I had the opportunity of visiting the ICFF on Saturday, I was somewhat disappointed with this years products. I have seen a lot of the same furniture, products and industrial design at last years event. There were only a hand-full of innovative, inspiring and or new products featured at this years event. I would still recommending visiting the ICFF event for possible networking opportunities, to be seen and heard and or to meet some nice and interesting people.

Posted by: Michael | May 18, 2008 4:30 PM

I had the very same experience as Michael.
Very much the same design that we've seen blogged a thousand times.
'Kind of like a live version of "Crib Candy", only with more expensive hot dogs concessions. (But STILL worth the trip, none-the-less.)

However, perhaps it is not all the designers' fault, if one were looking for fault.

The visual language of contemporary design & minimalist/geometric forms (without ornamentation) and designs without any reference to historic visual vocabularies gets to look a little dry after so many thousands of permutations.

As far as creating genuine innovation, my friends, that is a truly difficult nut to crack!

I don't blame any of these fine designers for not re-inventing the "contemporary" wheel at each and every design show. Professional design is a damn difficult business. Try it sometime.

That being said, please fell free to slam me with the "Fungo Bat" for my opinions.

Posted by: art | May 18, 2008 10:53 PM

12 months isn't really a lot of time to come up with significant changes and truly exciting new products. With almost any trade show, a company that presents regularly rarely has a 100% innovation ratio from year to year.

In my experience, going to a trade show once every three years is a significant amount of time to see a lot of fresh new stuff.

That is not to say that there isn't new, cool stuff at this year's ICFF. But, you definitely WILL be seeing some of the same stuff as last year. I've only taken a cursory spin around the floor and noticed both "same old" and "brand new".

Posted by: Jw | May 19, 2008 8:12 AM

All very true and quite accurate, Jw.

Also, please know that the designers @ the ICFF don't exhibit at only one show per year.

I exhibited at every ICFF show from 1993 to 2001- and that was only one of six trade shows we did each year. This was true for most all of the durable exhibitors that you see at the ICFF now.

Here's an example of what it is like for the designers: The same decorators, writers and architects that would see us @ the ICFF had already seen us at "Accent on Design" show at the Javits center in February- just three short months before and also at the New York Hotel and Restaurant Show just three months before that. We would produce at least 6 to 12 new designs for each and every show that we did during the year and they would STILL ask us, "So what do you have that's really new?" They would ask this without even looking at our booth first!

So you can now imagine, with the immediacy of the blogs, everyone wants the very "New" every single day of the year. It's tough for designers to keep up with such unrealistic demands- especially when you're still producing and shipping orders from the previous shows. I'm very glad that we do our business exclusively on line now.

I wish the great designers at these shows many good lucks and I applaud them for all of their hard work and creativity.

Posted by: art donovan | May 19, 2008 9:00 PM

I think that all of your comments are valid and present fair views of the show. Michael, I particularly agree with your point about meeting people - in my own experience, the personal contact with the creativity behind the object is invaluable. Meeting the designers, especially the emerging ones, is my favorite part. Jw and Art, you both offer useful food for thought, especially in the face of the "nothing new" whinge - a good reminder that a reality check always comes in handy. On the surface it may appear that little is new or spectacular, but then again, not everyone attending ICFF has been to all the preceding shows where pieces may have been launched. It is still an opportunity to see many somewhat new designs firsthand. And if you slow down, there are still enough new exhibitors who are enthusiastic about the chance to present their work.

Posted by: sabine | May 21, 2008 11:42 AM

While I love the fact that there are companies that are trying to redesign some our daily products on a more eco and craft friendly basis as an alternative to mega-production houses, the idea of Jonas Duman's "tube radio" (where you can't see the tubes) made of aluminum and MDF is an anomaly I can't quite fathom.

First of all if you know anything about materials, there has never been a worse, ersatz, air polluting combination of bad ideas than MDF. It is heavy, its dust when fabricated is deadly for the workers, gives off formaldehyde for years (if it happens to last that long) and decomposes in about 3 years under normal interior household environmental factors. Further, it is ugly and cannot be cleaned (unless saturated with auto body lacquer which itself is another litany of offenses). So MDF? What were you thinking Jonas? I know you're going to tell me it's the new green kind - ok scratch the formaldehyde - everything else is still true, including the deadly dust thing.

Next - the tubes. For anyone that has not taken the cover off an old tube radio and run it that way for the sheer pleasure of being able to see such a wondrous and complex wizardry of wire, glass and exotic gasses I can only tell you this - tubes are frikkin beautiful!! And their soft, candle-like glow is much needed magic as an alternative to the latest garish floro-bulbs flooding the market which suck the warmth out of an increasing number of homes just as their progenitors - fluorescent tubes have done for generations of industrial spaces with the resulting demoralization of corporate life.

Next, the design (oh no let's not go there!). We were told in Design School (back when there were such things) that every product has to assume it's own undeniable place on the design landscape without being confused with some other product. Must have it's own identity that bespeaks some of its intended function and could even play with that idea. A form of visual clarity that respects its individuality. Why, then, does this radio look like a fire safe?

So, in conclusion - Radio that looks like a fire safe, is made out of MDF and boasts tubes (that you can't see)??? What a series of design mis-statements and lost opportunities in this product. What was the designer thinking?

Posted by: Rob Thomas | March 16, 2009 5:22 PM