by Brianna Crandall — June 15, 2016 — The winners of the 2016 Best of NeoCon Competition were announced June 13 at an awards breakfast hosted by Contract magazine on the first day of the NeoCon contract furnishings show, held this week at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. Fully 90 awards were distributed in this year’s competition, many of which will be covered on FMLink in weeks to come (see note below * ).
NeoCon
In its 48th year, NeoCon is considered North America’s largest design exposition and conference for commercial interiors, and is annually attended by nearly 50,000 architecture and design and facilities management professionals and specifiers.
With over 1 million sq. ft. of exhibition space showcasing 700+ leading companies, the show launches thousands of new products and covers a spectrum of vertical markets including workplace, healthcare, hospitality, retail, education, public spaces and government.
FMLink Publisher Peter Kimmel, AIA, IFMA Fellow and others noted an overall theme of the show to be workplace solutions that look almost residential, “to make people feel more at home when they go to the office.” This can lead to better productivity with today’s mobile technology, and a sense of community and connection.
Designers also mentioned working toward a sense of physical and emotional comfort (safety, security), helping mobile workers connect and feel valued, and helping all workers feel inspired and empowered while maximizing technology-enabled worksurfaces and a shrinking footprint.
Best of NeoCon
Celebrating its 27th year, the prestigious Best of NeoCon Competition honors new commercial interiors products that are introduced to the market during NeoCon in 42 categories ranging from Architectural and Decorative Glass to Workplace Technologies.
This year, over 40 jurors who are interior designers, architects and FM professionals responsible for selecting and buying furniture and furnishings for their specific organizations or clients reviewed close to 350 product entries in person over the three days before NeoCon began.
The Best of NeoCon Competition is sponsored by Contract magazine, Merchandise Mart Properties, the International Interior Design Association (IIDA), the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), and The McMorrow Reports for Facilities Management.
All the Best of NeoCon entries and categories are viewable on the Contract Network site. The jurors selected Gold and Silver winners in each category, as well as Innovation Awards and a Best of Competition winner. Contract editors also selected winners for the Editors’ Choice awards.
Best of Competition Award
Teknion’s Best of Competition winner Zones is a comprehensive series of furniture products that address the needs for focus, collaborative and workshop areas within the office environment.
The Zones series, Gold winner of the Furniture Collections for Collaboration Category, took the top prize as the Best of Competition. Manufactured by Teknion and designed by Tom Lloyd and Luke Pearson of PearsonLloyd, Zones is a comprehensive series of furniture products that address the needs for focus, collaborative and workshop areas within the office environment.
In addition, the Zones Bench won Gold in the Seating: Benches category, and the Zones Table was awarded Silver in the Conference Room Furniture category. For more FM-specific information on Teknion products, see the company’s FMLink ad.
More articles coming! *
Look for stories and photographs on Teknion’s Zones in a future FMLink article, along with articles on other major products exhibited during NeoCon that are of interest to facilities managers.
During the next few weeks, as soon as FMLink posts a story on these award-winning products, we will provide live links from the list below. We suggest you bookmark this page so that you can access product information quickly and easily.
Listed alphabetically by categories below are the Gold and Silver Award winners, as well as the winners of the Innovation Awards and the Editors’ Choice Awards.
BEST OF COMPETITION
ARCHITECTURAL AND DECORATIVE GLASS
Gold: CARVART, for CARVART Contract
Silver: Skyline Design, for Glass Gradients
ARCHITECTURAL PRODUCTS
Gold: Unika Vaev, for ecoustic Veneer
Silver: Construction Specialties, for Acrovyn Wall Panels
CARPET FIBER
Gold: Universal Fibers, for Thrive
CARPET: BROADLOOM
Gold: Tarkett, for Open Archive: Over Stitch and Moquette
Silver: Shaw Contract, for Modern Edit
CARPET: MODULAR (tiles)
