NeoCon 2022: A Strengthening commercial market helped draw healthy crowds to this year’s commercial design show - July 2022

By Darius Helm and Jennifer Bardoner

Close to 40,000 industry professionals flocked to Chicago’s Merchandise Mart (TheMart) for NeoCon last month, where more than 400 companies showcased a wealth of products for a variety of commercial environments. Among the nearly 200 leading and emerging companies that rented booth space on the seventh floor were several first-time exhibitors, including AHF Products, new LVT supplier OneFlor USA, I4F and Küberit. Meanwhile, the permanent showrooms on the third, tenth and 11th floors lost some mainstay exhibitors, including Tarkett, which joined the growing group of businesses in the emerging Fulton Market District, and Bentley Mills, which pulled back to its standalone showroom just down the street from TheMart. With roughly 70% of the volume of visitors of the last pre-pandemic show (2019), the halls and showrooms were busy but not jampacked, though traffic was lighter after day one.

Work pods, which have been trending for the last few years, were suddenly ubiquitous this year as the world adjusts to a post-Covid existence. In keeping with the heightened focus on health, Behr introduced an interior paint called Copper Force that kills 99.9% of viruses and bacteria within two hours of exposure. On the flooring side, the idea of health was largely interpreted through a sustainability lens. “One of the things I was happiest to see was the number of manufacturers taking real steps forward with their sustainability obligations,” said Daniel Stromborg, design director at Gensler. “This is something that I am confident will become the driving factor in designer specifications in the coming years.”

The lineup of keynote and educational presentations seemed to bolster Stromborg’s forecast, with themes ranging from “Design: Sustain-ability,” presented by Shashi Caan, to “How to Design for Climate, Health and Equity in Every Project,” featuring HDR Architecture principal Susan Suhar and MindClick CEO JoAnna Abrams.

In addition to the Best of NeoCon awards, which recognized 99 products across 52 categories, this year’s winners were also considered for the new NeoCon Business Innovation awards based on the products’ contribution to productivity, health and wellness, ESG/sustainability data, employee attraction and retention, and flexibility/adaptability.

TRENDS AT THE SHOW
The biggest trends at the show were the resimercial movement and biophilia, and colorways were warmer, earthier and often paler than in years past. Stromborg noted that manufacturers were “fully embracing colorways that have an earthy feel to them.”

The shift away from grey to greige and beige and buff and brown has opened the door for color to play a bigger role in the expression of biophilia, and it was notable not just in the flooring arena, but also in furniture, casegoods, lighting, fabrics and wall treatments. There was plenty of color, texture and pattern in general, with neutrals sharing the space with soft but rich patches of color, generally in upholstery, and pops of jewel tones. Furniture often mixed textiles, with solid colors juxtaposed with highly patterned fabrics. And with this shift to light and natural earth tones, the overall impression of these commercial showrooms-light, quiet woody tones interspersed with swathes of welcoming colors with occasional vivid hues-was one of nature refracted through the lens of 21st century humanity. Mostly absent were dark woods-and darker colors in general-as well as metals. Technological artifacts were largely hidden, and there was barely a hard edge to be found. Corners were softened; curves were everywhere. Floors were mixed with hard and soft, including plenty of sumptuous area rugs for comfortable, homey feels, reflecting the strong trend toward residential motifs.

Another overall trend, driven both by the rise of hard surface and the development of quiet spaces to balance against the highly interactive collaborative environments in the modern workplace, was a focus on acoustics, using products including wall hangings, acoustic panels, lighting (shades), furniture and, of course, flooring. At the back of the showroom of BuzziSpace, whose offering includes a wide range of acoustical products, were sealed rooms that demonstrated-via provided Ping-Pong balls-the sound attenuation conveyed through the introduction of various felted elements. And what was remarkable was how it only took a couple of elements to capture and deaden the sound. Carpet alone, for instance, can have an overwhelming impact on sound reduction. At the show, several flooring experts considered that the relatively strong performance of carpet over the last year related to this growing need for acoustical mitigation.

