Neocon 2013 announces comprehensive list of awards winners

It might sound like a Republican convention but in fact Neocon is the annual workplace exhibition at the giant Merchandise Mart in the centre of Chicago. And when we say ‘workplace’, we mean largely ‘office furniture’.  It attracts around 700 exhibitors and 40,000  of visitors from all over the world and so can help to disseminate ideas that spring up in the US to influence design on a global scale.  Many of the themes apparent at this year’s show will be familiar around the world. As well as the fact that everybody is talking about the environmental credentials of the products, the themes are direct reflections of the concerns and priorities of office occupiers and specifiers. By custom, the first day of the show is when they dish out the awards.

This year’s awards offered the usual mix of major gongs going to the North American office furniture giants as well as recognition for the ideas of smaller manufacturers.  What is evident regardless of the scale of the supplier is that the office is no longer primarily about workstations. It is about meeting and public space, whether as meeting rooms, foyers, cafes, break out spaces or touchdown areas. It is about ergonomics. It is about acoustics. And it is about technology. Leading the field in this regard for 2013 was Haworth who showcased their already much talked about Bluescape digital wall, which won the gold award for workplace technology as well as the overall Best of Competition prize. Haworth also picked up an award for their Harbor Work Lounge collaborative seating range. [embedplusvideo height=”281″ width=”450″ standard=”https://www.youtube.com/v/4aaRXl38SKk?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=4aaRXl38SKk&width=450&height=281&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=&notes=” id=”ep3642″ /] Another American giant that was well represented was Steelcase which took home five awards in total including awards for the Gesture chair, which we mentioned as part of a story here, and the Buoy stool. [embedplusvideo height=”281″ width=”450″ standard=”https://www.youtube.com/v/CCmkKMBRZKI?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=CCmkKMBRZKI&width=450&height=281&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=&notes=” id=”ep1126″ /] The judges couldn’t leave out the third company in the great American furniture triumvirate and so Herman Miller won the award for Best Showroom as well as five products awards including a gold for the Metalform Portfolio furniture system and a new generation of Eames classics. Nucraft followed up last year’s Best of Competition Award with three awards this time around including for their Agility table. Other notable North American winners included Allsteel who won the Gold Award in the furniture systems category for Create and a Gold in the Software Category for their Square Foot Budgeting Calculator. …and Teknion who won four awards including a Gold for their Fractals seating group. It isn’t all about furniture however, so the Gold Award winner for Task lighting was the Mosso Pro LED Desk Lamp by Koncept Technologies Inc. Winner of the Gold Award in the modular flooring category was MODULAR ART MEDIA by Milliken. European firms were conspicuously thin on Awards although Spanish firm Andreu World won no less less than four awards including a Gold for stacking chair New Sit. …and Vitra won an Editor’s Choice Award for Workbay. Later this week we will publish a full review of the show from designer David Fox who will no doubt offer an eclectic mix of products that may have not got the attention they deserve.   The full list of Awards winners are as follows:   ARCHITECTURAL PRODUCTS: Silver: Olivia by Joel Berman Glass Studios Gold: V.I.A. by Steelcase CARPET: BROADLOOM Silver: Presage  by Tandus Flooring Gold: Shibori Collection Broadloom by Atlas Carpet Mills Inc.   