Chicago— NeoCon 2023, the commercial industry’s preeminent trade show, kicked off here this week with a level of energy and attendance not seen since pre-pandemic days. Elevator banks were lined with attendees ready to tackle the Mart from the first and traffic continued to move well throughout the first two days of the show.
Aligning with the theme of this year’s show, “Together We Design,” NeoCon exhibitors agreed there was a palpable energy here as the commercial industry sated its thirst for collaboration and “togetherness.” Collaboration is the name of the game this year as evidenced by several new flooring concepts touting exactly that.
Somewhat surprisingly, while the Corporate Office/Workplace segment of the commercial market remains in flux as business owners throughout the U.S. try to persuade their remote workers to re-enter the office, this year’s exhibitors launched new product specially targeting this sector. The concept of collaboration is taking the lead in this space and suppliers are contemplating the best materials and designs to help promote that ideation. “We do hear a lot of our clients say that they want their spaces to be a magnet and not a mandate,” said Elizabeth Bonner, director of design, Mohawk Group. “I think we’re finding out that collaboration happens better in person—when you get people together. So how can we refresh the space to make sure people are energized and just feel great about where they are.”
Suppliers at NeoCon also agreed that while the residential business took the lead in 2020 to early 2022, the end of 2022 and first half of 2023 is showing strong commercial activity. Projects that may have been pushed or paused are now ready to move forward and key segments include Workplace, Education and Healthcare.
(More NeoCon 2023 coverage will be available in upcoming digital and print editions of Floor Covering News.)