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Bisley’s director of design, Chris Fowler, reports on trends and good taste at the largest commercial interiors show in North America.

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Words by Chris Fowler, Director of Design at Bisley

Held at the enormous Merchandise Mart in Chicago, Neocon is the largest commercial interiors show in North America, providing a forum for learning and networking on the grand scale of some 93,000 sq m of exhibition space.

Now in its 47th year NeoCon featured more than 700 leading exhibitors across key sectors including workplace, healthcare, hospitality, retail, education, public spaces and government.

A unique element of this show is that the majority of exhibitors occupy their showroom stand full time and put on more of a display. This year it attracted more than 50,000 attendees from around the world.

Although the concept of the office began in Chicago and the USA generally, in more recent years European working practices have been considered more advanced and in tune with the user. There are differences to be noted that have impacted on this. North America is a huge marketplace with scale, largely driven by commerce; office furniture therefore comprises a large element of the economy.

With a few exceptions, pressure on real-estate costs is not as significant when it comes to making decisions about office space and design, which obviously affects the way people work. But given the proven success of new ways of working, in terms of nurturing team work, communication and productivity, the American market is also gradually adopting these methods, driven by a desire to create a conducive environment to employee wellbeing and productivity as well as supporting a creative culture.

Humanscale's IQ aims to ensure workers' health and wellbeing

From a product perspective, the American and UK markets are converging with a number of common design trends that I have also seen at European shows. Dark woods, particularly American walnut, is a very popular finish with saturated blues, greys and greens as accents. Tapered legs were everywhere; on tables, chairs and storage units. I would even say that there is a common appreciation of what represents the latest design trends or good taste in both market places.

Electric height-adjustable desking was prominent in many manufacturers' showrooms this year, with ergonomics company Humanscale taking this further with Office IQ, in collaboration with tech company Tome. Office IQ aims to ensure the health and wellbeing of office workers, through measuring movement, sitting, standing, calorific expenditure and time away from one's desk.

From a design perspective I found the shift in office furniture towards a softer, more domestic feel an interesting trend. The technical tools we now have allow the furniture in the modern office to focus more on form rather than function, resulting in neat and simple forms. What is clear is that everyone is making everything. Boundaries between what different manufacturers produce are eroding and customers in the future will go to their favoured brand to fulfil all their requirements from chairs and desks to storage. All of which means that design credentials, innovation and service levels are becoming the marketplace's key differentiators.