the best of neocon 2018 award winners will be announced among industry peers on the opening morning of neocon. now in its 29th year, the iconic competition honors the best new commercial interiors products in the industry, which are exhibited at neocon. honors include gold and silver awards, as well as innovation awards, editors’ choice awards, and one best of competition award.
idsa chicago, advanced design sketching, and so design are hosting a gathering of designers and entrepreneurs at chicago’s premier innovation lab—mhub chicago! this kickoff event will feature a talk with steelcase principal designer, joey zeledon, and idsa chicago’s very own, rotimi solola — who’ll be unveiling something special. join us on friday, 8 june — we’ll have music, food, a tour of mhub, and one big networking party! rsvp here!
DesignApplause spoke to spanish designer patricia urquiola in the andreu world chicago showroom during neocon. we talk about her the nuez seat collection, which obtained a hip award in the category hospitality: seating at neocon. the chair is described as enveloping, suggestive, warm and at the same time technological. made of injected thermoplastic, it offers different options for the shell interior: fully upholstered, with upholstered seat or with padded seat and backrest. the different bases versions – four wooden legs, aluminum star, five casters or cantilever – come with a range of ten distinct colors for the shell and numerous upholstery options for the seat and backrest. a versatile design, capable of integrating into any type of corporate environment and also at home. the chair launched at salone del mobile 2017.
[patricia urquiola] we’re speaking about a new product introduction, nuez, which means ‘nut’ in english, from valencia-based [ andreu world ]. i’m very proud of our relationship, one we’ve kept for years that’s grown into friendships. we now know each other’s approach well enough where words easily translate into feelings and shapes.
why do this chair? they asked for formal and discrete, very gentle, very easy. though the company does incredible work in other materials, they were looking for a new material not in their workspace portfolio. our discussions led to plastic and they know that my injection approach is always striving for little details that are a bit curious and distinctive. what evolved was a shell concept.
we liked the concept of one shell using two elements, because of the way the two elements, like two papers, came together, like in a nut. from the back of the shell the elements created little wings which felt natural and just right. we pleated the plastic shell for aesthetics and textures giving it a materiality, a sense of touch. compared to our prior collection called nub, which was very… crafted, nuez represents a completely dissimilar notion.
[DesignApplause]nuez is crisp yet shapely. very light and does feel good to the touch. what’s her character like?
[PU] both my company and andreu philosophies are similar on many fronts. we’re all concerned, about who we work with and the way we proceed. we work with nature with a high regard for sustainability and social responsibility. we’re efficient, we produce functionality, durability, timelessness and our work, well it looks like our work. and in the end i’m very proud of this project.
[DA] what’s big on your mind right now? what’s important?
[PU] this is a conversation about a process. a company gives you a brief, you give an answer and you work in this kind of duet. it’s a beautiful established way a designer works within an industrial project. now i’m not a young designer, i’m a mature designer who’s been working this way for awhile. lately i’m doing a lot of experimentation with a group at haworth contributing to define a future vision for the group, creating an umbrella over everything. // in 2015, patricia became cassina’s art director tasked with creative management.
in the beginning it was an object and then a collection. but now we also talk about the relations of objects and space, the experiences, the services the company can offer, about everything! i’m working this way with cassina, haworth, mutina. and with andreu world i’m not doing that but i’m a good friend and they’re accustomed to my opinions and conversations. these conversations are important because they always lead to something new.
in this conversational role, the designer operates in this huge space, to re-think things, to ask more questions, it’s so open ended, so many possibilities. really, at this point the only bad decision is not to try something. and we’re just beginning.
<strong>[DA] stay tuned. [ formafantasma ] (andrea trimarchi and simone farresin) while lecturing at the school of the art institute of chicago was asked if designers are important, is design important. simone said this… the designer and the design is not important in and of themselves. formafantasma’s projects are complete once they leave the studio. it’s rare to know if their projects are a success and are rarely asked to improve what they created. their business model does not involve the relationship you’re experiencing right now.
in contrast simone felt the entrepreneur is more likely to be important. there’s a degree of control over a long period of time whereby something important could evolve.
[PU] “design thinking”, for me a label used too much, has become like a big inclusive net over everything in the world of design. i feel one starts as a specialist in design, like an industrial designer. for those who grow into more systemic integrated spaces the space opens up to expand your reach over the project. the more aspects you touch in sense the more important you are.
we can be a kind of catalyst in between society and ideals for living. we’re not only solving problems, we’re also questioning a lot of problems. i like the idea that this is a new attitude for designers: question and not only solving.
this 15 > 16 november at the pennsylvania convention center in philly, the region’s most important commercial interiors event, neocon east, will feature nearly 200 companies and provides insight into the workplaces, hotels and other public spaces of tomorrow. programming will include more than 25 ceu accredited seminars, as well as an impressive group of keynotes: alex gilliam, founder and director, public workshop; david insinga, aia, chief architect, us general services administration’s public buildings service; suzette subance ferrier, iida, studio design director at tpg architecture; and zena howard, managing director at perkins & will, aia, leed ap.
designapplause is in the ligne roset chicago showroom located two short blocks from the mart, chatting with antoine roset, executive vice president and fifth generation roset.
