Big Green Apple

Everything from floating mushrooms to the Dark Lord of the Sith was evoked at this year’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair.

Green grew in New York during this year’s ICFF. Last year, a tiny show of just 10 eco-friendly furniture pieces selected by Bart Bettencourt (Bettencourt Green Building Supplies) and Kimberley Oliver (AmericanSuccessMachinery) drew crowds at the A Little Green show in May. This year, with the addition of design writer Aric Chen and Treehugger founder Graham Hill to the curating team, the HauteGreen show in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, was four times the size of A Little Green, and garnered enthusiasm from design aficionados and the public alike. Brooklyn-based design team Scrapile showed more of their modern patchwork furniture, which combines slices of discarded wood to create a multi-toned effect. Daniel Michalik’s Cortica Chaise, made from waste cork harvested from the bottle stopper industry, showcased the material’s potential for creating complex yet comfortable shapes. “The balanced form, along with the pliability of the material allows the user of this lounge to rock gently from side to side or on her back with a great degree of stability,” says Michalik. “The result is a sensation of floating, weightless and totally supported.” Mio’s glowing Shroom lights were a hit, as was UK designers Carpenter and Carpenter’s recycled book bookshelf. Even at the main ICFF shows, elements of nature-inspired design and recycling showed through; DouglasHomer’s Bronx Project covered classic tallboy dressers with graffiti and Cai-Light’s Stocking Lights came encased in vine-like crocheted covers. MW

New York’s ICFF is the most important annual design event in North America. It’s a place to see and be seen, and like all the best parties, there are old friends, great new faces and a few who make you wonder, “Who invited them?” Also like the best parties, it leaves people gossiping about what went on, who was looking good and who could use some work. This year, with over 21,000 visitors, numerically speaking the event was the most successful yet. Over 550 exhibitors from all over the world created a show that was cosmopolitan, varied and surprising. The prodigal Italians (back at ICFF after trying it out on their own last year) brought some of design’s biggest names back into the fold. Cappelini, Poliform Moroso and Kartell all presented slick new pieces imbued with the impeccable finesse unique to Italians. Furniture remained ‘cock of the walk’ but this year witnessed a growing contingent of textile manufacturers, flooring specialists and lighting. So what were the trends? Neo-baroque styling remains a favourite, with at least 10 different ‘re-visitations’ of the chandelier on show. Of particular note was the rubber-dipped chandelier by Tobias Wong for Citizen: Citizen. Colours also had a key role to play, from the gregarious offerings from Missoni Home to Panier, created for Kartell by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec: a jewel-like plastic ottoman presented in a plethora of colours. This sense of florid nostalgia sat alongside slick and minimal pieces like the covetable Vignelli chair from Heller: black, shiny, and sinisterly alluring, like Darth Vader’s helmet. Derin’s new Easy sofa takes the by-now predictable minimal corner suite and softens the edges, creating a new ‘inviting’ strain of minimalism that has been long in the coming. The New Zealand group Essenze stood out from the crowd. Their booth had the cosy, cluttered feel of the bach with David Trubridge’s warm timbers and Alison Henry’s luxurious accessories drawing icy glances from its minimalist neighbours and appreciative gazes from the buyers. ICFF this year played it safe. No revolutionary new trends, just a lot of great individual pieces from designers content to come to the party, but not willing to make a scene. OC