The 20th annual International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) May 17-20, 2008 transformed New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center into a worldwide wonder for design disciples. And MOD was there…

Check out the 2008 ICFF

Within a few short weeks two of the worlds most important design fairs happen…. April in Milan and May in New York… of course you could probably attend a fair every month somewhere in the world… however, These two fairs have an importance that may transcend all the others for a number of reasons.

Check out the 2007 Milan Furniture Fair

Stockholm Design Week is the world's largest meeting place for Nordic design with the Stockholm Furniture Fair, Northern Light Fair and an ever increasing number of high-profile events, showrooms and design activities around Stockholm. Some 40,000 visitors and 750 exhibitors from the entire world meet each year at the Stockholm Furniture Fair to do business and get inspiration. The whole of Stockholm is involved and the city is teeming with design activities, exhibitions and events.

Every year an important designer is comissioned to create a central meeting place at the fair. this year is was one of MOD's favorites, German designer Konstantin Grcic.

Check out the 2007 Stockholm Furniture Fair

Broberg Riddersträle

Every year at the Stockholm Furniture Fair, an architect or designer is commissioned to create a special Design Bar. This year the honor goes to Broberg Riddersträle Design & Architecture.

Check out Broberg Riddersträle

Greenhouse

Greenhouse was started in 2003 as a forum enabling independent designers to meet producers in the furnishing industry. Greenhouse aims to act as a springboard into reality for creative talents and a platform for exchanging ideas and new trends. An exhibition entitled 'The Greenhouse Effect' is being held to celebrate the fifth anniversary. One of the standouts was Wis Design (www.wisdesign.se) above.

Check out Greenhouse

The Stockholm Furniture Fair started like many major furniture fairs around the globe.... Much anticipation and in this case an expectation that we, the MOD crew along with thousands of other visitors that is, would be privy to some of the best design the world has to offer... And we were not disappointed. Sweden and the neighboring countries that make up Scandinavia have held for many years a quiet hold on a large part of the contemporary design scene. The Danes and Finns not withstanding, it has been the Swedes who have taken on the global dissemination of design, and good design it is. From the mass reaches of IKEA to the solid middle class transport that Volvo has exported. The mobile electronics of companies like Eriksson and delicate and timeless glass objects from Orrefors Kosta Boda, all have impacted the way we live and in not such a bad way either. So there we were, after arriving on a efficient SAS flight (love the Thomas Sandell designed accoutrement) and quick taxi ride to our hotel, the Clarion Stockholm. Although a few degrees colder than New York, we were happy to be there and the crisp air and pure white snow were only indications of what kind of design we were about to experience.

Check out the 2006 Stockholm Furniture Fair

Following the series of design fairs that abound in the early part of every year around the world - Cologne, Paris, Stockholm and Milan, spring has sprung and it is now New York's turn to strut its stuff... The scent of cherry blossoms and urban decay combine to create a lasting sensory experience.. And this years ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair) was no exception.  This was the 17th annual pilgrimage to New York of design fanatics who were rewarded with a plethora of events both inside and outside the Javits Center in Manhattan.

Check out the 2005 International Contemporary Furniture Fair

This year's annual Salone del Mobile in Milan, Italy evoked a much more positive and laid-back mood than years past. This could be due to the fact that the weather was actually pretty nice or that the excitement seems to have returned to the world of design. It almost brought me back to the days when Erica Calvi was organizing the Ron Arad and Ingo Maurer exhibition/parties that paved the way for the current crop of events that surround the fair. The nostalgia was definitely heightened by the fact that this is the last year the fair will be at the old Milan fair grounds and as of next year will be moved to a site near Malpensa Airport. It was good to see both old an new faces making their respective marks on the design world and there wasn't so much design as fashion as there was fashionable design...more emphasis on quality not quantity...

Check out the 2005 Salone del Mobile

Once a year, hundreds of exhibitors (just over 800) and thousands of visitors (almost 40,000) descend upon Stockholm's impressive International Fairs Center to show and see the best design the land of the Vikings has to offer.

Check out the 2005 Stockholm Furniture Fair

Check out the biggest design show on earth. Not only the sun but the stars as well were out with all the big names in attendance. Ron Arad, Tom Dixon, James Irvine, Marcel Wanders,(Marten) Claesson, (Eero) Koivisto, (Ola)Rune, Karim Rashid, The Campana Brothers, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec (also brothers), Alfredo Haberli and the list goes on and on...