Among the leading flooring players, the most prominent development was the area rug. Mohawk, Shaw and Mannington all had area rugs at the front of their showrooms. It seems that the pandemic sped up the development of the residential aesthetic. And in terms of carpet, looks leaned toward the organic, including structured organics like linear organics, representational designs and irregular geometries. There were not a lot of crisp, tailored looks or large geometric designs.

While carpet colorways still offered a lot of range, most of the showrooms displayed those lighter, warmer tones, and where they did show color, it tended to be shades of blue and accents in some form of orange, from rusty to saturated.

On the hard surface side, just about every manufacturer was both trying to hit the sweet spot with natural white oak looks and extend their vision beyond wood visuals, including a lot of experimentation with textile looks, concrete, terrazzo-even shark skin.

Finally, there was a general trend by manufacturers to come up with innovative green products. Shaw, Mannington, Patcraft and HMTX all unveiled either PVC-free resilient flooring or bio-based alternatives.

NEOCON HIGHLIGHTS
Shaw Contract showcased its new area rug and carpet tile program in collaboration with West Elm, the residential-focused interior décor producer that is now expanding into commercial territory. The line of seven broadloom rugs-also available as regular broadloom-and six carpet tile designs comes in a wide range of styles, from handwoven looks with geometric patterning to colorful organics, to elevated linears and colorful graphics with a modern vibe. And the colors are mostly earthy in lighter hues, along with denim in Diamonds, some muddy blue and burnt orange accents in the organic and linear designs (Flame and Verve), and more saturated hues in the modern Kista. The rugs can be serged or finished with a hidden edge. The collection received a Best of NeoCon Gold award, and, of course, the carpet tiles can be used in any kind of installation pattern, including as area rugs.

Another award winner was Innate, which won Silver and Sustainability awards in the healthcare flooring category. The PVC-free resilient flooring includes bio-based content from soybean, castor and rapeseed oil. And according to the firm, the product is high performance and low maintenance, and it also reduces sound transmission. Both the sheet and tile are 2.5mm thick. It comes in a linear organic design reminiscent of wood grain and in mostly warm, light colorways, along with a couple of darker browns, a cool grey and an earthy midtone blue.

On the LVT side, the firm came out with Unite II, with designs that include a standard pale white oak look with some knotting, a similar oak design angled in herringbone motifs elevated by narrow concrete-look insets, and a compelling concrete visual with a subtle terrazzo effect. The product is designed for both looselay and gluedown installations.

Shaw also introduced MineralFloor, a product almost entirely composed of magnesium oxide and wood, which are made into a core more rigid than WPC, and it’s also PVC-free. The product was introduced in two formats: Origin offers a warm natural wood visual in a 6”x48” plank; and Basis, 12”x24”, comes in both a linen and stone visual, also warm and light.

Also on display was BottleFloor, introduced at NeoCon last fall, a soft surface product made of a needlebonded PET face and rigid PET backing that uses 61 plastic bottles per tile for 30% post-consumer recycled content. The line comes in both neutrals and a handful of more saturated hues, including rich vermillion, yellow-green and deep cobalt.

Interwoven with the idea of community, Mohawk Group’s new releases netted several Best of NeoCon awards. Social Canvas, a collection inspired by the abstract, color-driven work of Charlie French, an artist with Down syndrome, was awarded Gold for modular carpet, and it also won a HiP Award for workplace carpet. Social Canvas and Mohawk’s new Painted Perspectives collection-which won NeoCon Gold for broadloom and for sustainability in that carpet category-were produced in collaboration with ArtLifting, a national nonprofit that supports the work of artists who have been displaced or have disabilities.

Social Canvas was the star of the show, with numerous installations within the space showcasing the many aesthetics and countless combinations and moods possible. The collection comes in five different styles and 39 colorways, plus an offshoot collection of 12 striated-color carpet tiles called Color Canvas. All of the corresponding looks can be mixed and matched into custom abstract designs or laid in more traditional formats, highlighting the patterns of each style, which range from color-blocking to tweed. Both collections are made with Mohawk’s Duracolor Tricor nylon 6.

