7.27.09 | Jim Druckman, Dennis Cahill and the New York Design Center are doing a good thing for the interiors industry and for themselves with their programs for commercial interior design, the latest of which was the fifth annual First Looks held last week at the Center’s 200 Lexington Avenue showroom building in midtown Manhattan.
7.27.09 | I felt like a politician at the fifth annual First Look show in Manhattan last week. I pressed more flesh and shook more hands in one day than ever before in my life. I demoed a lot of chairs. Some I liked while others didn’t work for me. I was definitely impressed with VIA’s Swopper.
7.27.09 | Diversity is not just a good thing. It is essential to any creative effort, and that includes progress. ASID (American Society of Interior Designers), as all of the enlightened know, is the most diverse of all of the professional associations that work for a better and more meaningful built environment.
Events >>, Prof. Associations >>
7.27.09 | HOK designed and moved into its new office space on the 14th floor of the CNA building in Chicago. The 27,000 sq.-ft. office obtained LEED-CI Platinum certification, one of four Chicago projects to achieve this rating.
Project >>
7.27.09 | We talk a lot about innovation in this business, but where would we be if everything we did was a random act of creativity? Chaos, that’s where. Actually beyond chaos, because mathematicians have discovered some remarkable patterns in the most complex systems.
Product >>
7.27.09 | When a new office space is not designed properly (or barely at all!) the results are terrifying. I don’t look forward to going to work. I’m definitely not inspired once I get there. And I certainly don’t care if the IT geeks tell my manager how many hours I spent on NHL.com – or the several job sites out there in cyberspace.
7.20.09 | Communication remains a major, perhaps the greatest, problem in the interiors industry, just as it is in the world generally. So, we were happy to see that ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) for the first time moved its annual event to the NeoCon playground. Since IIDA (International Interior Design Association) already holds its annual event during NeoCon WTF, one could say that all that is missing is the participation of IFMA and AIA Interiors Committee. (Right!)
Events >>, Prof. Associations >>
7.20.09 | Each year, ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) honors the Society’s most distinguished members and design visionaries as recipients of the annual ASID Awards. This year’s honorees were recognized at Celebration: The ASID Design Awards, during the Society’s annual Chapter Leadership Conference.
7.20.09 | Sometimes there is a ray of light that is almost astonishingly bright in its ability to illuminate our thinking. This happened recently with the example of the new 100-person offices of Cassidy & Pinkard Colliers, a leading national, full-service commercial real estate firm.
Project >>
7.20.09 | Buyers began queuing up following a workshop at Greenbuild 2008 on Model Green Lease when the project’s task force chairman, Alan Whitson, announced an unbiased, green lease was also being written. It required patience, however, as the task force took the first half of ’09 to complete the Model Green Lease. Now, the reward is here. This new lease document takes the green building movement from the issues of recycled content and low-VOC paints and sealants to the economic center of commercial real estate: the lease agreement between the landlord and tenant.
7.20.09 | I am fond of ballpoint pens. Too fond, I fear. I buy them by the box at a nearby store. One of those gigantic cement-floored, tall-ceilinged, warehouse-y, airplane hangar-ey, parking-lot clotted, mega-membership outfits where your picture is stamped on a plastic card so you can stuff it into your wallet already bulging with so many other plastic cards there is no room for money.
Ira Joe >>
7.13.09 | We are winding down our coverage of NeoCon WTF 09, and we want to thank those of our industry who put so much effort into each year's events, from the exhibitors, the various event and keynote sponsors, and, of course, the Merchandise Mart. We have said this before but a repetition won't hurt: no one should hesitate to go to NeoCon during an economic recession for fear that the event will be lackluster.
7.13.09 | The first question everyone asked me Monday morning when I mentioned that I’d joined roughly 250 others at the Westin River North the night before for COOL was: “Was it cool?” And my answer was. “Yes, very cool.”
Competitions and Awards >>, Events >>, Prof. Associations >>
7.13.09 | On the Sunday before Neocon, the International Interior Design Association gathered its members for their 15th Annual Meeting. The purpose was to celebrate the success of the Association and their visiting Chapter Leaders, to present the Associations' awards and honors, and to induct the new officers of the Executive Board of Directors. With her characteristic good humor, Cheryl Durst, Executive VP/CEO of IIDA, promised not to make the event "dry tedious or boring."
Events >>, Prof. Associations >>
7.13.09 | NeoCon: bastion of opportunity, animated with arteries of interested industry people, seeking, questioning, judging. If there is a bright side to this economy and its inhibiting effect on attendance it is that this year there was more room, more time to seek, to ask, to find.
Events >>
7.6.09 | Every NeoCon seems to capture a moment in time like a polaroid of our profession. How many of us seem to link each NeoCon with something that seems to define that particular year for us? For some, it’s a product launch or drop-dead-gorgeous showroom. For others, it may be an event or person. For many I suspect it all seems to be one big blur.
7.6.09 | Jurors review more than 400 products entered into the Best of NeoCon competition over the course of three days before NeoCon opens. Enhancing workplace and quality of life are the requisites for the Best of NeoCon winners. The following is a list of The Best of NeoCon Innovation, Editor's Choice, and Silver Award winners for this year.
Competitions and Awards >>, Events >>, Product >>
7.6.09 | One of the positive aspects of a gently attended Neocon was the time folks in the showrooms had to spend with visitors. This slower, more thorough pace was a real treat and should be considered when weighing the options to attend trade shows during a soft economy. There was plenty of time to discuss product lines in detail and to gain much more information than usual.
7.6.09 | As we wove our way through the Mart perusing the carpets we noted several
trends.
Many manufacturers are:
>Hesitant to make any statement where color is concerned; neutral to
the point of nondescript appeared to be the order of the day
>Using bright, intense colors when they do offer color
>Taking the opportunity to gain feedback on potential products and
asking visitors to vote for their favorites or provide input
>Offering products with greater amounts of recycled content, offering
wool and substantially advancing their sustainable practices
>Reducing the face weight and manipulating the construction in an
effort to diminish cost and conserve resources
7.6.09 | Nobody was smiling. None of the customers. At the nursery. I seldom visit a nursery. I love flowers. I adore flowers. The colors. The smells. Little water globules on fuzzy leaves. How they enliven any green they grace. I love flowers. I’m not unique. Everybody loves flowers. And many people visit nurseries. To bring flowers home for planting in pots and window boxes and old weathered barrels beside the sidewalk. Many people do that. My Shelly does that. But, I don’t. I love flowers. But, I don’t do anything with that love. So I seldom visit a nursery. But, today I did.
Ira Joe >>
