Special Report: ICFF — International Contemporary Furniture Fair 2008
The 2008 ICFF — International Contemporary Furniture Fair — held its annual exhibit at
the Jacob Javits Center in New York on the newest offerings from the furniture, lighting, materials
and accessories worlds. Countries from far-flung Philippines, Thailand to Denmark and the U.K.
participated with the best from their countries. Craftsmanship, originality and functionality
are the hallmarks of each of the 600 and more exhibitors in this much-anticipated event.
Starting off with furniture, Chris Marta of Anvil NY Design thought outside the box and conceived a fluid, graceful desk, resembling a bird in flight. Appropriately named the Sparrow, the desk has slender legs that arc over its desktop and touch down once more on the floor. Marta created Sparrow for library use - where tight space demanded small desks and flexible layouts. Although designed for libraries, the Sparrow is a perfect fit for small city apartments or that coveted but elusive room, the den.
While not exactly new, another graceful piece is the Cherner chair with its sweeping arms. This chair could have been designed to match the Sparrow desk — both exude an airy, floating impression. The chair was actually created by Norman Cherner fifty years ago but is being reissued today with updated finishes. Made from molded plywood, the Cherner now comes in walnut, beech or painted veneers. It also offers different configurations — an armchair, stacking, side chair or a barstool. The Cherner is a true modern classic.
Graceful curves are recurring motifs at the ICFF — Fredericia from Denmark contributes their Stingray chair to the field. Thomas Pedersen of Federicia designed an organic shaped lounge chair inspired by the wings of the stingray fish. The Stingray is made of molded plastic and can also be upholstered in leather. A choice of stationary or rocking chair options is also offered.
Another curvaceous seating is the Ribbon Float Lounge from Aswoon. Made of repurposed poplar plywood, designer/sculptor Susan Woods of Aswoon created a striking showpiece that highlights the poplar's wood grain. The lounge chairs are manufactured locally — at the Brooklyn Navy Yards in New York &madash; and all the materials are supplied by local lumberyards.
The whimsical approach to design is not to be outdone by the serious designers. Maze from the Philippines contributes the Easel chair. Enclosed by an actual picture frame and upholstered in a pattern reminiscent of artist Gustav Klimt's paintings, the Easel is a fun and unusual approach to seating. One can imagine many different Easel chairs inspired by a customer's favorite artist.
Straightline Designs of Vancouver, Canada leaves the straight lines to other furniture companies. Targeted to children but also to adults with a sense for the absurd, their furniture displays comic touches. A punch in the middle of a chest of drawers leaves a gaping hole. The Cindy dresser is ready to dance with its rollicking, wavy shaped cabinets. A rolled-up sardine tin provides the basis of a whimsical bench. Despite the "gaffes", all the furniture is highly functional and made of maple solids and veneers.
Highly designed outdoor furniture has gained popularity across the board. In last year's ICFF the Philippines introduced its sexy vividly-colored rattan outdoor lounge furniture. This year it's Thailand's turn. Deesawat of Thailand has displayed their multipurpose outdoor summer furniture. Starting with a minimalist cubist form made of teak, the cube morphs into his and her summer lounge beds with a couple of changes to the base and the addition of cushions. Another pull of the floor base brings up a pair of benches and a picnic table and voila, a shaded alfresco dining area!
The simplicity and elegance of Asian design is evident in the Tao cocktail table from Hellman-Chang.
Actually both designers hail from New York but their furniture line looks at home in any modern Asian
home. Winner of Interior Design Magazine's 2007 Best of Year Merit Design Award, the Tao table
displays a central hole that allows placement of floral arrangements or a hors d'oeuvres plate.
Their furniture pieces come in a variety of hardwoods from walnut, sapele to cherry.
Besides furniture, ICFF exhibits the latest in materials for walls, flooring and other surfaces. From the U.K., Anne Kyyro Quinn introduced her award winning innovative wall coverings. Made of environmentally-friendly fabric - 100% sustainable wool felt - the wall coverings have a sculptural quality and provides exciting visual interest on normally flat walls. Anne Kyyro Quinn created a wide variety of three-dimensional patterns — one looks like the skeletal vertebrae of a fish, another the lips of flower petals. The 3-D surface also acts as a noise sponge, an advantage in high-traffic locations.
For flooring and countertop surfaces, Renewed Materials introduced its Alkemi product line. Alkemi is completely made up of recycled scrap waste - such as fine flake aluminum milling scrap. Taking advantage of the aluminum waste, Alkemi is transformed into a multi-colored surface material that can be used as an alternative to stone and glass surfaces.
Tina Hancox of Tay Lighting from London exhibited their laser-cut light fixtures. These lights are made from tin, fiberglass and cotton and patterns are laser-cut onto these materials. When light shines through its sides, a delicate light and shadow pattern is cast onto the surrounding walls and ceiling. Tay also offers a choice of pendant fixtures, accent-table lights and floor lamps. Pictured here is the romantic Fleur Black hanging ellipse pendant fixture.
What home is complete without a warm, inviting fireplace? But these days, most homes do not have space for a chimney and flue or if they already have one, it's blocked due to code safety issues. Enter Ecosmart Fire and Planika. Both companies have managed to create the portable fireplace. Now there's no need to build a chimney, flue or even the hearth and firebox. If you eliminate the need to channel away that residual smoke, you don't need to build all these parts. Ecosmart uses environmentally-friendly ethanol fuel to light its burner — it burns cleanly but without the pesky smoke. Their burner is key to its flexibility — it's a small flat box that safely encloses its internal mechanics with only a narrow slit to allow a controlled flame to emerge. The burner can be embedded in various free-floating furniture pieces or onto a small column or whatever your designer can imagine. Planika also created coffee tables with its burner built into it. Their fuel is also of plant origin and is a clean renewable source.
The ICFF show is a true indicator where the design industry around the world is headed to. It's also the place where designers can get inspired to create their future works.
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