Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Design Wrap Up: What I Saw at ICFF



There was a lot to take in at this year's International Contemporary Furniture Fair. (I posted quite a bit about the show for Metropolis magazine over the weekend and a list of those posts is included at the end.) Here are some of my favorites...



The amazing Vegetal Chair from Vitra. I absolutely love it. So do other designers—it won an award at the show.


One of my favorites: a powder-coated steel rain collection system from HERO Design Lab. No more plastic rain barrels!


The Oslo Collection by Moe


New radio collection from Tivoli.


Chairs from Itoki.


The new branching light fixture from Lindsey Adelman (pictured above).


Ceramics with advice (above and below) from Areaware.




More ceramics from Areaware.


Not so much of a favorite as an oddity. I call this "When cotton balls attack."


Ferm Living! I got to covet all the wallpaper.


Hutch from Iannone.


I love the legs on these chairs.


The MICA booth. Hometown Baltimore represented beautifully with this well-conceived student booth. MICA was one of only four schools invited to participated. Martin Pedersen, the Executive Editor at Metropolis, picked it as one of his favorites.


Inna Alesina demonstrating product designs in the MICA booth.


A close-up on one of the MICA Panels: food being delivered to urban neighborhoods via a Light Rail system.


I was surprised how much I liked the brushed gold fixtures from Kohler. They look amazing with the new "Honed" collection of sinks.



The British designers had a strong showing this year. I love the wall art and textiles from Catherine Hammerton, above and below.





Adjustable white shelving units from Blu Dot. I want this for my living room.


Fold out sleeper sofa in red from Blu Dot.


New line of lighting from Blu Dot includes a red fabric-wrapped cord. There was lots of that at the show this year: making the cord a part of the design rather than something to hide.


So many gorgeous wooden chairs. Here are two samples - above and below.



More wood: a cantilevered chair in the Virginia Tech booth.


The pressed glass pendant from Tom Dixon, above and below. It will retail for $290 and will be available in October.



The Ribbon lamp with adjustable head.


Hands coming out of walls seemed to be another trend...






Lots of parties throughout the weekend. Here's the crowd at Blu Dot in SoHo.


I've always loved this red desk from Blu Dot, even when littered with the remnants of cocktails.

More of my ICFF Coverage:

The Elephant in the (Show)Room
Live @ICFF: Coming Clean
Live @ ICFF: Ceramic Tiles of Italy
Live @ ICFF: Pattern Book
Live @ ICFF: Pendants Galore
Live @ ICFF: New from Blu Dot