The 38th annual NeoCon World Trade Fair was bustling with innovation and invention at The Merchandise Mart, Chicago, including an expanded green products exhibit area and a record-setting Best of NeoCon Awards competition featuring 332 products entered in 36 categories.

The competition, sponsored by Contract magazine, honored 79 winners, including 12 Innovation Awards and 3 Editor's Choice Awards. This year's jury awarded Best of Competition honors to Herman Miller Inc. (Zeeland, Mich.) for its My Studio Environments Furniture Systems, designed by Douglas Ball.

Among the winners of Innovation awards were: Studies by Lea North America (Fiorano Modenese, Italy), a patterned tile series that plays on distances, dimensions and repetition; Strandwoven Furniture Board by Turion Bamboo Traders (Holland, Mich.), which features long strands of bamboo that have been woven together and laminated; Design Studio by Lees Carpets (Kennesaw, Ga.), a modular carpet line with four design categories, including curves, geometrics, bold patterns and organics; The 1968 Collection from InterfaceFLOR Commercial (Atlanta), featuring five groovy colorways and six geometric patterns; and Sustillian recycled vinyl flooring from Constantine Commercial (Atlanta), with flaxstraw and recycled vinyl content.

Other Winners Included:

Architectural Products
Gold: Axis, Industrias Riviera, Mexico City, Mexico
Silver: ResinArt Panels, Veritas (Pinellas Park, Fla.)

Carpet: Broadloom
Gold: Silk, Shaw Contract Group (Dalton, Ga.)
Silver: Urban Tribe Collection, Bentley Prince Street (Los Angeles)

Carpet: Fiber
Gold: Antron Brilliance carpet fiber, Invista (Wichita, Kan.)

Carpet: Modular
Gold: Beneath the Surface Collection, C&A Floorcoverings (Dalton, Ga.)
Silver: Foreign Intrigue, Milliken Carpet (LaGrange, Ga.)

Flooring
Gold: Sustillian recycled vinyl flooring, Constantine Commercial (Atlanta)
Silver: Strandwoven Bamboo flooring, Turion Bamboo Traders (Holland, Mich.)

Lighting
Gold: Leaf, Herman Miller Inc. (Zeeland, Mich.)
Silver: Farinelli Chandelier, Boyd Lighting (San Francisco)

Surfacing Materials
Gold: 100%, 3form (Salt Lake City)

VM+SD will cover exciting new green products in October, as well as profile retailers who have adopted environmentally minded building practices.

The 2007 NeoCon Worldís Trade Fair will be held June 11-13. For more information, visit www.merchandisemart.com.