New York – May 18th – Javits Convention Center: ICFF. On a very rainy and wet day I visited the ICFF, International Contemporary Furniture Fair, New York’s version of the Salone del Mobile. Below are some of the winners of the 2010 ICFF Editors Awards. The Jury consisted of the industry’s top design editors who selected the best of the best of the year's crop of designs in sixteen categories.
2010 ICFF Editors Awards – seating. Arper won the seating award. The Italian company’s direction is guided by; market globalization, environmental credibility and a pursuit of innovation. Above, the Team chair designed by lievore Altherr, Molina, a seating collection inspired by the essential lines of contemporary architecture and innovative technology. Team offers a family of seating options to suit all commercial and hospitality applications ranging from high end design to auditorium functionality.
2010 ICFF Editors Awards – Furniture. Mabeo is a furniture brand from Botswana, Africa. Collaborating with a select list of international designers including well known names like Patricia Urquiola and Claesson Koivisto Rune, the Mabeo brand uses good design, high levels of craftsmanship, carefully selected sustainable raw materials and people development as key building blocks. In the photograph Peter Mabeo is sitting on Patricia Urquiola’s Kika Stool, which is hand made using an involved process of wood lamination, turning and sculpting.
Claesson Koivisto Rune/Mabeo. The Kalahari Bench designed by Claesson Koivisto Rune, key feature is the leg that appears to have been pushed through the top to show on the tables surface.
2010 ICFF Editors Awards – New Designers. Andrew Mau and Asher Dunn are just two of the three designers that with Jorge Gomez make up Studio Dunn. Studio Dunn uses classic materials to create progressive designs for products, furniture and environments. The studio adopts a conscious use of materials, considering ways to reuse materials, minimize waste and benefit the environment without compromising the integrity of the designs. Andrew and Asher are standing beside the Coventry Stools made in American hardwood and the Cumberland Lamps, the pure and simple abstraction of a classic lamp form.
Studio Dunn. The Barrington Chair has a bent wood backrest, which ensures comfort and good posture and is made from American hardwood.
2010 ICFF Editors Awards – Craftsmanship. Kataoka Katsuhito of Cocochi Design won the award for best Craftsmanship. The Uzu series, Uzu means swirl, can be used in many ways. The design of this stool features a spiral pattern processed by a numerical control router, which is difficult to be processed manually. It is unique in appearance as well as its non-slip proprieties.
2010 ICFF Editors Awards – Lighting. Peter Stathis and Virtual Studio won the lighting award. The Ikebana's unique flat-panel LED light gives off a very soft and natural light and is fully dimmable. It can be adjusted to any position and the flower head pivots and tilts in two axes. The Ikebana light merges poetics with technology, decoration with function and aesthetics with ideology, in creating a symbolic beauty, a neo-nature for today’s solid-state world.