Posted by Harry
Shows | 17 May 08 | Comments (5) | Stumble
MoCo Loco is at ICFF this weekend and here are a few of our first looks from the show floor; after the jump Ameico's portable fireplace moves easily from room to room, Isolyn was showing floral felt with embedded LEDs, Michael Iannone was showing low tables with delicate wood inlays, Titi Abiola's chairs had DIY decorative upholstery, Miranda Meilleur's delicate silver tableware is almost too fine to use, Jeremy Cole's new Orchid lamp is made with ground porcelain, Mark McKenna's unique bettylou wine glass with LED lamp is both rechargeable and portable, Areaware's 2B Tube Amp Radio is transistor free, and Pablo Designs' versatile magnetic LED task lamp is for both table and wall.
Ameico's portable fireplace moves easily from room to room.
Isolyn was showing floral felt with embedded LEDs.
Michael Iannone was showing low tables with delicate wood inlays.
Titi Abiola's chairs had DIY decorative upholstery
Miranda Meilleur's delicate silver tableware is almost too fine to use.
Jeremy Cole's new Orchid lamp is made with ground porcelain.
Mark McKenna's unique bettylou wine glass with LED lamp rechargeable and portable.
Areaware's 2B Tube Amp Radio is transistor free.
Pablo Designs' versatile magnetic LED task lamp is for both table and wall.
I had the opportunity of visiting the ICFF on Saturday, I was somewhat disappointed with this years products. I have seen a lot of the same furniture, products and industrial design at last years event. There were only a hand-full of innovative, inspiring and or new products featured at this years event. I would still recommending visiting the ICFF event for possible networking opportunities, to be seen and heard and or to meet some nice and interesting people.
I had the very same experience as Michael.
Very much the same design that we've seen blogged a thousand times.
'Kind of like a live version of "Crib Candy", only with more expensive hot dogs concessions. (But STILL worth the trip, none-the-less.)
However, perhaps it is not all the designers' fault, if one were looking for fault.
The visual language of contemporary design & minimalist/geometric forms (without ornamentation) and designs without any reference to historic visual vocabularies gets to look a little dry after so many thousands of permutations.
As far as creating genuine innovation, my friends, that is a truly difficult nut to crack!
I don't blame any of these fine designers for not re-inventing the "contemporary" wheel at each and every design show. Professional design is a damn difficult business. Try it sometime.
That being said, please fell free to slam me with the "Fungo Bat" for my opinions.
12 months isn't really a lot of time to come up with significant changes and truly exciting new products. With almost any trade show, a company that presents regularly rarely has a 100% innovation ratio from year to year.
In my experience, going to a trade show once every three years is a significant amount of time to see a lot of fresh new stuff.
That is not to say that there isn't new, cool stuff at this year's ICFF. But, you definitely WILL be seeing some of the same stuff as last year. I've only taken a cursory spin around the floor and noticed both "same old" and "brand new".
All very true and quite accurate, Jw.
Also, please know that the designers @ the ICFF don't exhibit at only one show per year.
I exhibited at every ICFF show from 1993 to 2001- and that was only one of six trade shows we did each year. This was true for most all of the durable exhibitors that you see at the ICFF now.
Here's an example of what it is like for the designers: The same decorators, writers and architects that would see us @ the ICFF had already seen us at "Accent on Design" show at the Javits center in February- just three short months before and also at the New York Hotel and Restaurant Show just three months before that. We would produce at least 6 to 12 new designs for each and every show that we did during the year and they would STILL ask us, "So what do you have that's really new?" They would ask this without even looking at our booth first!
So you can now imagine, with the immediacy of the blogs, everyone wants the very "New" every single day of the year. It's tough for designers to keep up with such unrealistic demands- especially when you're still producing and shipping orders from the previous shows. I'm very glad that we do our business exclusively on line now.
I wish the great designers at these shows many good lucks and I applaud them for all of their hard work and creativity.
I think that all of your comments are valid and present fair views of the show. Michael, I particularly agree with your point about meeting people - in my own experience, the personal contact with the creativity behind the object is invaluable. Meeting the designers, especially the emerging ones, is my favorite part. Jw and Art, you both offer useful food for thought, especially in the face of the "nothing new" whinge - a good reminder that a reality check always comes in handy. On the surface it may appear that little is new or spectacular, but then again, not everyone attending ICFF has been to all the preceding shows where pieces may have been launched. It is still an opportunity to see many somewhat new designs firsthand. And if you slow down, there are still enough new exhibitors who are enthusiastic about the chance to present their work.