Live@ICFF: JETRO

Last year, the Japan External Trade Organization arrived at ICFF with a huge exhibition that took up an entire annex pavilion to the main Javits floor. Many curious fairgoers got their first look at products like Naoto Fukasawa’s famed Infobar cell phone, a candy-bar doppelgänger that has been (criminally) limited to Japan. JETRO was smaller this year, but there were still visual treats to be had. We’ve selected a few of the sweetest morsels.
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Hecmec

Bright and cheery, Hecmec’s fold-up plastic chairs for kids have a soft, cardboard-tube structure that protects little fingers. They come in glossy cardboard (for extra durability) or plain (for customizing with your four-year-old’s precocious scrawls). www.hecmec.jp

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Like-It

The rare JETRO vendor with U.S. distribution—its organizational tools are sold at the Container Stool and at its New York showroom—Like-It had a nice mix of products for OCD enthusiasts. Particularly notable was a flexible, recycled-polypropylene trash bin in a vaguely Aalto-ish shape that doubles as a magazine holder. We hope that’s not a commentary on the state of print. www.likeitjapan.com

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Cocochi Design

The famed whirlpools of Naruto, Japan, were the inspiration for Cocochi’s Uzu series of stools, which won this year’s ICFF Editors Award for craftsmanship. (The white-and-pink fish cakes found in bowls of ramen, also called Naruto, are an equally satisfying rendering of the whirpools.) Kataoka Katsuhito, who lives in nearby Tokushima City, CNC mills the spiral pattern into German beech and then hand-sands each piece. [email protected]

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Ritzwell

A bit of visual trickery makes Ritzwell’s massive black-walnut coffee table, which perches on delicate steel legs, look like it’s concave. www.ritzwell.com
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Toho Carpet Trading Co.

If you’ve always wanted a rug of your cat’s face (and who hasn’t!), you’re in luck: Toho makes custom carpets based on your own designs. The minimum U.S. order is 30, so you might have to give away some of those Fluffy rugs as party favors—or else pick one of Toho’s own botanical or modern designs. www.toho-carpet.co.jp

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