Materials Matter: A New Platform for the Future
by Richard J. Lombard
The International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) is North America's singular showcase for contemporary design. The Fair draws tens of thousands of participants and visitors from around the world – more than 600 exhibitors (approximately half from the US) present their latest wares to both the trade and the public over four days in May of each year.
For 2008, the Fair’s organizers, George Little Management, have teamed up with Material ConneXion to present Materials Matter (bold, italic, in quotes?), a special exhibition dedicated to showcasing cutting edge materials and innovative production processes. This “show within a show” will be a tremendous resource for both designers and manufacturers alike, providing a look at those materials and technologies that will shape the future of industry.
Materials Matter will be launched into a world economy hungry for innovation, interdisciplinary flexibility, and new resources. More and more, industries are looking for that catalyst that will spark a revolution; and in the area of furniture and home furnishings, new and innovative materials take on a whole new life.
From Ray and Charles Eames and their pressed plywood chairs to Anna Castelli’s innovative plastic pieces to Marcel Wanders and his resin-infused lace and string, furniture has brought a remarkable diversity of new materials into our homes. Unfamiliar materials, technologies, and production processes provide designers (of all disciplines) with inspiration and innovation at every stage of product development.
Conceived as a showcase and a marketplace for material opportunities, Materials Matter will provide a fruitful environment for the producers of innovative materials and technologies to introduce their wares to the design industry. Brought together in an appropriately materially-focused environment designed by the renowned firm of 2x4, material manufacturers will find themselves at the heart of not just the furniture design world but the larger design world by extension.
Already a bellwether for the furniture and home furnishings industries, ICFF is also visited by investigative teams from the worlds of apparel, transportation, and consumer electronics. These industries are all visiting the fair to see what is new and what is next for our personal environments, and the inclusion of Materials Matter will serve to strengthen the connection to the future of design – because materials DO matter.
Need a material for your Interior or Furniture project? Contact our Strategic Materials Solution team.