Winners this year tended towards the big guns with big names attached. Herman Miller, the American company whose Aeron chair changed the landscape of offices around the world, won for Body of Work with their Lifework Portfolio, a collection of smart furnishings for today’s – get it? – homeoffice.
ICFF Studio’s Todd Bracher, who has done a lot of behind-the-scenes work for companies like Mater and Georg Jensen, got the center spotlight with his Boom tables and won for Best New Designer, while last year’s beloved Yves Behar won, this time for the Furniture he did for HBF.
Amy Helfand, a Brooklyn-based artist, won for best Carpet and Flooring with her hand-knotted rugs, and the other specific awards – Wall Coverings, Textiles, Kitchen and Bath, and Accessories – were given to, respectively, Trove, Carnegie’s Xorel Collection, Valcucine, and the Czech Center of New York’s Krehky (a fantastic collection of playfully detailed pieces).
Everyone was enthralled by Konstantin Grcic’s Myto chair, an obsession vindicated by the Multiple Production Award, and the Savannah College of Art and Design, always a hit, was recognized as the best Design School.
Another school, New York’s SVA, won for best Booth, with its gigantic chair that sheltered all the student’s chairs beneath its massive legs. The amorphous categories of Seating, Lighting, and Outdoor Furniture were won by Magis, PABLO, and Samoa, and architect Greg Lynn got an award for Materials for his collaboration with Panelite.