Both are also backed with Mohawk’s new EcoFlex One, a cushioned backing with high recycled content that can be installed over high-moisture slabs. EcoFlex One supports the theme of community by being Living Product Certified and, like all of Mohawk’s new releases, is carbon neutral plus an additional 5% carbon offset.

Through Mohawk’s Personal Studio app, any carpet tile can be custom colored for orders up to 250 yards, and all can be made into rugs.

Mannington’s tenth-floor showroom contained plenty of surprises this time around. The threshold featured an installation of Open Range, a new rubber plank collection with a vein and grain design elevated with bold contrasts and banded color shifts that make the most of the modular format. The collection won a NeoCon Gold award. Beyond the rubber installation was a section of wood-look resilient flooring topped with a lush, handwoven rug from the Elevate collection, made up of eight patterns in multiple colorways and sizes, some made of wool and others of wool and viscose. The rugs, in solid and tonal colors and modern broadloom-like designs, are made in India through a partnership that came with Mannington’s acquisition of AtlasMasland. Mannington also produces rugs custom cut from broadloom.

On the show floor deeper into the space was The Case for Silence, a carpet tile collection in two coordinating styles. Inspired by the experience of a Mannington product designer in an anechoic (ultra-quiet) chamber, Optic Hush, a low-key tonal structured grid, reflects the experience inside the chamber, while Static Echo offers a more organic, visually textured feel. The collection comes in medium and dark neutrals in greys and browns.

The firm also came out with a new Spacia LVT in a 36”x36” terrazzo design, with some of the “embedded stones” offering a pearlescent pop, adding some dynamism to the design. In all, Mannington added 47 new colorways to the Spacia collection of wood, stone and tile visuals.

Further back in the showroom was an installation of Amtico Active Lines, an LVT in four styles with a subtle textile visual, including a crisp, small-scale pattern, an organic linear and some larger-scale, bolder designs with more prominent accents. The line comes in four neutrals, both warm and cool, and six colors, including blues and greens and a ruddy orange, that can be applied to the neutral fields for a total of 112 running line SKUs.

Also, Mannington announced that all of its new and refreshed products are carbon negative, using both embodied carbon and carbon offset credits. To help underscore its range of green flooring, the firm included an installation of Legato, its poured-in-place linoleum that is virtually 100% bio-based, with similar ingredients to traditional linoleum-wood flour, limestone, cork, vegetable oil and natural pigments. Legato, first unveiled at the end of 2020, comes in 54 colors, grouped into four levels of cork fleck density, along with one natural cork look.

Following the introduction last year of Interface’s Granite Mountain carpet tile collection, designer David Oakey continued on his journey through rugged and rocky landscapes this year with Beaumont Range, a collection of three plank products-Eben, Ferris and Mesa-ranging in pile height, weight and texture, along with Zera, a square tile from Flor. Zera, with vivid, raw texturing inspired by marbled stone, brings a residential aesthetic to the commercial space.

The carpet tiles in Granite Mountain are made using the firm’s i2 technology, which allows for random placement (and replacement) of tiles without disrupting a pattern-the design technology is inspired by the randomness in the natural world. Mesa, the most low-key design, has the look of rugged granite seams, and it comes in earthy neutrals, including some darker hues like an earthy, stony green. Eben has a dappled or pebbly look, depending on the colorway. And Ferris is a bit of both, with pebbly visuals blending with expressive igneous patterns.

Interface designer Kari Pei, using the same mountainscape outside Atlanta as inspiration, designed Fresco Valley, a collection of three LVT designs. Great Heights is a wood-look LVT plank with high-contrast graining in six light and midtone colorways. Ridge is a square LVT with a design on the diagonal like fast-flowing water, and it comes in six colorways, including two warm neutrals and some deeper blues and browns. And a closer look at Cliff, a gentle stone look, reveals a small-scale pocking reminiscent of shark skin, some of which have a gold sparkle from certain angles.

Interface also introduced a new rubber collection called Nora Pavo, an elevated design inspired by terrazzo that comes in neutrals, blues and greens.

