ICFF Day 1: We’re Out of the Gates

It never ceases to amaze me how trade shows are pop-up villages. When I went to the Javits Center on Friday to preview Metropolis’s ICFF 2005 booth, the show floor looked like a very expensive building site: pieces of furniture worth thousands of dollars were sitting half-unwrapped on wooden slats; motorized vehicles and cherry-pickers were swerving through the aisles, beeping their horns at the oblivious; conscientious exhibitors were mopping down their booth’s floor and polishing their goods; and—as to be expected—cardboard boxes and coats of dust were everywhere.

Twelve hours later, the scene was pristine. Sure, some of the exhibitors looked a little bleary-eyed, and there was the occasion booth that wasn’t quite ready, but it was 10AM on Saturday morning and ICFF 2005 had begun.

And what did we find? Among the goods spotted early were unusual furnishings made by architects, including a Corian dining booth by SOM and Ivalo’s L’Ale light designed by William Pedersen of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates; gorgeous resin panels by Skyline Design; Patrick Messier’s molded fiberglass rocking chair, MAMMA; Charlie Lazor’s portable, pack-able Flatpak prefabricated house; and the first chair made from ductile concrete, the 8.0.

To see our first day of ICFF coverage, click here.