July 13, 2018 — Global furniture and technology provider Steelcase recently announced that its family of brands won top honors in several categories for its showroom and products at NeoCon 2018, said to be North America’s largest design exhibition and conference for commercial interiors. The company’s newly expanded and redesigned Chicago showroom was named Best in Competition and the Best Large Showroom (4,000 sq. ft. or larger). Other honors for Steelcase brands include three Best of NeoCon awards, an Interior Design HiP Award, and a #MetropolisLikes Award. Designtex, a Steelcase company, also received three Best of NeoCon awards.
Steelcase’s Innovation award-winning Mackinac furniture collection is featured below, and the Innovation award-winning SILQ office chair was featured in a previous FMLink article.
Innovation award: Mackinac by Steelcase
Mackinac by Steelcase won an Innovation Award in the Furniture Collections for Collaboration category. Mackinac (MAK-uh-naw) re-envisions the work environment with a range of furnishings that support the accelerated pace of work and are designed to help people move, think and feel better. Its unique, height-adjustable cantilever work surface allows people to quickly shift between individual focused work and collaboration without leaving their workspace.
Instead of supporting just one type of work, Mackinac consists of distinct “micro-zones” or neighborhoods that support focused work, collaboration among colleagues, privacy for rejuvenation as well as easy accessibility for learning and socializing — all in a compact footprint that works in both a private office or an open floor plan. Mackinac enables a smooth connection among very different activities and reduces the time lost going back and forth from one task to the next, easing the quick pace many workers face every day.
Mackinac recognizes that today’s worker is very busy, and that they don’t always have the time to change their physical place entirely for the different types of work they need to accomplish in a day. Mackinac brings those different spaces to them, while also creating spaces for teams to meet and collaborate. With Mackinac workers can easily flow from one task to another with little disruption.
One impressive workspace offers a cantilever desk that is also height adjustable, without the table legs that the design team realized can be a barrier to collaboration at a desk. The lifting column provides privacy, as well as personal storage. The cantilevered worksurface spans up to 72 inches, allowing workers to easily shift from individual focused work to gathering around and collaborating right at the desk. The design allows work to flow faster and gives people a much-needed visual separation that minimizes distractions or allows them a moment of respite within their busy day. Instead of a heavy mass that inhibits agility, Mackinac is designed to be a visually light but incredibly strong expanse that is super adaptive.
Mackinac was designed for an array of applications and materials carefully chosen for their visual and tactile appeal. The material offering comprises a wide range of veneers, laminates, glass, textile, corian, paints and more. Softer, more textural materials support a sense of well-being during long hours of work.
Additional product awards
Steelcase products also received the following recognition:
Steelcase and its family of brands won six 2018 Best of NeoCon awards (including the Innovation awards for Mackinac and SILQ), presented by Contract magazine, honoring the top new commercial interiors products introduced to the market during this year’s NeoCon.
- Embold by Steelcase Health won Gold in the Healthcare Guest and Lounge Seating category. Embold is a collection of seating and tables that combine beauty with accessibility, while offering a variety of sizes and material options. Inviting and expressive, Embold brings residential styling to healthcare with a collection that is versatile for a wide range of people, needs and spaces.
- Surroundings by Designtex won Gold in the Healthcare Fabrics & Textiles category. Surroundings is a healthcare textile collection centered around the patient experience. The textile designs featured in the collection balance high performance and calming aesthetics to offer added psychological and physiological benefits through the use of biophilic design elements, visual refinement and innovative Celliant technology. The FDA has determined that Celliant products are medical devices as defined in section 201(h) of the Act and are general wellness products, notes Steelcase.
- The Celliant Collection by Designtex won Gold in the Textiles: Upholstery category. Designtex Celliant is a responsive textile made with patented, cutting-edge fiber technology that incorporates a proprietary blend of thirteen thermo-reactive minerals. These minerals reflect naturally emitted infrared energy back to the user’s body to provide performance, health and wellness benefits.
- Designtex + Coalesse Collection was named Editors’ Choice in the Textiles: Upholstery category. The collection features nine patterned textiles that celebrate and evoke the synergy of cross-disciplinary collaboration. Utilizing the expertise of small specialty mills, the resulting designs delve deep into a nuanced exploration of color, geometry and the tactility of fine fibers.
The fifth annual Interior Design Honoring Industry People & Product (HiP) Awards, which celebrates commercial industry pioneers and their achievements, awarded Steelcase with honors for SILQ in the Workplace Seating: Task category. Turnstone’s Clipper was also named a finalist in the Workplace: Partitions & Walls category.
SILQ is also a 2018 #MetropolisLikes Award winner, selected by Metropolis editors.
In A New Day at NeoCon 2018, Steelcase highlights its new showrooms, partnerships and product innovations.
The Steelcase family of brands includes Steelcase, Coalesse, Designtex, PolyVision, Turnstone and AMQ, offering a comprehensive portfolio of furniture and technology products and services for more than 105 years, in over 800 Steelcase dealer locations.
