The third week in June, all roads lead to the magnificent, historic Merchandise Mart, spanning two entire city blocks on the bank of the Chicago River, where the Loop meets River North. The big draw, of course, is NeoCon, the National Exposition of Contract Furnishings, now in its 43rd year.
North America’s largest design exposition and conference for commercial interiors, NeoCon provides 40,000-plus architecture and design professionals with over 140 CEU-accredited seminars and association forums, along with top-notch keynote speakers. But the main attraction is the awesome array of products and resources – for corporate, hospitality, healthcare, retail, government, institutional and residential interiors – from more than 700 showrooms and exhibitors. The following four products are making their debut at NeoCon 2011.
From Amtico comes Urban Marble, low-VOC, resilient vinyl flooring made with ceramic finish, urethane coating and beveled edges. It’s available in a variety of plank, square and rectangular formats, including an updated random plank that creates a cool, clean canvas for modern furnishings.
Crossville in introducing Color by Numbers, a wall-tile program featuring 16 neutral and saturated colours created to work in tandem with other elements in a design scheme. Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Crossville has also joined with Benjamin Moore to offer paints selected with Color by Numbers in mind.
Karastan Contract, a brand of The Mohawk Group, captures the exotic allure of the Mediterranean with Moroccan, a new broadloom collection. Moroccan’s three patterns – Morocco III, Temera and Meknes, available in a palette of 18 colours – bring Old World luxury to contemporary interiors.
Unika Vaev, the ICF Group’s textile division, is launching Chromatica, a dramatic collection focussed on colour. It includes two styles. Effervesce, featuring a reflective yarn, sparkles like glass tile mosaic; it comes in 12 colourways, all named after “twinkly” drinks (such as grape soda and cherry cola). NeoGeo is a new take on “geometric”; 10 colours make up the palette, with different levels of optical illusion.
NeoCon 2011 runs at Chicago’s Merchandise Mart from June 13 to 15.