The core message in Aquafil’s 11th-floor showroom this year continued to be focused on Econyl-the firm’s brand for recycled nylon 6. Aquafil has invested heavily in infrastructure to reclaim post-consumer nylon carpet, ship the reclaimed face fiber to Slovenia and convert it back into nylon chip for a wide range of end-use products. Last year, Aquafil won a Best of NeoCon Gold for its Noho Move chair made of recycled nylon.

This year, Aquafil partnered with the Parsons School of Design and awarded three students free trips to NeoCon for their participation in its “Design for the Future” contest. One of the featured products in the space was Azur, a colorful rug from Delos that uses Econyl solution-dyed nylon.

As Antron has exited the carpet fiber business this year, a lot of the demand has shifted over to Aquafil, and growth this year has been in the double digits. Aquafil also picked up Aaron Green, formerly with Invista, as its new head of sales.

HMTX’s 11th-floor showroom featured its Teknoflor and Aspecta commercial brands, which the firm announced would now be brought together as two product towers under HMTX Commercial; and in Europe, another major market for the Connecticut-based firm, Aspecta and Vertex are being combined into HMTX Global.

The firm’s first domestic facility, which will produce rigid LVT, is nearing completion. The Pennsylvania facility is slated to begin producing flooring later this year.

The firm previewed its latest green resilient flooring, SRP, made with a polyurethane core developed in cooperation with Huntsmasn, a global chemical firm. To create the polymer, PET with 25% recycled content is chemically reduced to components that are then used to make high-performance polyurethane. The whole product, comprising a polyurethane top layer, a core of polyurethane and filler, and a cushioned polyurethane backing, is fully recyclable. The product will soft launch by the end of this year.

HMTX is also in the midst of developing a process for digital design creation, and the firm’s new headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut will include a design center for the production of digital samples onsite that will be produced in China in an analog process. The next step will be taking the whole process digital.

In Novalis’ Ava booth on the seventh floor, the company was showing designers how versatile LVT can be from a color and construction perspective, like its new colorful Orbit, a collection developed for Disney that doesn’t require print film. Also featured was Fave, a collection with woodgrain visuals and an acoustical backing. Both collections are made in the company’s Dalton, Georgia factory, which has been open since early 2021. Ava also introduced a terrazzo visual product named 2Trzo which comes in 36” squares.

Novalis CEO John Wu was in the space, his first trade show since the beginning of Covid due to restrictions getting in and out of Canada. He told Floor Focus that Novalis had made the decision to focus all of its U.S. production capacity on the contract commercial market. This has enabled the firm to pick up share, since country of origin is a bigger factor among specifiers than in his NovaFloor residential business.

In addition to product, Ava introduced its Digital Passport program, whereby the firm puts a QR code on the back of its products that links to ingredient information about the product, which can be helpful for recycling purposes at the end of its first life.

I4F, a Belgian firm that develops patented flooring technologies, was at the show to signal its new focus on the commercial market. About 90% of the firm’s business is currently in the residential market, where it offers locking systems for hard surface flooring, like rigid LVT. Currently, commercial LVT is largely glued down, but according to Matthieu Dekens, I4F’s COO, in Europe, locking systems are widely used in a range of commercial markets.

Dekens also pointed out that locking systems are a problem solver, with the industry strained by a dearth of installers, since locking systems offer much faster and more forgiving installations.

The firm is already reaching out to the contract dealer community to start communicating the advantages of its glueless floating systems, including to the Starnet group.

Patcraft unveiled its ReWorx platform in Spatial Palette, a collection of recycled-content hybrid carpet tile that offers enhanced stain resistance, cleanability and roller mobility and is set for release in August. Each plank is made of 100% PET and comprises approximately 27 plastic bottles, both clear and multicolor. Containing roughly 50% post-consumer recycled content, the product is 100% recyclable at the end of its life through the firm’s ReTurn Reclamation Program, which will pick up old Spatial Palette product so that it can be turned into new ReWorx flooring. 

Spatial Palette’s crosshatch design provides subtle texture, an aesthetic mirrored in the primary color palette of muted greys and darkened jewel tones, though a few pops of color enliven the 16-color range.