Gold: Milliken, for Lapidus
Silver: Inteface, for World Woven Collection
Innovation: Mohawk Group, for Topograhy
Innovation: Tarkett, for Open Archive: GeoKnit and Cache Tweed
CASE GOODS
Gold: Geiger, for Geiger Rhythm
Silver: Allsteel, for Approach
CONFERENCE ROOM FURNITURE
Gold: Andreu World, for Ratio
Silver: Teknion, for Zones Table
Innovation: SiS Ergo, for Ellehaven
EDUCATION SOLUTIONS
Gold: PS Furniture, for Müm
Silver: RT London, for Evolve
FILES AND MOBILE STORAGE SYSTEMS
Gold: Steelcase, for High Density Storage
Silver: Knoll, for Rockwell Unscripted
FLOORING: HARD-SURFACE
Gold: Tarkett, for Collections Infinies
Silver: Mannington Commercial, for Infused Collection
Editors’ Choice: Shaw Contract: Modern Edit Resilient
FURNITURE COLLECTIONS for COLLABORATION
Gold, Best of Show: Teknion, for Zones
Silver: Keilhauer, for Hangout
Editors’ Choice: Bernhardt Design: Studio: twenty-something
FURNITURE SYSTEMS
Gold: HALCON Furniture, for FOUNDRY
Silver: Vitra, for Hack
FURNITURE SYSTEMS: ENHANCEMENTS
Gold: HALCON Furniture, for FOUNDRY
Silver: Haworth, for Integrated Palette Enhancements: Compose Connections and Active Components
FURNITURE: BENCHING
Gold: DeskMakers, Inc., for Hover Benching
Silver: Scale 1:1, for EYHOV 120 Hub
HEALTHCARE FABRICS AND TEXTILES
Gold: CF Stinson: Ethereal + Effervescence
Silver: Carnegie, for Ombré
HEALTHCARE FLOORING
Gold: Mannington Commercial, for Divergent Collection
Silver: Patcraft, for Admix
Innovation: Tarkett, for Mesto Configuration
HEALTHCARE: GUEST/LOUNGE SEATING
Gold: KI, for MyPlace
HEALTHCARE: PATIENT SEATING
Gold: Nemschoff, a Herman Miller Co., for Ava Recliner
LIGHTING: DECORATIVE
Gold: Koncept Inc., for Z-Bar LED Pendant
Silver: Barbican, for The Wave
Innovation: Green Furniture Concept, for Leaf Lamp Series
LIGHTING: TASK / DESKTOP / FURNITURE-INTEGRATED
Gold: Teknion, for Teknion Sanna by Pablo
Silver: Luxo, for Trace
LOUNGE FURNITURE COLLECTIONS
Gold: Inscape, for Longo
Silver: Bernhardt Design, for Modern Family
Editors’ Choice: HBF: Conexus
OFFICE ACCESSORIES
Gold: BuzziSpace, for BuzziBalance
Silver: IdeaPaint, for IdeaPaint Mobile Writable Surfaces
SEATING: BAR STOOLS
Gold: Bernhardt Design, for Laine
Silver: Andreu World, for Flex S-Series
SEATING: BENCHES
Gold: Teknion, for Zones Bench
Silver: Keilhauer, for Visit
SEATING: CONFERENCE
Gold: Andreu World, for Alya Chair
Silver: Davis Furniture, for Cloud
SEATING: ERGONOMIC DESK/TASK
Gold: SitOnIt Seating, for Novo
Silver: Inscape, for TurnAround
SEATING: GUEST
Gold: Gunlocke, for Metta
Silver: Andreu World, for Couvé Chair
Editors’ Choice: Davis Furniture: Zen
SEATING: SOFAS AND LOUNGE
Gold: Andreu World, for Flex Lounge
Silver: Davis Furniture, for Ginkgo Lounge Low Back
Innovation: Bernhardt Design: Mellow
SEATING: STACKING
Gold: Andreu World, for Duos
Silver: Vitra, for Belleville Chair and Armchair
SIGNAGE AND WAYFINDING
Silver: 2/90 Sign Systems, for Klik Sign System
SOFTWARE FOR SPECIFICATIONS
Gold: Shaw Contract, for Shaw Contract Design Tool
SPACE DIVIDERS / PARTITIONS / SCREENS
Gold: Knoll, for Rockwell Unscripted
Silver: LOFTwall, for BLOX
SURFACING MATERIALS/FINISHES
Gold: Designtex, for Designtex Bespoke Surfaces
Silver: Carnegie, for Xorel Artform
TABLES: OCCASIONAL
Gold: Andreu World, for Reverse Lounge Tables
Silver: Bernhardt Design, for Clue / Chance
Innovation: Steelcase, for Bassline Tables
TABLES: TRAINING AND WORK
Gold: Nucraft, for Approach
Silver: Davis Furniture, for Techniq
TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT
Gold: Humanscale, for QuickStand Lite
Silver: Innovative Office Products, for EVO 5900
TECHNOLOGY-INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS
Gold: Teknion, for Tek Pier
Silver: Dekko, for Low Voltage System: USB Charging
TEXTILES: UPHOLSTERY
Gold: HBF Textiles, for Christiane Müller Collection
Silver: Bernhardt Design, for Anabela Chan Collection
Innovation: Steelcase, for New Black Collection
WALL TREATMENTS
Gold: DuChâteau Floors, for Metamorphosis
Silver: Snowsound USA, for Snowsound SIPARIO
Innovation: 3form, for Viva (Powered by E Ink)
WALLS: MOVABLE
Gold: Maars Living Walls, for lineaCube
Silver: Maars Living Walls, for PanoramaCurve
WINDOW TREATMENTS
Gold: Carnegie, Atomospheres Collections, for Creation Baumann for Carnegie
Silver: MechoSystems, for EcoVeil Sheer Shadecloth
Innovation: MechoSystems, for Daylight Sensor
WORKPLACE TECHNOLOGIES
Gold: Dekko, for Low Voltage System: USB Charging
Silver: Steelcase, for Steelcase Workplace Advisor
