NeoCon 2014 Rewind

Greetings!
  This week was a whirlwind venturing the halls of Chicago's Merchandise Mart for North America's largest design expo....NeoCon. People from all over the world gather to see the latest and greatest in everything from furniture and finish materials, to lighting and technology. 3 Days of 8 floors and tens of thousands of square feet of innovation. If you have never been to NeoCon and after reading this want to go next year, here are my top 3 tips:

1. Come prepared! Mark floorplans and research vendors before coming. Time goes VERY quick over 3 days and there is so much to see!
2. Bring two pairs of shoes...and band-aids:) When you are meeting people from all over the world and especially representing someone, it is important to always be professional and look your best to feel your best. I bring one pair of heels and one pair of classy business flats. The flats are when walking to and from my hotel and then it is heel time.
3. Take stairs. Ok, NeoCon is pretty infamous for this, despite double digit elevators to move people, you will wait in line forever to ride one. Besides the fact you can get where you are going quicker, it is great exercise...keep that heart pumping!

Enjoy the below, hopefully it sparks your inner creative self!
Warm Regards,
Maggi Thorne
Your Mrs. Great Plains International 2014

 Finally, my NeoCon 2014 Rewind:

Top 10 Trends:

• Open Office Benching
• Felt  (it was everywhere...)
• Adjustable height desks
• Work Place Personalization
• Open but Private office 
• The Untraditional "cubicle"
• Staying plugged in. Integrated technology is now a must, not an option
• "Isolation" chairs
• High Back Booths
• Nontraditional carpet tiles

Haworth won me over for it's open office benching with it's simplicity, overall design, function and technology integration. Not to mention it has a great look to it.

Felt is all the rage. This Eco-Friendly highly durable material was everywhere and on everything. Personally I am not a fan of it for comfort factor, but I love the eco-friendly side of it

Knoll's adjustable height desk controlled with your tablet made it stand out amongst it's competitors. With so many adjustable height tables now, companies need something to set this great employee friendly option apart.

Knoll's downloadable app for the adjustable height table

Steelcase did a great show showcasing different personalities in their workplace with a well blended showroom. Employees want to feel at home...at work. Personalization can be risky as the employer, but if they get it right, there will be much more reward from a happy productive worker.

Haworth's Openest line creativity gave it a leg up when comparing the "new" standard cubicle...which is anything but square from lines across the board.

With technology buzzing in everyone's pocket, it is critical now to stay plugged in. It is no longer an option, but a requirement for any desk, chair, you name it...to have technology a part of the integrated design.

Ok. I'll admit it. I don't get this trend. Every time seeing a chair like this in a showroom, it just felt like Darth Vader would walk out at any moment.

This high back booth at Davis was well coordinated. This style is not new, but it is certainly trending heavily alongside the open but private trend.

Wrapping up the trends is the newest wave in carpet design...no more squares! Carpet has slowly progressed away from the traditional two options of broadloom and tiles and now anything goes. Patcraft set themselves apart with the new mixed materials and unique shape.

As Heidi Klum would say "You are either in, or you're out". What's "Out":

• Picnic Settings (Turstone did this years ago with their campfire line starting the trend, but it has reached it's lifespan)
• Hexagons. I love shapes...really. This shape has now been overused in design

• Best New Lounge Chairs:

Haworth Pouf

Haworth Pouf

Stylex Ridge

Coalesse Visalia Lounge

Best Customer Service from a company I didn't already know the rep:

• Arcadia.  After browsing their showroom for a few minutes, a very kind many walked over saying he had noticed be walking around looking and if I had any questions, looking for anything specific and in the most genuine way possible. He was one of the kindest relatable people...he also turned out to be the President of Arcadia. This really stood out to me for a company president to not only be present, but setting the standard for customer service.

 Breath of Fresh Air in design:
 3-form wall panels. While wall panels are nothing new, but their shapes are new and interesting.


Peaked my Curiosity:

•  SixInch rubber coated foam. Comfy, cool, durable
• Blofield inflatable furniture. I liked the eco friendliness of it for production and shipping. Unsure of how well it would hold a 350lb lineman :)

 Best Showroom:

Mohawk's Breaking Form was designed so well, I visited twice just to see it again because it was creative!

 

Mohawks breaking form