This year ICFF celebrates its 35th anniversary, also with a new logo by the award-winning creative agency forceMAJEURE – conveying the energy of New York and its fair, one of the most important in North America. “ICFF needed a visual identity that would be distinctive and could provide the flexibility necessary to amplify the various individual expressions that we support,” say the team of forceMAJEURE. “From brand strategy to logotype, colors, typeface, and navigation, the goal was to make this repositioning function across all media, from social networks to the website to the show itself.”
Held from 19 to 21 May 2024 at the Javits Center in Manhattan, the event – focusing on quality, hospitality and sustainability – brings together American and international exhibitors in dialogue with young talents. The installations created by renowned architecture studios, workshops, a bookstore space and talks are just some of the many new developments in this edition, including an unprecedented partnership with Superstudio. We discussed all this with Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat, Brand Directors of ICFF 2024.
Odile and Claire, for the second consecutive year you are the Brand Directors of ICFF. There are many new developments, but first of all there is the new logo…
It was very important for our brand to reflect the new vision of the show and to demonstrate that we are moving forward, towards the coming chapter of ICFF. We needed something bolder that would express the energy of New York City, the focus on ecology and design: a fresh, appealing logo, also for a younger audience. The new visual identity translates all these elements, and we are already seeing the results: everyone loves it!
How as the new visual identity formulated?
The new identity of the ICFF brand features an intriguing logo that reflects the spirit and vitality of New York. A visual language that also allows us to add, move and transform new factors, like the colors and images, to diversify the sections: yellow for Wanted, green for Oasis (with an accent on the environment), blue for the new Bespoke area (concentrating on fine crafts), with the aim of adding others in the future…
The Bespoke area is a first for ICFF. How did this idea happen?
Architects and interior designer often ask us for advice about artisans who can create pieces made to measure. We know how important customization is in the United States, so we thought about developing a space inside ICFF that would bring together artisans at work, focusing on the production process. Bespoke creations, seen as a resource: not to show finished products, but to grant visibility to people, materials and processes that lead to unique results.
Have you reorganized the layout of the fair at Javits Center?
We have reorganized the layout with the idea of creating greater fluidity between ICFF, WANTED and other initiatives, like the talks for example. At center stage we have the large American companies like Bernhardt Design, with a space conceived as a welcome lounge, as well as an installation curated by David Rockwell, restaurants and bars. There will also be international brands, an outdoor section, a bathroom-kitchen area, Bespoke, then the area of WANTED which this year is even more impressive. Another new feature is an app which will continue to work in the future.
What will happen with WantedDesign, which you have renamed as simply WANTED?
We can define it as an edition concentrating on the Launch Pad, Look Book – with 60 participants – and obviously on Design Schools: there will be 20 schools on hand, while with Launch Pad and Look Book we are creating a very solid group of designers from over 25 countries. The workshops of the schools will have a space inside the fair (last year they were at Industry City): we wanted to bring them under the same “roof” so the students can be there in a professional setting.
You have started a partnership with Superstudio. How did that begin?
Giulio Cappellini is one of the leading mentors and supporters of design, and when he proposed this partnership it was a great honor, and very exciting. With the idea of creating a bridge between Europe and the United States, we will be on hand with a talk at the event of Superstudio during Milano Design Week, and they will be in New York, during the design festival, on the stage of the show. On the evening of 17 April 2024, at Superstudio, there will be a major event: American Night. The sponsors include NYCxDESIGN.
How can we sum up the vision underlying this edition of ICFF?
Design and people are at the center of the show: not just a showcase for products, but a gathering place that fosters relationships, where international voices are heard on the stage of the talks – Luca Nichetto, David Trubridge, Superstudio, etc. – and where you can absorb design culture. With an indispensable emphasis on sustainability.
When you began WantedDesign, over 10 years ago, could you imagine becoming the creative fulcrum of ICFF?
For us it has really been a matter of taking one step at a time, ever since the outset. WantedDesign relied on extraordinary collaboration, also on a personal level. Since then we have moved forward, continuing to love what we’re doing: our work has to do with relationships, understanding the US market and what is necessary in this context. We see our role for ICFF as a privilege: we bring the passion that has always been our trademark, and we have the great opportunity of making the show the leading design event in North America.
