May 30: 17,000 dedicated design devotees hoofed it through the 15th annual International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) the past few days looking for hot designs and emerging talent in the world of furniture, seating, lighting, carpets and flooring, wall coverings, textiles, materials and kitchen and bath accessories.
Held at New York's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, the yearly furniture-fest features the best in contemporary design. It's the leading locale for designers to debut and parade new product designs, so FWD trolled through booth after booth, in fact scoured over 450 designers, manufacturers, and representatives from all over the world.
Once relegated to the realm of the prison cell, stainless steel toilets are now hip. Philippe Starck helped in bringing the industrial bathroom sets to the attention of designers a few years back, and now the shiny pots are popping up everywhere. California based stainless steel bathroom experts, Neo-Metro, not only offer loos in the stuff but basins, urinals and even bathtubs -- which we heard one design aficionado remark are "my dream, but my maid's nightmare."
Speaking of hardy, high grade design with a shine, FWD trundled down to Soho and sought out some souped-up airstreams. Completely kitted out by architect Christopher Diehm, every surface and service in the travel trailers is a designer's dream. The Airstream "International CCD" comes fully equipped with a stellar sound system, cooktop/stove, roller pull-shades and a seamless vinyl floor. Any sophisticate urban hipster with the occasional longing for the hills and a spare $50,000 to dole out, should have one. Camping has never been so cool.
In the world of lighting, Elite showed some fantastic chandeliers. Hand-blown in Venice, they can be customized in color, size and ornaments and start at a mere $2000. At a higher price point, the crystal king Swarovski made its debut at the show, dazzling visitors with their lighting and interior crystal designs. The Austrian company showed off three brand new sparklers -- 'Cone', 'Fairy Wing' and 'Twist' - all of which utilize the play between the light and the top notch lead crystal.
Mood lighting was one of the most obvious new trends at ICFF 2003. Ondesign, Visposia and Mood Light featured lighting in the form of a floor lamp, wall box and light accessories which can all be set to your choice of color, pulse, pattern and luminosity depending on your mood and your taste. Furniture designer Dario Antonioni and lighting designer Aaron Rincover took the illuminating concept even further for Orange 22, by producing a superb table with a glowing top that can alter its color and pattern with a simple touch of the control pad.

Over in the wallcovering department, Innovations in Wallcoverings and Brit firm Tracy Kendall are by far the best of the bunch. Luxury covering company Innovations, whose products coat the classy walls of Gucci stores and W Hotels, snatched up the ICFF editors' 'Best Material Award' for their debut of 'Natural Wovens' -- a green cellulose paper product with the exact look and feel of woven leather. Tracy Kendall, who designs and produces 3-D wall coverings, introduced two new styles -- a covering covered in buttons, and a custom covering where the client picks out paper flags with any word they like and compose a 'personal wall'. Italian designer Deanna Comellini of G.I. Design has focused her work on reinventing the rug. Woven on handlooms, dyed with non-toxic colors and using raw materials such as coconut, silk and hemp, the beautiful pieces can put on the floor or hung as 'whiteout' doors.
Bureau Report