Roughly 75 awards were recently announced for contract furnishing products during NeoCon® 2009 at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. It was the 20th year for the "Best of NeoCon" awards, co-sponsored this year by Contract magazine, Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc., the International Interior Design Association (IIDA), the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), and McMorrowReport.com.
Products were judged by a group of management executives from corporate, government and institutional facilities along with selected international designers and architects. The 42 jurors were split up into seven teams, with each team visiting the product showrooms and market suites to view and judge the products in person. Over 1200 companies competed in 44 product categories for the awards.
Powermat won Best of Show and a gold medal in the Technology Support category for its ultra-thin wireless technology by showcasing its streamlined wireless charging devices for kitchen applications and wire-free charging and real-time powering capability which Powermat had embedded into Teknion Corporation's FX workplace accessories collection.
"Powermat was an 'unknown' to the contract furniture industry," said Eileen McMorrow, Director, Best of NeoCon 2009. "As a technology provider, the judges realized how the product contributes to all contract office furniture and how it will impact office planning in the future. This is why it received the Best of Competition award from 42 best of NeoCon jurors."
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The Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA), a trade association for the North American office and institutional furniture industry, recently announced " level", a multi-attribute, sustainability standard and third-party certification program for the furniture industry.
The program offers a means for evaluating and communicating the environmental impacts of furniture products by accounting for companies' energy consumption, material selections, manufacturing, shipping and handling practices, social actions, and impact upon human health.
Retailers and consumers can use the level brand to make better informed choices knowing that a given commercial furniture product has been tested by an accredited third-party certification organization such as NSF International or SCS. A marking of 1, 2, or 3 indicates the level of certification that a particular product has achieved. And manufacturers can use the level brand to describe the environmental footprint of a given product in simple to understand terms in a consistent manner.
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Both residential and commercial projects frequently include art, accessories, and plants and florals as finishing details. Many clients prefer the ease and convenience of artificial plants, especially for their low maintenance. And designers like the continuity - the look will remain the same as originally intended.
The two biggest drawbacks for artificial plants are the dust factor and the fake factor. After a while, they can get really dusty but vacuuming or spritzing/washing are two care options. And if not well done, faux plants can seem downright tacky. Real plants provide a freshness and authenticity that is rarely duplicated, but there are some great faux plant / flower / arrangement suppliers out there.
A couple of my favorites are:
NDI - Beautiful, realistic plants that need to be examined closely to see if they're real or fake. Lovely floral arrangements, trees, greenery, holiday decorations, topiaries, grasses, etc. Plus great containers!
Forever Green Art - Real plants that have been preserved, including bonsai, topiary, florals, eucalyptus and palms. From my experience, these plants retain their color and beauty for the long term.
Containers make a big difference in the look, too. Baskets can seem a bit lightweight and insubstantial unless they're very well made, so I generally go with great looking ceramic or stoneware containers that complement the plants and add more visual interest. One of my favorite lines is New England Pottery, which can be found at many distributors nationwide. They carry a huge array of beautiful plant containers.
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 After a seminar that I recently attended, a few fellow designers and I were discussing the economy and how it's affected our businesses. Here are the highlights of our conversation:
- Designers and builders are taking on smaller jobs than usual, with the expectation that working with these clients will lead to more work with them in the future.
- Designers are offering smaller mark-ups on fabrics and furnishings in order to ease costs for clients while still allowing the designer to make a reasonable profit.
- Designers have shied away from reducing hourly fees. Clients generally feel that the services and expertise that we offer is fairly priced.
- Service professionals are generally being much more flexible with regard to meeting times (more evenings and weekends) in order to accommodate working couples and people who don't feel they can be away from work for an extended period.
- Designers and builders are helping clients find cost effective/affordable solutions for kitchen and bath renovations, flooring, lighting and more by exploring different suppliers and materials. We've seen many do-it-yourselfers who wish to install certain items themselves.
- Some designers are seeing a higher percentage of staging or redecorating type projects (on a fixed or hourly basis).
- One designer that specializes in residential design still has many large clients, including several that are still proceeding with projects involving millions of dollars worth of furnishings, artwork, and renovations.
- A builder I spoke with is continuing with construction of multimillion dollar homes for several clients.
The next year or so will prove challenging for the design field. Personally, during any down time that I have, I continue to educate myself about new products, green applications, and the like.
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