[designapplause] we’re told that ligne roset is getting into the contract/commercial business space because of the company’s manufacturing capabilities. do you wish to tell us that story?
[antoine roset] actually, the funny part is that we started with the contract business. we’ve always been doing it in europe, back when the roset company started in 1860. with my grandfather in charge the first thing we did as a manufacturer was contract, working with universities, dorms, both institutional as well as hospitality projects. contract and hospitality was in fact our first business category.
we then moved to residential in the 1960s believing we could better control our own distribution and grow our business. during the 1980s, in the u.s., we developed our brand in residential much more than the contract business. we did this furnishing apartments, giving americans access to our design. for the past four years i see an opportunity to reintroduce our contract expertise in the u.s. and in latin america as well. i feel confident in knowing our past experience and manufacturing could again position our company as major player in contract and hospitality.
with our design, engineering and manufacturing capabilities we again have in the u.s. both residential and contract offerings.
[da] i just met the new owner of the chicago showroom, jose rodriguez. is there a new story regarding the chicago showroom?
[ar] i think the story to tell about jose and this showroom is a human story. we like to say when you become an owner, you get to be part of the family. jose has been in this business with us forever. the first time i met him was like 10-11 years ago and we had promoted him as a manager in miami. he became the owner of the atlanta store 5 years ago. and now, he’s here in the chicago store. to show that it’s a human story it’s about jose being a natural as a new owner. and he also possesses an ability to showcase a new service and a different experience. and as such, something much closer to what we have in mind, namely a new store. a new display. very much like what you can see all around the world with the new stores we are doing and renovating. in chicago, you’re going to see the best of what we do right now.
[da] alright, that’s cool. anything else you want to talk about?
[ar] i can talk about everything you want as long as it’s about furniture. i’ve always been very interested in markets and we can talk about the chicago market a little bit more. we’ve been at this location for 10 years and have learned that chicago’s a very interesting and important market. why? chicago is a very modern city with depth as you can see by its architecture. it’s always been very turned towards the future and not to the past. that’s what makes it very attractive to me. for me, it’s probably the nicest city in the u.s. you can quote me on that. (maybe after new york where i live. let’s put it that way.) chicago is green. it’s a beautiful city. there are two rivers, the lake. i don’t care about cold weather, so it’s not a problem for me. when you’re here you can feel that people really like to talk about the architecture here. i mean look, neocon is here and not in las vegas.
[da] right, neocon. and a new contract message and what appears to be a new store in what is a tremendously convenient offsite location.
[ar] yes. we’re definitely going to use this location more and more. we made mention last year, slowly but surely. the idea is to communicate with the contact world and the hospitality world, sharing with them. we are not the big, big player and we don’t want to be either. we don’t want to compete with them. we want to be the small player that can bring something different. that can give different options. that can give what we do the most: our quality, our knowledge. we are happy to share this with everyone. we have no intention of ignoring our residential business, make no mistake. but more and more, we are going to develop things around the contract and the hospitality business. it’s only the second year. this year has been a bit crazy because we are reopening the store and doing neocon at the same time. so it’s been quite challenging, but next year…
[da] then next year will be boring. (laughs)
[ar] hah! next year won’t be boring. next year will be even more interesting. we’ll have more time to prepare for neocon which is even better. we’re going to look forward to next year.
john ronan faia is founding principal of john ronan architects in chicago, founded in 1999. his firm has been the recipient of two aia institute national honor awards—for the poetry foundation and the gary comer youth center, both in chicago, and is a finalist firm for the obama presidential center.
john is currently professor of architecture at the illinois institute of technology college of architecture, where he has taught since 1992.
date > wednesday 14 june 2017
venue > the mart neocon theatre 19th floor@JohnRonanArch
luminaire continues its commitment to viscerally connecting the public with contemporary design by hosting muti-disciplinary italian architect and designer antonio citterio for a lecture and exhibition in chicago. on tuesday, june 13th, citterio will present a lecture at the museum of contemporary art chicago which will be followed by an opening reception for the inauguration of a month-long exhibition of the designer’s work at luminaire chicago showroom. aiming to uncover the connective stories between process, product, and design, the exhibition will feature iconic pieces designed by antonio citterio for renowned brands b&b italia, vitra, and flos.
editor in chief, john czarnecki and lauren rottet talk about design, where it is today and where it’s going, at ligne roset chicago, 440 north wells st, on tuesday, 13 june at 2:30pm during neocon // [ rsvp required ]@ligneroset #neocon2017