Neocon 2021: Trend Spotting
What I saw at Neocon, and what I think it means
I spent several days last October at Neocon in Chicago (so this post is extremely overdue). For the uninitiated/non-designers in the room: Neocon is an annual 3-day design convention where design vendors - mostly furniture, textiles, and flooring - exhibit their products in The Mart, a truly massive building full of design showrooms. While there are lots of residential showrooms in the building, Neocon is primarily for commercial designers.
The building is huge, 4.2 million square feet over two full city blocks. Here’s what one of the Neocon floors looks like:
To put it lightly, Neocon is several days of information overload. Lots of walking, lots of active listening, lots of photos because it’s impossible to remember it all. While I walked around, I was really keeping an eye out for connections between the showrooms. I think it’s so interesting to see the way trends develop and get incorporated into the wider design lexicon, regardless of whether or not I opt to incorporate them into my own design work.
I’m not going to wax poetic here about how trends in residential design, fashion, and commercial design intersect (but they do!), so let’s get started. I actually want to begin with a few ongoing trends, because a) they’ve been growing for a few years now and b) you’ll see them weaving into a lot of the photos coming up. (Side note: please pardon the quality of these photos; most of them are straight from my phone. I was there for work, and so were thousands of other people, some of whom will occasionally be in the way.)
Ongoing Trend: Residential Touches
No one seems sure what to name this trend; I keep hearing resi-mercial (residential + commercial), and that portmanteau makes me cringe every time. But regardless of what we’re calling it, commercial spaces are increasingly channeling the home.
Commercial furniture is built differently than residential furniture; it took the furniture brands a few years to really get this figured out, but they’re now officially nailing it. More pillows, more rugs, softer lines, overstuffed profiles, lounge-y lobby pieces, and all made to withstand heavy use.
I think this is a trend that will be with us for awhile, especially in the wake of many of us ditching the office for two years.
Pictured here: National Office Furniture
A few more examples:
Hightower: Everything in this shot could be in your house. Commercial-grade guest chairs are famously blocky, but these could even work as a dining chair. That conference table looks like a dining table. You get it. The drapery is hiding storage, which I also really love.
OFS: A lot of their showroom felt residential, but I was especially interested in this little gallery wall, which shows how the art and accessories that finish out the space are now also really inspired by residential design.
Muuto: This is a bit of a cheat, because Muuto explicitly pitches itself as residential-commercial, but as a designer who has been tugging her conference rooms toward a vibe like this, I love to see meeting rooms feel more like conversation spaces.
Ongoing Trend: Biophilia
This trend is working its way though all our lives, showing up in fashion, “plant parent” instagram accounts, and yes, commercial interiors!
For awhile there, it was pretty abstract - a carpet manufacturer would say “see, it looks like the shadows through a tree!” or furniture vendors would make cute planters that went between the workstations. But it’s starting to take a bolder turn, and I am extremely into it.
So many showrooms had botanical fabrics and wallcovering on display. Some were moody and a touch masculine (like this one at Three H), some gentle, some vintage, some tropical. The overarching theme: there’s a botanical for every space. As a certified plant lover, I’m incredibly on board with this turn in the trend.
A few more examples:
Momentum: I love this bold, jungle-inspired wallcovering. It’s monotone, which makes it feel a bit more calm.
Hightower: their furniture is pretty modern, but the finishes in their showroom gave everything a vintage cast.
Slalom: this acoustic furniture piece is so fun. Taking the trend sculptural is something pretty unique. Currently trying to find a project to use this one in!
Emerging Trend: Evidence of the Hand
I’m borrowing this phrase from design school, and it basically means that people want to feel like a human hand made their things. We’re seeing this a lot in jewelry and home goods right now, and I saw it in lots of showrooms.
Here, Interwoven (a healthcare furniture company) hired an artist to install this fabulous hanging. Elsewhere I noticed furniture with exposed plywood edges. Rugs are feeling more textural and vintage. My current favorite LVT has a hand-planed look. I spotted new textiles that are cross-stitched and quilted.
Commercial design is made to withstand many thousands of visitors passing through. Sometimes this results in sterile environments as facilities teams push for things that won’t show wear.
But now we’re trying to get the best of all worlds - warmth, fun “imperfections,” the quirkiness of vintage and handmade things
A few more examples:
Maharam: The textiles they were showing have a cross-stitch feel, block-printed patterns, etc. Very granny chic, and a definite nod to crafts
Hightower: What I’ve got my eye on here is the art + accessories: knots and knits that add a little bit of quirk to an otherwise corporate space.
Ethnicraft: Honing in on the chairs specifically, which have a hand-carved look. A bit imperfect, and that’s the charm!
Emerging Trend: Green Green Green!
So many of the trend-forward spaces were either pink/terracotta (see Hightower above and OFS below) or green. I’m guessing that green will win out in the corporate sector, and orange and pinks will continue to gain traction in spaces that can go more boho and quirky. But they’re actually complimentary, and lots of spaces are featuring both!
This Haworth pergola area in the lobby of the Mart is a great example (I camped here for a few hours to catch up on work before my flight. It was great!)
A few more examples:
Kimball: I love this smoky green wall color. The design team kept the rest of the space pretty neutral (including all of the upholstered pieces), which is a much safer option in terms of catching a trend.
Watson: I wish I could find a better photo of this furniture system, which is very cool in the green! Such a great monochromatic approach by using varying shades in the same color family. And again, a less saturated green, which makes it into more of a neutral!
Emerging Trend: Masculine + Feminine
Best for last, in my opinion, as mixing masculine and feminine elements is one of my favorite things to do!
Notice the feminine touches - wallpaper, soft rugs, gentle veining in that stone- juxtaposed with the more masculine leather sofa. This is a corporate vignette, and femininity has traditionally not been a welcome design element in this environment. I love to see this developing!
But this OFS space actually ties most of these trends together! Wallpaper: biophilic, feminine, and residential. Moulding/Rug/pillows: residential. Green paint! I could probably argue that the seam detail on the sofa is evidence of hand, but I won’t push this too far.
A few more examples:
Kimball: floral art + shearling ottomans meet a plaid pillow and more angular shelving unit. I love this little nook.
Arc-Com: These patterns are all part of the same collection. Menswear meets florals. I am, predictably, very into it.
OFS: Menswear inspired pattern and sofa profile, but in feminine colors! As an aside, menswear-inspired textiles are very much an emerging trend as well!
To wrap this up, here is the only photo I have of myself at Neocon (menswear! green phone case!)
Three days, many miles of walking, dozens of vendors, and 250 photos. I may be 4 months late, but I think I’m right.
I had an absolute blast (not pictured: the amazing food after we wrapped for the day and the chance to be around people again). It’s a bit of cliché to say that design is my passion, but it absolutely is!
If you’re a designer, I’d love to hear if you think I’m on the money with these trends, and if you’re not, I’d love to know what you think in general! I’ll meet you in the comments!