The product was displayed in Patcraft’s showroom in a joint installation with On Neutral Ground, a new carpet tile collection made using Patcraft’s EcoSolution Q100 yarn and EcoWorx backing, both of which contribute to its lower embodied-carbon footprint. EcoSolution contains 100% post-industrial recycled content. EcoWorx is PVC-free and can also be recycled through ReTurn.

On Neutral Ground features a similar palette of greys but offers more patterning, with multiple neutrals combined to achieve speckled, mottled, striated and woven looks. The six styles are offered in multiple constructions, allowing for greater flexibility-a driving need among commercial designers, especially following the pandemic as they seek to balance sophisticated design with constrained budgets and the layered spaces that have emerged to offer comfort, connection and adaptability, company representatives said.

All of Patcraft’s carpet tile products can be fashioned into rugs.

The majority of J+J Flooring’s showroom was dedicated to Forces of Nature, an expansive line of carpet tile scheduled for release around early September. The three-style collection takes inspiration from the sky, with swirling multicolored patterns reminiscent of various cloud formations grounded by the inclusion of a traditional striated look. The moody 21-color palette is augmented by stormy blue and forest green, as well as rust-an emerging hue, according to marketing director Kim Bobo. The 18”x36” carpet tiles are made using Encore SD Ultima solution-dyed nylon 6, enhanced with a proprietary yarn twisting technique for greater dimension, and feature a bonded anti-soil treatment. The Nexus backing is treated with an antimicrobial, with the option of an odor-blocking treatment, and includes more than 35% pre-consumer recycled content.

The Engineered Floors subsidiary also debuted a new collection under its Kinetex line of textile composite flooring, a hybrid product made of PET-with 45% post-consumer recycled content-that offers the enhanced durability and ease of maintenance characteristic of hard surface products. Kinetex’s new Mirror Image collection comprises four styles in dark neutrals, from multitone linears and heathered linen looks to tone-on-tone organic designs reminiscent of clouds and leaf-strewn waterscapes. Bobo said the new looks, offered in 24”x24”, are an effort to open the line up to more segments and it could be expanded further. “We were hearing that a lot of our [Kinetex] styles were geared more toward education,” she explained. “This interpretation is to move more toward corporate, healthcare and senior living.”  

EF Contract, J+J’s sister brand, showcased several forthcoming collections set to debut in early September, offering colors and patterns complementary to those featured in J+J’s Forces of Nature. Esprit features abstract organic designs in nine neutral colorways; Elan amps up the tweed look with hints of metallic amid the same nine colorways as Esprit; and Spectral Drift provides splashes of muted jewel tones atop striated neutral backgrounds, for a total of 12 colorways. Like Forces of Nature, the three new carpet tile styles are 18”x36” and feature the Nexus backing and Engineered Floors’ standard ProTex anti-soil treatment, though both the ProSept antimicrobial and Sentir odor-blocking treatments are optional. Esprit and Elan are composed of Encore SD nylon 6 with ColorLoc Plus, while Spectral Drift is made using Encore SD Ultima with EF’s proprietary TwistX yarn treatment.

Coordinating with EF Contract’s existing Simple Weave collection of broadloom and carpet tile, the brand also unveiled Alfresco and Flourish Weave in just the modular format. The patterns share ten predominantly neutral colorways enlivened by desaturated blue, green, yellow and orange. Both are made using Encore SD Ultima solution-dyed nylon 6 and come in an 18”x36” format. Alfresco offers a multicolored mottled look, while Flourish Weave features tone-on-tone scrollwork. “EF Contract does a lot of dealer products,” said marketing manager Rita Faulkner. “This is the first product really targeted toward architects and designers.”

Crossville’s booth on the seventh floor of TheMart showcased a curated mix of new, forthcoming and established collections that work well together and play into the ceramic manufacturer’s theme for the year: “Chic Happens.”

The show marked the official debut of Stone Fiction, which is now available after being previewed at Coverings. The realistic travertine look features a 3D effect that is purely visual, making it easy to clean, and it can be used indoors and out thanks to the option of the firm’s outdoor finish. A corresponding mosaic and trim package round out the 12”x24” and 24”x24” line.

