstered in bright red. However, the highlight of their presentation was the Best of Neocon Gold Award winning Workware conferencing system which uniquely featured the use of wireless technology connecting the collaborators to the presentation equipment. Haworth also showed Shetland, an active, responsive rocker or a simple bench that provides a casual, playful and interactive seating option for impromptu collaboration. (That word again!) Haworth Workware and Shetland 9

10 The best showroom of the big five, by some margin, was Steelcase. Their message was clear and easily understood. From FrameOne, a bench system that expands or contracts to meet future demands, through Answer, a new infinitelyexpandable panel system with a clever patented frame design and on to the newly extended media:scape collaborative working technology system, one had the impression of a logically structured product offering. Steelcase FrameOne bench and Mini Media:scape Steelcase s new TagWizard is a personal space reservation system allowing users to find an available space, scan in and reserve any shared workspace tagging the space from their laptop or mobile device. The system also collects information using occupancy sensors and measures temperature, air quality and lighting levels. Davis had an attractive space, presenting some well designed seating, including Perch, the newly launched Web Curve by Burkhard Vogtherr and Markus Dörner featuring a hand woven design wrapped in webbing. Additionally, the reddot design award winner, Trefor for use in corporate cafes, libraries and hospitality settings. More collaboration! Davis Perch seating and Web Curve chairs 10

11 Allermuir from the UK showed two new seating products in their 3 rd floor space. Mayze, a comfortable guest chair from Jonathan Prestwich featuring a 3 dimensional knitted membrane and the Confer multipurpose seating by Simon Pengelly available in a white or black shell with upholstered seats, and both high and medium back models. Maize from Allermuir The DIRTT showroom is on the 10 th floor of a building adjacent to the Mart and displays the company s fitted interiors for healthcare and corporate organisations. New this year was a built-in executive suite with a workstation made from reclaimed timber and a 200 bottle, cooled wine store integrated into a wall cavity. DIRTT s built-in furniture 11

12 and finally... Apart from being able to witness the industry s finest putting on the best of presentations imaginable, it s not difficult to see why Neocon is still clearly very popular, attracting many thousands of visitors. Chicago is one of the very great cities of the world - and after a day trekking around showrooms, those attendees with enough stamina can enjoy its attractions to the full, taking in some of its thousands of bars and restaurants, sampling every type of music, including of course world class blues, and basking in its stunning architecture, enhanced by the river and lake. Let s hope the rumours of the show s demise prove to have been nothing more than just rumours, and that we can continue returning for many years to come. and just what were these characters up to? Advising office furniture businesses around the world 3 Field Court Gray's Inn London WC1R 5EP England T. 44 (0) E. info@jsacs.com W: 12