styleNorth

I’m just back from a long weekend of site-seeing and design watching at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York City. Are my feet ever sore!

Wow, what a city! What an event! Being a newbie to ICFF, I really didn’t know what to expect, but I quickly discovered that for both vendors and buyers it is quite simply THE international show to be at. Shortly into the fair I had a bit of an ‘ahha’ moment. It suddenly struck me how important materials are to a designer. Give the average Joe a piece of Velcro, a plastic bottle or a bunch of quarters and ask him to make something and well, I think we all know what the outcome would be. Give these same materials to a good designer and magic happens.

Eugenio Menjivar from El Salvador used recycled plastic milk and juice jugs to make this fabulously fun chandelier. The plastic was reshaped and dyed (yes, plastic can be dyed!) and then formed into large and colourful organic flowers (retail $3,000).

Irish designer, Rachel O’Neill‘s oversized whimsical lights are made with Velcro and feathers. These richly coloured pieces (more dyed plastic) retail for $3,000 – $5,000. The artist also showcased a rather interesting chandelier, above left, made with lacy black ladies undies. And why not?

Vancouver designer Martha Sturdy‘s illuminated club chair is made of resin. The yellow glow of the light adds warmth to this stunning winter white chair (retail $10,800). The designer mentioned that her one-of-a-kind black and white resin coffee table (behind the chair to the left, $4,800) had just been purchased by Toronto’s Hollace Cluny.

Kimono New York is dedicated to promoting the use of kimono and obi fabrics for fine furnishings like the remarkable Kimono Chaise, above. I was assured that only the finest silks were used and that the threads actually had gold in them, which made the $35,000 price point a little easier to understand.

Rhode Island artist Tracy Glover‘s elegant blown glass lamps offer a kaleidoscope of rich colours but since I’m a lover of all things white, her white lamp with four balls was my personal favourite (retail $720). The spear hanging lamps retail for $585 and $618. Tracy’s work can be found at Toronto’s Hollace Cluny.

This year was Vermont’s Johnny Swing‘s ninth showing at ICFF. His amazing lounge chair is made with 6,800 American quarters welded together. The price is $72,000! The designer’s half-dollar/butterfly chair is constructed from 15,000 American half dollars. With a price point of $59,000 I was genuinely happy and a little surprised to hear that, to date, he has sold 29 of them. I asked Johnny if he’d ever considered using our ‘very pretty’ Canadian Toonie in his work. He said he had but apparently it’s illegal to ‘weld’ Canadian currency. Who knew?

Colgate Seale is part of um studio out of Brooklyn, NY. His fun and funky ‘Nebu’ chandelier is made with 250 vintage and antique glasses. The cool thing about this light is that the glasses aren’t permanently attached allowing changes to the overall look or colour at any time ($15,000-$20,000 retail).

I really could go on and on and on. Now I understand why ICFF is THE international furniture show! It was very exciting to see so many passionate and creative designers from all over the world under one roof. I’m glad I made the show part of our overly-ambitious itinerary. Somehow it was the Met that got bumped . . . next time.

KJ is Karen Johnston, the Canadian designer behind Mosaicworks. Thanks for the report Karen!