CARPET: MODULAR Silver: Hexagon by Shaw Contract Group Gold: MODULAR ART MEDIA by Milliken   CASE GOODS: Silver: Merino Collection by Nucraft Silver: Element Collection by Thos. Moser Gold: Catalyst Phase II by Geiger International   CONFERENCE ROOM FURNITURE Silver: Slate by OFS Gold: Span by Davis Furniture   EDUCATION SOLUTIONS Silver: Zero9 by Borgo Gold: Bloom Collection by VANERUM STELTER   FURNITURE SYSTEMS Innovation: Metaform Portfolio by Herman Miller Silver: Abre Collection by TUOHY Furniture Corporation Gold: Create by Allsteel   FURNITURE SYSTEMS: ENHANCEMENTS Silver: Interpret by Teknion Gold: MILLENNIA by HALCON   FURNITURE: BENCHING Silver: Locale by Herman Miller Silver: Oxygen by AIS Gold: Eleven Work Space by OFS   HARD SURFACE FLOORING Silver: Design Catalyst by Patcraft Gold: Narrative by Tandus Floorig   HEALTHCARE FABRICS & TEXTILES Silver: Drift by Pallas Textiles Gold: Funnybone by cf stinson   HEALTHCARE FLOORING Innovation: Narrative by Tandus Flooring Silver: Chordinates by Shaw Commercial Hard Surface Gold: Grasscloth Collection by Tandus Flooring   HEALTHCARE FURNITURE (non-seating) Silver: Terra Infusion by Nemschoff Silver: Mile Marker by Carolina   HEALTHCARE SOLUTIONS/TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT Gold: TouchPoint T7 by Humanscale   HEALTHCARE: GUEST/LOUNGE SEATING Silver: JumpSeat Wall by Sedia Systems Gold: Regard by Nurture by Steelcase   LIGHTING: DECORATIVE Innovation: Lightfalls by 3M Architectural Markets Silver: Seeyond Lighted Wall Facing by Seeyond Architectural Solutions Gold: Tono LED Mood Light by Koncept Technologies Inc.   LIGHTING: TASK/DESKTOP Silver: Knoll LED Lighting Series by Knoll, Inc. Gold: Mosso Pro LED Desk Lamp by Koncept Technologies Inc.   OFFICE ACCESSORIES Silver: Newhouse Footrest by JRB Studio, a Baker Manufacturing brand Gold: Guardian by Neutral Posture, Inc.   SEATING: BENCHES Silver: Q5 by Davis Furniture Gold: Lagunitas by Coalesse   SEATING: COLLABORATIVE/WORK Silver: Harbor Work Lounge by Haworth Gold: Fractals Seating Group by Teknion   SEATING: CONFERENCE Silver: Webb C2 by Davis Furniture Gold: Juxta by Keilhauer   SEATING: ERGONOMIC DESK/TASK Silver:    muvman by aeris-Impulsmobel GmbH & Co. KG Silver: Impulse  by BOUTY partner of viasit germany Gold: Gesture by Steelcase   SEATING: GUEST Innovation: Buoy by Steelcase Silver: Lineal Corporate by Andreu World Gold: Eames Molded Wood Side Chair by Herman Miller   SEATING: SOFAS & LOUNGE Innovation: Armchair and Pouf01 by Pellizzoni Usa, Inc. Silver: Agora by Andreu World Silver: Manfred by Andreu World Gold: Asa by HBF   SEATING: STACKING Silver: Opt4 by KI Gold: New Sit by Andreu World   SIGNAGE & WAYFINDING Gold: Vivid, Image-Intense Signage by Takeform   SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES Silver: DesignFlex Visualizer by Mohawk Group Gold: Square Foot Budgeting Calculator by Allsteel   SURFACING MATERIALS/FINISHES Silver: CARVART Metallic by CARVART Gold: Skyline Digital Glass Portfolio by Skyline Design   TABLES: OCCASIONAL Silver: Aja by Nucraft Silver: HUGO by HALCON Gold: Quiet by Bernhardt Design   TABLES: TRAINING & WORK Gold: Agility by Nucraft   TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT Silver: VARIDESK by VARIDESK Gold: Cegano Smart Table by CP Furniture Systems Inc.   TEXTILES: UPHOLSTERY Innovation: Fit by Polartec by cf stinson Silver: SUNO Collection/Upholstery by Knoll Luxe Silver: Sheila Hicks Collection by Momentum Textiles Surface Tension Collection by Teknion   WALL TREATMENTS Innovation: Biobased Xorel by Carnegie Silver: NappaTile by Concertex Gold: Skyline Digital Glass Portfolio by Skyline Design   WALLS: MOVABLE Silver: Optos Low Profile by Teknion Gold: Seeyond Collaboration-Space Movable Walls by Seeyond Architectural Solutions   WINDOW TREATMENTS Silver: SUNO Collection / Drapery by Knoll Luxe Gold: MagnaShade by MechoSystems   WORKPLACE TECHNOLOGIES Gold: Bluescape by Haworth   EDITORS’ CHOICE Hopper Picnic Bench by JANUS et Cie Slam Beam by Leland International Cliffy 6000 by SIXINCH Workbay by Vitra