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NeoCon 2010: Day 1

My first day in Chicago for NeoCon was overwhelming to say the least. Despite the terrible phone reception, slow Internet and lack of elevators, I think I accomplished quite a bit my first day. I was only there for two days, so I tried to squeeze in as much as possible. One thing I definitely will need to know from you, readers, is whether you are in the contract business (I sense a poll coming on…)

I hope you’re sitting down, this one is a long one.

First up was the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) exhibit which was just outside the Press Room. I especially loved two pieces. The Chrysalis Chair from Timothy Luscher (above) and the Tria Sofa by Justin Dehner:

I also fell in love with this new Jonathan Browning pendant in the Holly Hunt showroom, but my photos do not do this light any justice.

I also spotted some beautiful leaf chandeliers in Lalique, but didn’t get any more information about them.

I checked out JANUS et Cie, who had the Arthur table in their display window. I also liked their oversized apples, but am not sure that they are for sale.

I had a great tour in the Herman Miller showroom, which has this great succulent setup:

They have some new pieces in the higher education realm, like this Swoop Lounge pictures above.

They also introduced a nifty desk, which goes from this:

to this, for those of us who like to spend some time stretching our legs throughout the day:

Geiger, a Herman Miller company also launched some new pieces, like the Full Twist by Mark Goetz (above left) and the Saya by 5D Studio (above right).

I got a tour of the Haworth space designed by Clive Wilkinson Architects, who will now be the distributor for the Kvadrat clouds. The chair above is called Very.

Knoll has a new office system called Antenna which is very versatile. I really liked the wall storage system as well as the executive office suites. One of these days maybe I will have my very own executive office suite…one of these days…

My last stop of the day was Vitra. They let me try out a Chairless (designed by Alejandro Aravena), which Anne mentioned in one of her posts on Milan! This is genius, but it takes a lot of getting used to. All of your muscles want to engage, but you’re supposed to let them all relax. Turns out, it’s hard to relax. I didn’t quite get the hang of it, so I think I need one!

Plus, they have a few new clocks, two of which I snapped photos:

Jaime Derringer, Founder + Executive Editor of Design Milk, is a Jersey girl living in SoCal. She dreams about funky, artistic jewelry + having enough free time to enjoy some of her favorite things—running, reading, making music, and drawing.