Houzz Product News

Top Ideabooks

What’s New in Contemporary Furniture and Design for 2022

Sustainability, wellness, innovation and craft were top of mind at the recent ICFF and WantedDesign events in New York

Suzanne Ennis May 23, 2022

Houzz Editorial Staff. I write about all aspects of home design and remodeling, but I have soft spots for historic homes, California modernism and lakefront cabins.

Houzz Editorial Staff. I write about all aspects of home design and remodeling, but... More

Comment5

Click "Embed" to display an article on your own website or blog.

Contemporary furniture companies are kicking sustainability goals up a notch, going all in on wellness and merging technology with traditional craftsmanship. These were the key takeaways from this month’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) and WantedDesign Manhattan, which was full of high-concept, handmade, modular and colorful designs.

Below, check out these and other trends spotted at New York’s Javits Center on May 15-17, as seen in new and recent products by established and up-and-coming designers at the trade events.

Trend Report from ICFF and WantedDesign Manhattan 2022

Themes

Beyond sustainability. One of the stated themes for 2022 was sustainability, and most exhibitors could speak to ways in which their brands were eco-conscious.

The bigger story, however, was that simply reducing harm is no longer enough. Furniture companies are thinking more holistically about how they can have a positive environmental and social impact through good design. Some of the more innovative approaches were part of WantedDesign, a platform for high-end North American designers (Look Book) and emerging international designers (Launch Pad) that shared the Javits Center floor with ICFF. For example, Launch Pad participant Erika Cross’ Anvil table, pictured here, is made from cork, a natural, renewable material that’s also recyclable.

Learn more about Houzz Pro all-in-one business software

Other companies incorporated construction waste into their designs, eliminated waste and toxins from their manufacturing, reinvigorated dying crafts and built furniture that can be easily repaired instead of discarded.

The Fyrn Mariposa chair seen here is made with parts that are 100% replaceable and repairable for life.

7 Ways to Make Your Projects More Sustainable

Wellness made mainstream. Wellness encompasses both physical and emotional well-being. Since the onset of the pandemic, it’s become all the buzz in architecture and design. Accordingly, at ICFF, many products touted wellness-enhancing benefits.

Archilume’s OLED Ovolo light, pictured here, stood out among them. OLED (organic light-emitting diode) panels made of organic material deliver a full spectrum, similar to sunshine, and are said to enhance mood and alertness.

Being surrounded by repeated patterns found in nature, or fractals, has stress-reducing benefits too, research shows.

That concept is the basis of Relaxing Floors, a new modular system that was designed by 13&9 in collaboration with Fractals Research and Mohawk Group. The carpeting’s pattern is supposed to calm people in stressful commercial environments and give their eyes a break from the digital world.

Since physical well-being includes hygiene and safety, wellness naturally extends to the bathroom. Bathroom-fittings manufacturers we spoke to at ICFF pointed out sanitary hands-free features, like the motion-sensor lid on Duravit’s SensoWash shower-toilet (which also has a night-light function).

At a panel focusing on industrywide trends, Gary E. Wheeler, CEO of the American Society of Interior Designers, mentioned that wellness features are even moving into building code. So, like sustainability, this is a trend that’s more a mind shift than a passing fad.

Tech meets tradition. A simultaneous blossoming of traditional craftsmanship, technology and digital worlds led to intriguing high-concept pieces at the show.

For example, Launch Pad participant Adva Kremer’s project The Museum of Empiric Values (one piece from which is pictured here) makes woven reproductions of artworks using Jacquard looms connected to Google Trends.

Similar mashups included AI-assisted design for handcrafted ceramics and charging technology embedded into wooden furniture.

This digitally fabricated Slotted side table by Model No. is made from FSC-certified hardwood with optional integrated charging technology.

15 Design Trends Spotted at the Spring 2022 High Point Market

Function

The choice is yours. Modular, customizable and multifunctional furniture reigned at ICFF. Tile covered in a custom print, lighting made of moldable material and other flexible designs let the consumer, not the designer, be the boss.

A particularly eye-catching example was the modular Ledoux shelving system from Piscina. The Brooklyn design studio, led by Natalie Shook, won Best in Show and Best Emerging Designer at this year’s ICFF Editors Awards.

