The Latest Furniture Trends 2017 – from New York

The Latest Interior Design Trends 2017

Blog Series

Part One – Furniture

5 June 2017   by Nicola Manning

The 29th annual International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) has just been held in New York City from 21-24th May.  The ICFF is  North America’s platform for global design, mapping the newest frontier of what’s best and what’s next at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan.

More than 750 exhibitors from all points of the globe displayed contemporary furniture, seating, carpet and flooring, lighting, outdoor furniture, materials, wall coverings, accessories, textiles, and kitchen and bath for residential and commercial interiors. This remarkable throng of exhibitors creates an unparalleled opportunity to view a broad yet highly focused selection of the world’s finest, most innovative, and original avant-garde home and contract products side-by-side, under one roof.

Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan

I have always wanted to visit New York, so when the opportunity came up to attend this Furniture Fair, I jumped at it!  Alongside the exhibitors, there were a series of design talks.  I attended one on Curated Luxury, what luxury means to different people.  Some of the ideas are not as you would expect and I will look at these in another blog.

The key objectives I had for attending ICFF was to look at the latest trends and ideas emerging from both the United States and Europe and to provide me with stimulation and inspiration for my design work.  So along with the displays at the show and the design talks, I also visited the New York Design Centre, an 18 floor building fully occupied with interior design showrooms, a range of other design showrooms (including favourites such as Jonathan Adler, Holly Hunt and Christian Liaigre) and soaked up the beautiful architecture of both iconic New York buildings, as well as residential areas with stunning front doors and street appeal.

In this Blog, I am going to share with you the latest trends in furniture that I saw at ICFF and in the various design showrooms. There were some very clear themes coming through, some we have seen a taste of already and some new ones.

One of the biggest trends on display was pouffs of all shapes, sizes and detailing. A pouff is a soft, round or square seat with no back or sides, used for sitting on or resting you feet on.  I tend to think of a pouff as being smaller and softer than an ottoman, with no legs.  You can have a lot of fun adding colour, texture and functionality into your spaces by adding a pouff or two!

Leaf shaped and detailed pouffs

Pouff with contrasting strapping detail

Pouff with contrasting strapping detailing

Another key theme in furniture is the geometric divisions on plain fabrics, particularly velvet and wool felt.  We saw squares, long rectangles and diamond shapes.  This self-patterning of plain fabrics was much more predominant than the use of patterned fabrics.

Square segmented velvet sofa

Square detailing on wool felt chair

Diamond shaped detailing on wool felt chair

The combination of curves and thin, spindle type shapes was prevalent in the furniture on display at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair.  Chairs with thin spindle detailing on the back and sides.

Brass bar stool with spindle back detail

Spindle backed bench seat and round stools

Curved double bench seat with spindled back

Curves were also seen in sofas and chairs and an abundance of round accent tables and stools.

Sculptured chair with curves

Curved sofa at the Holly Hunt Showroom in Manhattan

Sculptural curved chaise