This report was contributed by Jenna Rehberg of Sloan and reflects her personal perspective from NeoCon 2026. Drawing on her experience attending leading industry trade shows, Jenna shares the standout products, showroom experiences, color stories, and design trends that captured her attention in Chicago this June.
There was an undeniable vibe of fun, whimsy, and retro callbacks at NeoCon this June. I’ve been to countless trade shows throughout my career, and over the last few years, NeoCon and BDNY have been the two I am guaranteed to attend annually. The hospitality show does a good job of experimenting with cool new trends like fringed furniture, needlepoint messaging on pillows, and flooring patterns seemingly inspired by hallucinogenic substances. We see less of that in Chicago every June because the traditional market for NeoCon is workplace, which is often thought of as a segment that should play it safe. However, it seems many manufacturers are moving away from the safety net of squares, grays, and ergonomic desk chairs.
A Look Back
Across showrooms and new product collections, a common thread emerged: references to decades past, namely the 1960s through the ‘90s. And we’re not just talking about kitschy marketing; this seemed like a design commitment more than a fleeting visual. The brands doing it best weren’t borrowing aesthetics for decoration. They were using cultural memories to make new products feel charged with meaning from the moment you met them. Products found in these showrooms represent moments when design, fashion, music, and culture came together as something people remember not just visually but viscerally.
Takeform, for example, offered a standout nod to retro at the show. It transformed its NeoCon presence into an experience that felt less like a trade show display and more like a curated installation. Takeform was recognized with an IIDA Award for its showroom design this year, a major NeoCon honor.
The space worked the way the best retro references always do, by evoking a feeling before you could name the era. There was a warmth and intentionality to the use of iconic objects from years past, from records to fashion, giving a sense that every detail had been considered not just for what it showed but for what it called up in memory. In a hall full of showrooms vying for attention, Takeform reminded us that the most powerful design environments don’t just display a brand but invite people to feel. The payphone ahead of the showroom’s entryway was enough to stop my team and me in our tracks. You can tour the space virtually here.
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- Takeform Showroom at The MART
If Takeform’s showroom was a mood, Shaw Contract’s Cult Classics collection was a full cinematic production. The new award-winning flooring line arrived with all-encompassing product vignettes and photography that felt less like a flooring launch and more like the opening credits of something you’d want to binge-watch. Think “Mad Men,” but with the central characters all women.
The visual world Shaw Contract built around Cult Classics was the 1960s and 1970s at their most chic: unique palettes, bold geometry, and the perfect selection of complementary furniture. Interactive moments included Shaw-branded viewfinders, an old-school photo booth, and poets sitting at old-fashioned typewriters, creating custom haikus for visitors on the fly. Check out Shaw Contract’s 2026 NeoCon highlights.
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- Shaw Contract at The MART
The Color Story
A bold-yet-comforting color palette, showing up everywhere from entry walls to logo backdrops, created an air of curiosity without seeming daunting. Color has always been a useful showroom design tool, but NeoCon 2026 offered a masterclass in a specific combination: hues that make a powerful impression and simultaneously make you want to stay. Not the aggressive brights of seasons past, not the safe receding neutrals, but something in between.
On the 10th floor, Ghent set the tone before you even crossed the threshold. Their entry wall in The MART greeted visitors with the company logo set against a blush-mauve backdrop, and that same tone carried underfoot in carpet that coordinated with every color used on the walls and in customized product iterations. The effect was striking without being aggressive: a color moment that gently pulled you in from the hallway and made you want to spend some time in the space.
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- Ghent Showroom at The MART
Across the way, HÅG was working in the same emotional frequency. A similar soft-yet-saturated hue anchored their main logo wall and threaded through the broader brand environment, which was the ideal canvas for their notable Recouture collection. The chairs featured are genuinely unlike anything else at the show: sculptural, idiosyncratic, quietly radical. The color didn’t compete with them but held them.
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- HÅG Showroom at The MART
Down the hall, Turf made its way to the top of the list of must-see destinations, with dedicated rooms featuring dim lighting and bold colors in the flooring and furniture that perfectly complemented the company’s acoustic solutions (proven successful when the DJ’s music at the entryway grew quieter and quieter the deeper you traveled into the showroom).
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- Turf Showroom at The MART
The Debate of Practicality
NeoCon began as a furniture show. It still is, in many ways, as the product category commands a significant share of floor space. But when 20,000 steps a day in The MART separates the boring from the remarkable, differentiation is the key to making the show truly worth it.
The response from several brands this year: furniture that makes you pause mid-stride and recalibrate as you figure out what you’re looking at. This year, many notable introductions crossed over from function into the territory of installation art. Sandler Seating’s amazing Spin is less a seating solution than an architectural marvel, a centerpiece that happens to include a seat as part of its form. Tenjam’s Baja 3D Lounge Collection operates similarly: visually striking, conceptually interesting, and not quite what you’d settle in with a cup of coffee.
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- Sandler Seating Spin Chair
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- Tenjam Furniture Baja 3D Lounge Collection
Left: Sandler Seating Spin Chair | Right: Tenjam Baja 3D Lounge Collection
Andreu World arrived with two pieces that occupied very different points on the spectrum. The Patin Chair, designed by Patricia Urquiola, wraps an enveloping cushioned seat within bold rectangular wooden frames that feel almost architectural in their presence, creating a balance of comfort and structure. The Hula Club Chair is something else entirely; part dining chair, part swivel office seat, part retro recliner, as if three pieces of furniture for varied markets decided to reproduce.
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- Patin Chair
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- Hula Club Chair
Which raises the question worth asking: is experimental form a trend or a trophy strategy? There’s real value in eye candy that earns you an award, generates buzz, and draws a crowd. But the pieces that will matter five years from now are the ones that figure out how to be both buzzworthy and practical. The architectural pieces are stunning, and the industry will be watching to see if the concept meets the needs.
Trendspotting is always fun at NeoCon, now even more so as the show continues to expand into different commercial markets, inspiring the brilliant, creative minds of our industry to sail uncharted territory. Thinking outside the box is a mainstay in the A+D world, and I look forward to seeing how “trends” are utilized beyond the show and how they evolve as products move out of showrooms and into projects.
Jenna Rehberg has worked in the design industry for 15 years. She was managing editor at well-known industry publications Floor Covering News and interiors+sources (i+s), has spoken as a panelist at various design events, and has contributed to numerous A+D outlets over the years. Since 2023, Rehberg has worked in public relations for the A+D community at SLOAN PR, where she represents a roster of renowned product manufacturers and interior designers. Rehberg is a NY native living in Virginia and judges grammar for fun.