NeoCon '16 Design Themes: Form and Function

AUSTIN, Texas - July 12, 2016 - PRLog -- For forty-nine years, contract office furniture manufacturers, dealers, and buyers have come together to meet under one roof at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago's River North for the annual NeoCon conference - the largest office furniture trade event in North America.

Chicago's famous Merchandise Mart is an imposing structure. Built by department store retail giant Marshall Fields & Co. during the tail end of the Roaring Twenties, the 4 million square foot facility is sited on two full city blocks with a commanding view that overlooks the fork of Chicago's river system.

The sheer scale of the "Mart" structure fulfilled a long-held dream of Marshall Field's President James Simpson to create a national wholesale center with everything under one roof. It was said to replace over twelve individual warehouses.

Indeed, this Art Deco masterpiece was the world's largest building from the day it opened in 1930 until the Pentagon opened in Virginia after World War II. The facility has been updated and modernized over the years, and most impressively achieved Silver level LEED Certification in 2007 for energy conservation and sustainability.

NeoCon will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2017
For many of us in the contract furniture business, the industry calendar is dominated by the trek to Chicago's Merchandise Mart for the annual National Exposition of Contract Furnishings, commonly known as NeoCon.

NeoCon's big anniversary - 50 years - is coming up in June 2017. As it approaches this major milestone, we can attest the event is as popular as ever.

More than 50,000 attendees from all corners of the globe passed through the gates at this year's NeoCon - representing the full spectrum of contract furniture manufacturers, dealers, buyers, architects, designers, and the interested public.

The sheer rush of people on the first day of the event was something to be seen. Everyone appeared to be anxious to experience it all - as quickly as possible - and to get up to speed on the latest NeoCon design trends.

Indeed there was much to see - over a million square feet of trade show exhibition space with four full floors filled to the brim with showrooms and temporary exhibits. The show's management hinted there were more than 1,000 different exhibitors on site at the Mart. Together, they displayed their very latest product designs in categories ranging from contract office furniture and lighting, wall and floor coverings (including innovative surface treatments in textiles, tile, and stone) and ancillary contract furniture accessories.

It remains to be seen if a single buyer at this year's NeoCon surpassed the speed shopping record set back in 1983 by the Sultan of (http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121336701778971787) Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah (http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121336701778971787), who reportedly chartered a 747 to fly back home with $1.6 million of furniture lighting and fabrics purchased at the Mart during a harried weeklong shopping haul.

Aside from shopping for the latest product innovations, furniture professionals also come to the annual NeoCon event to meet face-to-face with their business contacts and colleagues - as well as to take advantage of on-site continuing education programs.

Are Cubicle Furniture Systems getting pushed out of the picture?


Privacy Panels

If you're a long time reader of the Formaspace website, you'll recall we've been writing for several years on how office space allocation is changing (https://formaspace.com/articles/office-furniture/neocon-2...) - cubicle furniture systems designed for individual employees are increasingly being supplemented by furniture solutions that promote moving around throughout the day.

If the new product introductions on display at the 2016 NeoCon show are any indication, we may have reached a tipping point. According to Formaspace CEO and Founder Jeff Turk, there were very few traditional cubicle units on display at the Merchandise Mart.

Does this mean the death knell for new sales of cubicle furniture systems? The answer: certainly not yet and mostly likely cubicles will never go away in entirety. However, it's striking how far the office furniture industry trend has swung in favor of innovative new hybrid office furniture solutions.

What are some examples of hybrid furniture solutions that are replacing cubicles?
At NeoCon we saw a wide variety of clever furniture combination that provides many of the features of cubicles - yet were decidedly NOT cubicles.

For example, many new furniture solutions - ranging from desks to chairs to small sofas - either incorporated built-in privacy panels or were accompanied by free-standing ancillary privacy screens. Oftentimes, these panels and screens served multiple functions. Some had built-in dry erase panels, while others incorporated noise absorption materials.

Trend watch: Storage transformed into mobile seating
Traditional storage units haven't escaped the attention of furniture designers either. Many exhibitors at this year's NeoCon exhibition introduced low-slung, mobile storage units that featured built-in seating - making them perfect to slide up next to a desk for a quick, important collaborative meeting with a colleague.

Sit-to-Stand desks for office use are going mainstream

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