Designs for a working future at Neocon

Chicago’s international gathering of design makers for the contract market threw the focus onto future goals for the interiors industry and showcased the flexible, human-centric innovations that have emerged from lockdowns...

By Emma Moore and NeoCon

NeoCon

November 8, 2021 | 11:00 pm CUT

On show at Haworth’s showroom was Pergola, a new customisable freestanding architecture for workspaces that offers areas for people to tescape to in order to collaborate or focus

The value of face to face was felt once again at the NeoCon show, which took place over three days in Chicago at the start of October. The business of commercial interiors and the new urgency to address waste and sustainable measures may be a serious matter, but there was a palpable giddiness at the opportunity to make real-life connections and conversation after months in the Zoom zone.

Unfolding over nine floors of Chicago’s iconic Art Deco edifice, theMART – the interior design hub of what is arguably America’s most architecturally exciting city, 500 brands, large, small, long-established and emerging were represented. Those with permanent showroom spaces in theMART (eight new permanent residents this year include Kettle and Pedrali) turned over the floor to their latest innovations, while visiting exhibitors were to be found on the 7th floor, offering their responses to new corporate, healthcare, residential, retail, public and hospitality demands.

Tapping into our love of Terrazzo is Everform™ Solid surface by formica group. The hard-working surface that’s hygienic, nonporous and mouldable is newly available in Argento Terrazzo Matrix

Addressing the design needs of a post-Covid world

This was the place to find responses to the more significant contract needs that have come from this extraordinary 18 months the world has lived through; modularity and flexibility taken to new levels (Haworth’s Compose Echo workstations on wheels were notable); biophilia (Buzzispace showed how to nurture busy minds with nature at its Together stand); sustainability (Metropolis magazine sponsored a sustainability lab where designers could pick up a Climate tool kit and take an earth-safeguarding pledge), and cosiness (plumped up seating for professional spaces such as the new Tubular chair at Sixinch USA).

Inclusivity: the talk of the town

Inclusivity was also a recurrent theme, speaking to new organisational structures that are emerging from the pandemic, and the need to be nimble and inclusive by nature as a business, and offer equally adaptable furnishing solutions. During a stellar talks programme, Frans Johansson, author and CEO of The Medici Group, explored how diversity and inclusion are imperative to the success of an organisations' growth, and the ultimate drivers for innovation, while Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Furniture looked at how cities can be designed to be more inclusive and equitable.

The AMAi series of A-frame tables with retractable shades from Belgian brand Extremis is a timely product that makes gatherings outside - seated or standing, work or social - a reality, whatever the weather

Embracing pattern and colour

So much for big picture stuff. NeoCon is also the place to pick up more nuanced aesthetic trends, too. There was a very strong case made for commercial interiors embracing the positivity of colour and pattern, as some brands swirled back to 70s psychedelia. Scandinavian Spaces led the charge with their statement circular thrones, Big Talk, that link together to form snaking seating.

As much about comfort as about form, Stylex’s Cove seating won the Best Seating: Sofas and Lounge category at the Best of NeoCon Awards 2021

Winning workstations

The NeoCon awards are a key event during the three days, with judging taking place across 52 categories. The overall trophy – the Best in Competition Award – went this year to a clever office system, Honey, designed by Darran Furniture. Based on a hexagon it can be configured in many different ways, and respond to individual users’ needs, allowing for different working practices, alongside privacy and well-being requirements.

‘Attending NeoCon is like diving headfirst into the gap between where our clients’ spaces are, and where they’d like them to be. There’s a solution for every design problem, even the ones we don’t know about yet.’ says Katie Titi, facility space planner, interior designer, and founder of Katie Titi LLC. And if that isn’t an endorsement for getting back in the mix in person, I don’t know what is.