It’s no secret that one of the fundamental rules of real estate is: location, location, location. When it comes to furniture, a slight variation of the same concept is used: context is everything. The showrooms at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago during NeoCon do an outstanding job of illustrating each manufacturer’s products in a clean and idealized setting with an emphasis on application, but as any New York designer will tell you, the rubber hits the road in Manhattan during First Look, the local answer to NeoCon put on by the New York Design Center at 200 Lexington Avenue.
Now in its seventh year, the aim of First Look has always been to showcase products and provide an excellent opportunity for networking with fellow industry professionals. Compression is the operative action here: Instead of lasting three days like NeoCon, it’s a one-night event distilled down to four hours; space and time is at a premium in New York, and finding the delicate balance of seeing the right people and the right product, in addition to catching up on the latest industry gossip with over 1,200 of my closest friends that attended the event, proved challenging at times. Indeed, it’s all in the timing of the event, and during the uncertainty of the last few years, keeping tabs on who is up to what, regardless of what side of the fence you are on, is more important than ever.
Upon entering 200 Lex, I was immediately greeted by an improved and more expansive building lobby, as well as some friendly folks who handed me a USB drive branded with the First Look logo. The large reception desk in the lobby has now been replaced by two smaller stations that flank the lobby walls; it was a welcome design change, and the USB I received was filled with photos of products that I was about to see. This was an elegant touch with great forethought and designers in mind; it was great to see this building, the second largest building in the US that caters to the contract industry, keeping up with the times and engaging the visitors to the event.
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