Guess where I was earlier this week?!??! NEOCON in Chicago. It was my first time to NEOCON and my second time to Chicago. The first time I was 10 years old for a Youth Conference at my church so I barely remember anything about the city. It is a lovely city too. I arrived in Chicago early Monday morning, dropped my bags off at the hotel Tremont and caught a cab to the Merchandise Mart for my first appointment at 1030am with Sue Krug to see ICF Group, Arcadia, Martin Brattrud, Nessen, Arcadia and Bright.

I got to see everything but Bright before I had to get to my 1130 appointment and lunch with Mary Pedley of OFS.

Steelcase

Bernhardt/Leland/Keilhauer

Buzzispace

Bernhardt, again

At the end of the day Angela (my Quebec trip travel buddy) and I went to the Tandus Showroom Happy Hour, onto the Architectural Boat Tour along the river and then out to dinner with Rachel from Tandus, the CEO of Tandus (who was wonderful to talk to), Jigna of Centiva and several other young ladies from firms around the Philadelphia and Delaware area, along with two other co-workers of Jigna’s at Centiva. We had the best farm-to-table dinner at 676 Restaurant in the Omni Hotel along the Magnificent Mile and one of the best wines which actually has an anniversary this year for putting California on the map as a wine country many years ago during a wine competition in Europe.

I woke up Tuesday morning and went to the top of the John Hancock Building to its Observatory. It was awesome! What a great trip! NEOCON was more crowded this year than it’s been in awhile according to a lovely designer I spoke to in the elevator line who has been going to NEOCON for years. It’s not as crowded as it was years ago, but she said it was a lot more people this year. Overall it was a great experience. One I would love to repeat next year. I would like to spend at least one more day at NEOCON and maybe attend a couple seminars too. I also did not get to Millennium Park, so that would be one ‘touristy’ trip I’d take along with Frank Lloyd Wright’s House.

Did you get to NEOCON this year? What did you think?

Besos!

{Image source: me!}

Last Saturday I went to the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) at the Jacob Javitts Center in NYC. I had been wanting to go to this event for the past few years after reading about it on other design blogs and finally I made it! I went with my design industry friend, Angela. We saw so many amazing new products there from light fixtures, to bath fixtures, to lovely baby alpaca blankets, to rugs, to all kinds of furniture to home accessories. It was awesome! It is a huge exhibit space and can get overwhelming, so I would advise wearing comfortable shoes and stopping to take a snack or lunch break during the excursion, it’s a lot to take in in one day. I took a few photos and wanted to share them with you.

A new grey matte finish for the &Tradition fixture, Spinning Light.

Iglooplay Prism Pods kids ottomans.

Malene B. custom rugs and I got to meet her! A total sweetheart!

New colorful wire outdoor furniture by Bend.

The cutest wood & wire stool by Horgan Beckett, Mesh Series.

New light fixtures by Shakuff.

Gorgeous cardboard light fixtures by Graypants called Scraplights.

Cool, right?!

Besos!