NeoCon: New Materials For Nucraft

CHICAGO — Nucraft Furniture wasn’t letting the lack of Best of NeoCon plaques ruin its show. The Comstock Park maker of high-quality wood furniture has won 12 awards over the past six exhibitions, and while seeing its award streak snapped for the first time this century was disappointing, it wasn’t discouraging.

“The awards are nice,” said Nucraft Director of Marketing Bob Surman. “But if I can take a best-seller or an award-winner, I’ll take the best-seller.”

Nucraft’s efforts this year centered on the use of unique materials. The View collection of contemporary occasional tables uses anodized aluminum legs and a clear Starphire top, an optically clear glass without the slight green tint common in nearly all glass types. In the words of designer Mark Goetz, the effect of seeing clear to the floor “creates a depth of interest beyond the surface of the glass.”

Moment, a collection of tables, benches and consoles designed by Joey Ruiter, uses the Starphire glass atop a painted back. With this, the “true color” of the paint is seen through the glass.

Also on display were new surfaces for Nucraft’s Ariel workstations, including laminates, a material made of recycled pop cans, painted surfaces and grained veneer.

“We’ve got a couple of new products this year, some creative designs with some new materials,” said Bob Bockheim, Nucraft’s president and COO. “And this year, we’re really focusing on our environmental story.”

For the first time, every Nucraft product was labeled according to the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy Efficient Design standards.

“A lot of times, a building will get built to LEED standards, and then they put all this furniture in and don’t know if it meets the criteria,” said Surman. “To get through the certification, they have to waste all this time looking for documentation.”

Itemized LEED documentation for all products is also available on the Nucraft Web site at www.nucraft.com

Nucraft also launched a new power and data unit for tables and desks, the Power Cove.