If you’ve ever visited NeoCon in Chicago, you know the contract furnishings brand Hightower always has one of the best showrooms. NeoCon 2021 commenced earlier this week after more than a year break but not without noting Hightower’s newly redesigned showroom, which won multiple awards, including IIDA’s ‘Best Small Showroom’ and ‘Best of Competition’. To mark the trade show’s return, Hightower again partnered with interior designer Casey Keasler plus her team at Casework, to transform the 3,500-square-foot space to allow visitors to interact with the brand in new ways.
Since 2003, Hightower has delivered modern, Scandinavian furniture and accessories for contract settings. Their designs go beyond simply how they look, as Co-founder and CEO Natalie Hartkopf explains: “An introspective look at how we’ve spent the last two years reinforced what we’ve always believed at Hightower: the importance of creating places where people desire to be, to linger within, and feel it worth their time and effort to be there.” At the end of the day, their goal is for users to feel better than they did at the start.
The Chicago showroom displays an inviting color palette of deep garnets, blush velvets, soft beiges and textured creams, within both group and solo seating settings. The modular designs range from casual open seating that could easily reside in a residential space, to group workspaces with built-in privacy screens that cut down on surrounding noise for better focus.
Almost 60 products are on display in the new showroom, sharing how well the diverse pieces work together, whether it’s within a workspace, hotel, educational institute or public space.
We want to remind people of the energy, creativity, and curiosity that can only be experienced in shared environments – that feeling of excitement. We’re taking back shared spaces where socialization and collaboration are optimized; recognizing where we’ve been but igniting optimism and challenging people to look at new ways of coming together.
– Jessica Ahlering, Hightower’s Director of Marketing & Product
