I have just returned from New York, where I attended ICFF, the International Contemporary Furniture Fair. This show is pure eye candy to those of us who love all things contemporary, so I was happy to have a chance to go there myself this year.
There were so many fabulously designed products that my walk along the aisles of the Javits Center was a slow one. I was particularly impressed with a number of companies from Denmark, all of them exhibiting at ICFF for the first time, that showed real design talent in a variety of products ranging from a basic kitchen trash bin (the Standinn Garbage Square has a slide-back top you set in motion with a pedal) to a modular sofa (Eilersen’s Krypton model was so clean and fresh!).
I also loved the Thailand section at the fair. Eggarat Wongcharit is a man I met for the first time in the 1990’s when I was invited by Thailand’s Department of Export Promotion to give seminars on US home furnishings color and design trends in two Thai cities. This was the first of half a dozen or so trips I have made to share my trend expertise with Thai designers. I was so taken by Eggarat’s talent that I have continued to look for his work everywhere high-designed contemporary furniture is shown.
Eggarat founded Crafactor in 2002 and is one of four designers who are developing award-winning designs. This year, a chair with an openwork base was the result of Eggarat’s search for “something lighter.” He was inspired by the natural form and play of light surrounding the Bouginvillea. Here is his wonderful chair.