Landscape Architecture Magazine

The Philadelphia Convention Center is packed with people attending Lightfair 2013, checking out what’s new in lighting. LEDs blaze coolly on every aisle, and crowds pack the booths. Fulham Lighting Solutions (Booth #2701) is catching attention with its artful trees composed of light fixtures (the artist Chris Bell created the example pictured at left). The company Xeralux has renamed itself Sensity and is debuting its new NetSense platform, which uses sensors and a WiFi network within light products to collect and transmit data. In a parking lot, for example, NetSense can detect empty spaces and direct drivers to them. It can also incorporate security cameras to monitor the space without having a separate system. If you’re in Philly, check it out at Booth #3869. The Expo is open until 6:00 p.m. today and from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. tomorrow.

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Courtesy Binome

If there’s a trend I’m seeing at Maison et Objet, it’s the combination of fiberglass or technical plastic with wood, an eye-catching fusion. One of the companies with the most creative designs in this style is Binome. Their Osselet chair, pictured at left, is sturdy and durable, and will appeal to clients who want something other than the traditional Adirondack chair.

This is the last day of the show, so if you’re in Paris, make sure to take one last look!

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If landscape architects are absent from their office this week, it may be Paris’s fault for hosting the Maison et Objet show, part of Paris Design Week. Sifas (pictured left), Royal Botania, EGO Paris, Emu, Exteta, Fermob, and others are luring designers to check out their latest takes on chairs and lounges that make the outdoors even more comfortable than the indoors. The show continues today and tomorrow, and LAM is there scouting out great furniture for future Goods columns.

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Courtesy LIGHTFAIR

Courtesy Carl Stahl

Yesterday, amid the crowds at LIGHTFAIR International 2012 in Las Vegas, I tried to take a photo of X-LED Mesh. I was not successful. Every time I tried, fascinated passersby walked right up to examine and touch the dancing light display. The photo on the left is from their brochure, but still photos can’t capture the effect of the lights in motion. If you’re in town, check it out today, along with the 500-plus other exhibitors featuring every kind of lighting you’ve heard of and some you probably haven’t.

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Courtesy Flux

Spotted at the Architectural Design Home Design Show: a folding chair that really folds. Made of polypropylene, the Flux chair looks like a big envelope until you bend it around and insert Tab A into Slot B. It is the creation of two young Dutch designers, Douwe Jacobs and Tom Schouten, who worked on paper origami prototypes until they folded a winner. A video on their website shows the transformation and how sturdy the chair is once it’s set up.

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I had the opportunity to ogle the fabulous offerings at the Architectural Design Home Design Show in New York City today. It runs through Sunday, and if you’re in NYC it’s worth a trip down to Pier 94 to check it out. Indoor furnishings predominate, but great outdoor products are interspersed throughout, from big names like Royal Botania, Design Lush, and Ligne Roset to smaller companies such as Board by Design and Zachary A. Design. You’ll be seeing some of the best finds in the pages of our Goods column over the next few months.

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