ICFF 2010: Not your mother’s wallpaper, though maybe it should have been
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Some corners of the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York seemed like wall-to-wall wallpaper, and the dominant theme this year was retro. The London studio MissPrint rendered dandelions, above, in a way that reminded me of a George Nelson starburst clock.
Some other looks from the show this week:
Châto & Co., the studio of Danish designer Pernille Picherit and French designer Geraldine Besnard, went a little Partridge family. Blue birds perched on white cages in a design called Kaje, above left. A chartreuse flock was poised against a plum sky in Oizo, above right.
Graham & Brown’s new collections included the Field Poppies wallpaper, above, by Amy Butler. It’s vintage flair for contemporary interiors.
My favorite at ICFF came from Trove, who delivered the vintage look with a wry smile. The New York studio re-created a historical photo taken inside Teatro La Fenice, the opera house in Venice, Italy. Destroyed by fire in 1836, the theater -- pictured here after the reconstruction -- is no more: It burned to the ground again in 1996.
Trove titled the wallpaper Fuoco, shown in detail below. It’s the latest example of wall decor that essentially turns you, the homeowner or passerby, into the star of the show, surrounded by tiers of adoring fans.
At the Milan furniture fair last month, I saw new wallpaper by Konstantin Grcic and new wall tiles from Bisazza, both of which had embedded crystals that reflected light and simulated camera flashes -- your own paparazzi on the wall.
For me, the joy of Fuoco is the audience, people who came to see a show and ended up center stage.
-- Craig Nakano
Dandelion Mobile photo credit: Miss Print
Kaje and Oizo photo credit: Châto & Co.
Field Poppies photo credit: Graham & Brown
Fuoco photo credit: Trove
