One of the biggest surprises at NeoCon 2026 (especially for me, on my first visit to the expo in over a decade) was what office manufacturers were not showing: casegoods and desking systems. With a few notable and impressive exceptions (here’s looking at you, Nienkämper), the focus was on communal areas anchored by soft seating that has evolved from “resimercial” to resolutely residential. The colour palettes, too, veered away from beiges, browns and blacks and toward fully saturated hues in red, cobalt, purple — you name it. Call it the Patricia Urquiola effect: The Milan-based Spanish designer’s distinct sensibility could be felt everywhere, not least, of course, in the collections she herself authored.
At Haworth, her new Sosu series pushed the possibilities of bouncy, overstuffed seating. Urquiola is the art director of the Haworth-owned company Cassina, and the boldness of the Italian style is now coming through in the parent brand, adapted for the American contract market. At Andreu World, meanwhile, her Patin chairs mixed an architectural base with voluminous seat and back cushions.
Her influence was also palpable in the Haworth-sponsored group installation she co-curated in The Mart’s lobby: “Paved States” featured an exciting assortment of work by emerging designers who are mixing materials, colours and forms with the kind of virtuosity that Urquiola herself has always exhibited. The torch has been passed and the future looks fun.
1. At Haworth, Urquiola introduced the sofas, lounges and tables of the Sosu collection. With modules resembling massive boulders crashing into each other, the sofa is the most dramatic of the pieces. It heralds the move away from blocky resimercial silhouettes toward a full embrace of homey comfort. The lounges, meanwhile, come with a variety of bases and in relaxed or tailored upholstery.
2. “Paved States” × Haworth Design Lab presented a strikingly curated array of vignettes furnished with pieces by a motley ensemble of emerging designers. Lauren Goodman’s Fresh Catch table in light blue and EP01 chair in bright red were shown alongside Malcolm Majer’s experimental SSDD chair and the Variegated Berea Sandstone Lamp by Hank Beyer and Alex Sizemore. The eclecticism was electrifying.
3. Patin, a chair for Andreu World, shows off Urquiola’s architectural influences. It pairs a solid ash wood frame (and its continuous “sled-like” base) together with a fully upholstered seat and backrest that exude clean yet ample curves. Despite it being the result of a collaboration between two Spanish powerhouses, the chair also embraces a Scandinavian elegance. It comes in nine permutations (four of which feature star bases), including a bar and counter stool.
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