As part of NeoCon week, but extending well beyond (through July 31) Luminare is hosting an exhibit of the work of super-talented industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa. To kick off the event, Mr. Fukasawa was the honored guest at a lunch on Tuesday, which I was thrilled to attend. More

The other day we shared a major color trend that we picked up on at the contract trade show, NeoCon - Pumpkin. Another color coming on strong this year is Plum - not remotely a bright at all - the color we were seeing lots of was a true, dark, smokey purple, which (not surprisingly) works really well with the ultimate "new neutral" gray. More

Looking at fabrics in decidedly more wintery tones feels almost sacrilegious - the last thing we want to do is rush the all too short summer season, but since we made a stop at the Maharam showroom during NeoCon this week, its exactly what we are going to do... More

Carpet tiles have become a bit of a standard for contract applications - hard wearing, easy to replace and often a green-er option due to the cradle-to-cradle recycling. Since there is so much crossover of carpet tile use into the home, it's always fun to see what is new. We took pics at both the Shaw and InterfaceFLOR showrooms… More

Yesterday while at the Mart for NeoCon, we snapped some photos of one of the fabric showrooms, Luna. Everytime we walk by this particular showroom, it looks fresh, stylish and fun, all nice adjectives to garner when talking about how a home is decorated as well. Below the jump, a few design ideas to "take away" from this showroom… More

After attending Day Two of the big contract design trade show, NeoCon, we came to the conclusion that one of the colors that we'll be seeing lots more of can best be described as pumpkin. This is not the bright, poppy orange that was going strong a few years ago, it is a deep, bold color with rust undertones. We saw LOTS of it as we walked the showrooms and it definitely has a strong seventies feel, even on very contemporary pieces. More

NeoCon is all about hardworking furniture. The contract market focuses on furniture that is going to, most likely, get lots of use, in offices, hospitals, hotels and other public spaces. But clearly, that doesn't mean that it can't have elegant lines, as these pieces from Geiger show. More

In keeping with the 60s-ish op-art patterns we spotted a NeoCon last week, a return to a distinctly retro color combination. The Izzy+ showroom featured a palette... More

We attended the big show at the Mart last week called Neo-Con - it is a multi-floor extravaganza of furnishings and finishes aimed at the contract market. We always attend to get an eyeful of what is being shown and how it is presented - it's always fun to see the trends on the rise and those on their way out. This year we noticed quite a few op art inspired patterns being used, from upholstery to floor coverings.... More

One of the most elegant lines featured at NeoCon was Christian Liaigre for Holly Hunt. Very luxe materials, with colors and lines reminiscent of the earlier part of the 20th century, it has a flavor of Hollywood glamor. Jump below for our favorites:

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