Materials

Mixed matter. Mixed materials and contrasting textures stood out in some of the most striking pieces by high-end furniture makers at ICFF. Nature often played muse.

The Sonoran desert inspired Levi Christiansen’s walnut-and-marble Plural table, pictured here.

Concrete ideas. Concrete (some of it made with recycled materials) in the form of tiles, colorful matte sink basins and rugged furniture had a strong presence too.

Thatcher’s just-launched Ether tiles, seen here, are made of handcrafted, pigmented concrete.

These Concrete Poetics sculptural stools were hand-cast by Brooklyn-based artist Gary Fernández.

Best Practices for Houzz Pro’s Life-Sized Walkthroughs Feature

Wooden wonders. Designers played with plywood to create truly innovative pieces, cutting it with minimal waste, turning it into modular furniture and pushing it to its physical limits.

To create the strong and flexible cantilevered Iso-Lounge chair seen here, designer Jasper Morrison and the Isokon Plus team tinkered with the engineered plywood layers’ thicknesses and orientations.

Other furniture studios presented heirloom-quality pieces handmade from North American hardwoods, in designs that were at once contemporary and timeless.

The Desert chair from Canada-based Hamilton Holmes, for example, combines traditional joinery and modern production techniques.

Brooklyn-based Vulpe Works handcrafted this Siggi arm chair in cherry with forged bronze details.

While the most popular tones for wooden interior furnishings were walnut and natural and stained-black oak, this beautiful piece made us wonder if warm-toned cherry was due for a comeback.

Find out how the Houzz Pro 3D Floor Planner and Mood Boards can help you share designs with clients

Forms

Rounded shapes. For several seasons now, arches and curves have dominated home furnishings. Although some of the — ahem — edgier pieces had more industrial, squared-off silhouettes, the general rounded trend held strong at ICFF, where those forms were often asymmetrical and organic.

Mexico City-based Mool showed off this comfy, curvy couch, which has moveable backrests.

Knobs and pulls followed suit, as illustrated by this Ophelia cabinet pull from Rocky Mountain Hardware’s new collection with Robert A.M. Stern Architects.

Even area rugs stepped outside the box with irregular, soft outlines. Launch Pad participant Sophie Dannin’s area rug, pictured here, makes use of dead stock materials and carpet remnants.

Dowels and tubes. Other oft-repeated shapes were tubes and wood dowels, seen here on Launch Pad participant Joseph Holmes’ cedar folding table.

Colors

Everything’s rosy. Bright pink, terra cotta, magenta and mauve popped up on everything from tile to textiles.

Luca Nichetto’s new modular Cube collection outdoor kitchen for Brown Jordan Outdoor Kitchens went big with a Cotton Candy shade paired with Chili.

Swimming in color. While rosy tones led the pack, color in general was back, and in a big way. This collection of pieces by ICFF Editor Award-winning interdisciplinary designer Mana Sazegara captures the mood.

Popular color schemes also included primary (a la Bauhaus), almost-neon tangerine and lime, aqua and peach and mossy green.

Join the conversation: How do you incorporate sustainability and wellness into your projects? Share your experience and tips in the Comments.

More for Pros on Houzz
Read more stories for pros
Learn about Houzz Pro software
Talk with your peers in pro-to-pro discussions
Join the Houzz Trade Program

Comment5

Houzz Gift Card, $100

$100

Mixed Quartz Mosaic Tile

$14

Carrara Marble 1" Hexagon Tile Venato White Carrera Mosaic Honed, 1 sheet

$14

Metro Soho Subway Ceramic Floor and Wall Tile, Matte White

$159.60

Armen Living Adele Swivel Barstool In Black PU/ Walnut Veneer and Chrome Base

$110

Carrara Marble Carrera White Venato 2" Hexagon Mosaic Tile Polished, 1 sheet

$14

Comments (5)

See 2 more comments

Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo

hgoodwin01

What's old is new all over again! I'm seeing a lot of Memphis Style inspired pieces here. Like, the '80s is a hot time again!

3 Likes May 25, 2022 at 4:31AM

Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo

ducks43

While these are all interesting, I couldn’t help but notice the lack of re-purposing or innovative re-use of existing materials. To me it seems like consumerism trying to justify itself.

8 Likes May 31, 2022 at 4:41PM

Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo