NeoCon, Day 3: Interior Design at Work

As a nation of workaholics, Americans are continuing to spend far more time at the office than ever, literally making their workplace their second home. Since renovating our living spaces has become a national sport, it follows that the American office would be next on the line for sprucing up. And indeed that’s what’s happening: Manufacturers are creating contract products that not only address workplace basics like ergonomics, flexibility, and privacy, but also have a sense of style missing from many case goods.

For example, there’s Jofco’s Collective Motion and Collective Presentation lines of furniture and media systems, which take their cue from residential furnishings. Then there’s the Embrace Family line of healthcare furniture, which aims to making hospital waiting rooms look like hotel lobbies, but not at the expense of the needs of the elderly and disabled.

There’s clearly something going on with contract fabrics, too, as companies release playful, quirky patterns that seem more appropriate for the home than office. Examples of the trend: The Story of My Life, made for Maharam by Maira Kalman, which features a repeating pattern of over 200 eccentric pictographs, and Carnegie Fabrics’s Tattoo collection, which was inspired by the graphic foundations of tattoo art.

To read more about these products, as well as view others, visit Live@NeoCon 2005.