The Bronx Project by DouglasHomer includes a classic highboy painted with graffiti.

By Patricia Sheridan
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette NEW YORK -- Timber was tops at this year's International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York City. All the resin and metal in the world couldn't push it out of the spotlight as more of the nearly 600 designers and manufacturers warmed up to wood's natural beauty.

The ICFF, held in May, is always about innovation and the frontiers of fabulous in modern home furnishings. But with the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Eames lounge chair and ottoman for Herman Miller, it was time to get back to furniture's material roots.

"Fifty years ago, the Eames lounge chair was made of rosewood and black leather," said spokesman Bruce Buursma. "We moved away from rosewood in the late '80s because of environmental concerns."

Now it's back, in an eco-friendly form. Herman Miller used the occasion to introduce the Santos Palisander veneer, a tropical species from sustainable sourced forests.

The RD stool by SMC Furnishings is made from combinations of walnut, wenge, heart pine and cherry. Click photo for larger image.
Cai-Light's Trophee, a deer head light fixture, is resin rather than wood, but it still has a forest feel. Click photo for larger image.
Beneath the red finish on Autoban's King lamp is beech, oak or walnut. Its inspiration is a chess piece. Click photo for larger image.

Buyers also can choose walnut and cherry, priced at $3,125, or the new veneer for $3,995.

Befitting its name, Environment Furniture showed off the "eco-conscious" design that is integral to its aesthetic.

The Santomer dining table and Paulista benches from its Peroba Collection use reclaimed wood from Brazil. The table is available in 6-, 7- and 8-foot sizes beginning at $2,295; the benches start at $629 for the 5-foot version.

Two other companies where grain, cut and color were king were SMC Furnishings and Tucker Robbins.

SMC's RD stools, which retail for $500, are fashioned from combinations of woods, including walnut and wenge; heart pine and wenge; or cherry and walnut.

SMC owner Brandon Phillips, one of three Art Institute of Chicago students who started the company, said the maple, cherry and walnut comes mostly from trees downed in storms or removed as nuisances.

"The wenge comes from shop scraps and all the pines are currently coming from Brooklyn as reclaimed building timbers," he said.

The hand-carved Bean Chair by Tucker Robbins ($2,700) looks like a perfectly polished bump on a log. Tucker Robbins likes to tell a story with each piece of furniture, essentially creating functional art.

Blending old and new, art and furniture in another way is The Bronx Project by DouglasHomer. Prices range from $6,500 to $25,000 for the classic highboys painted with graffiti. The company is based in Lancaster. Another innovator building on traditional forms was Autoban, an architecture and interior design firm based in Istanbul, Turkey. Inspired by a 1950s classic modeled after a chess piece, the King lamp comes in lacquered beech for $1,750, or in oak/walnut for $2,250.

BluDot launched 35 new products at ICFF, many of them wood-based. Never lumbering, the Buttercup rocker went over well and is available in white oak, graphite on oak and walnut.

BluDot is best known for wood but also had a few upholstered pieces at the show. Its products are carried in Pittsburgh by Weisshouse, which also has Environment Furniture and Tucker Robbins.

While nature's No. 1 building material dominated the show, there was still room for advanced plastics and fibers. From Scotland, janmilne showed acrylic nesting tables and chairs, and Kartell displayed its colorful and clear polycarbonate creations. Everything from Patricia Urquiola's T-table to Philippe Starck's TopTop, a polyester tabletop lacquered in black or white with transparent legs, made an appearance in Kartell's area. The company, whose products are available at Perlora, was part of I Saloni Worldwide, a truncated version of the International Furniture Fair in Milan, Italy.

At the head of the classy plastics was Cai-Light's Trophee, a wall-mounted epoxy resin deer head light fixture. The company is based in Beirut, Lebanon, but was founded by three French designers. Although Trophee technically made its debut last year, it looked right at home in this year's forest of products.

SOURCES

w Autoban -- www.autoban212.com w BluDot -- www.bludot.com w Cai-Light -- www.cai-light.com w DouglasHomer -- www.douglashomer.com w Environment Furniture -- www.environment-furniture.com w Herman Miller -- www.hermanmiller.com w janmilne -- www.janmilne.co.uk w Kartell -- www.kartell.it w SMC Furnishings -- www.spacemfrs.com w Tucker Robbins -- www.tuckerrobbins.com