Stones at Large, which will be available in August, marks a new capability for Crossville, a polished finish. “Polished is trending up; it’s everywhere,” said vice president of marketing Lindsey Waldrep. “Polished is part of that modern luxe vibe [which is popular]. On the flipside, so is outdoor living.” The new collection mimics different marbles and quartzites in 12”x24” and 48”x48” formats. The former comes in both polished and unpolished, while the larger size is polished only. 

Stones at Large is geared toward hospitality, while Stone Fiction hits all three of Crossville’s primary commercial markets, which also include healthcare and multifamily.

Regardless of the segment, Waldrep said porcelain panels that can be installed over existing finishes are becoming so popular that the firm has added a page to its website highlighting such options, several of which were displayed in the booth.

This was AHF Products’ first time exhibiting at NeoCon. Naturally, the legacy hardwood producer had some commercially geared engineered hardwood on display under Parterre-a contract LVT brand acquired in early 2021-along with two brand-new LVT lines, Instinct and Connectivity, both of which are 2.5mm with a 20 mil wearlayer featuring a ceramic bead coating. Instinct offers wood, stone and colored linen visuals, while Connectivity swaps linen for metallic looks, a first for Parterre.

However, most of the emphasis was on a new category for the company, which it has coined vinyl-based tile (VBT). “We wanted to create something like VCT, but with the performance of LVT,” explained AHF commercial product manager Drew Wiley, citing a lack of VCT capacity in the market, as well as stimulus money for schools that will have to be spent quickly.

Mimicking the terrazzo visuals popular in schools, Expressive Ideas lays down quickly since it does not have to be cut, sealed or polished. The 12”x12” tiles feature a 20 mil wearlayer and a ceramic bead topcoat, allowing them to withstand more than 1,200 PSI, versus 75 PSI for VCT, Wiley said, and extensive moisture testing has shown the gluedown product to be durable.

The collection, being released under AHF Contract, comes in a 28-hue palette of primary colors along with neutral options, selected based on feedback from architects and distributors. However, the color can be customized, allowing the product to match a school’s colors, for example. Wiley said the product has also found a home in the retail segment.

The Küberit brand made its debut at NeoCon with a display on the seventh floor. This German-based producer of profiles and transitions won a Best of NeoCon Silver award for its KE-B expansion joint profile that helps compensate for changes in dimensional stability.

Küberit is a well-established brand in Europe that Thomas Trissl with TMT America is bringing to the U.S. market. By coming to NeoCon, Küberit’s goal is to earn more specifications from the A&D sector for its wide range of profiles specifically designed for each type of flooring.

Another first-time exhibitor this year was OneFlor USA, which came to NeoCon to launch its SetaGrip line of LVT flooring to the commercial market. David Kim, CEO of OneFlor USA, grew up in the flooring business and is a second-generation importer of LVT products. SetaGrip has a patented micro-suction cushioned underlayment that makes the product easy to install and reposition if necessary.

All products sold by OneFlor USA are produced by Nox in Korea. The initial line of products all have woodgrain visuals.

At its booth, Mapei highlighted its FlexColor Design ready-to-use grout. Launched in 2020, the product offers customization for commercial environments through its correspondence with popular fan decks from numerous paint suppliers, with the option of more detailed color-matching. The mold/mildew-, stain- and crack-resistant formula dries within 24 hours and requires no sealing. However, the grout must be specified as part of a complete Mapei installation and has a $1,500 minimum purchase order.

Among its recently launched products, Schluter’s Kerdi-Line linear drain in matte black has been getting a lot of attention, a company representative said. It is available in a solid or a checkered punch-out pattern and corresponds with Schluter’s selection of black shower shelves and profiles.

Copyright 2022 Floor Focus 

Related Topics:HMTX, Novalis Innovative Flooring, Schluter®-Systems, Parterre Flooring Systems, Tarkett, Crossville, Mohawk Industries, Interface, The Dixie Group, Masland Carpets & Rugs, Engineered Floors, LLC, AHF Products, Mannington Mills, Shaw Industries Group, Inc., Coverings, Starnet