Interior design trends are everchanging. To keep up with the latest developments, we travelled to NeoCon in Chicago, Illinois. NeoCon is a conference that serves as a central point for the commercial design community. It not only creates an opportunity to bring our team together, but also provides networking channels with industry-leading designers, architects, manufacturers, associations, educators, and students. Additionally, manufacturers debut new products that can be considered for upcoming projects. More than 400 companies presented innovative ideas and products through their showrooms and exhibits. Here are some of the interior design trend highlights we took away from our experience at this year’s conference.
Flexible Office Environments
One of the design trends we noticed this year was a significant amount of flexible office solutions. With the increase of companies offering hybrid work options for their employees, there is a trend towards creating comfortable, residential-feeling work environments. Our team saw several office layouts focusing on open concepts, soft seating, a variety of seating types, and private breakout areas. There was also an increase of the use of curves in designs. Curves create a more relaxed feeling than straight, clean lines.
Office pods offer space for individual or collaborative work.
Bright Colors and Sustainability
Another design trend that stood out to us was the use of bright colors, predominately in seating. “Neutral is not enough,” was the theme of carpet manufacturer Shaw Contract’s showroom. This theme is a trend towards sustainable design and bright colors. Their showroom displayed many neutral-colored floors with pops of nature-inspired hues to tie into the theme. A few of the conference showrooms featured the use of recycled materials, as well as interior products created by recycling and utilizing typically wasted scraps.
This display showcases the use of curves and a variety of colors.
Acoustical Panels as Art
This year, there was a significant number of showrooms that displayed the use of acoustic panels in a new way. Acoustic panels are a useful addition to a space, but at times they can ruin the aesthetic of a well-designed room; however, we noticed acoustic panels that can double as art, light fixtures, wall hangings, and more. These acoustic panels are a good example that art can be functional and aesthetic.
Unique design of acoustic panels through colorful arches and different textures.
We look forward to putting what we learned into practice and are already looking forward to next year’s conference!
The interior design team on an evening cruise.
Calley Watson (left) and Paige Hawkins (right) at the Arcadia showroom on day one of NeoCon.