NeoCon 2026

Design professionals attended NeoCon 2026 from 88 countries.

NeoCon 2026 ran June 8-10, 2026, with a Preview Day on June 7, at The Mart (Merchandise Mart) in Chicago, across seven exhibition floors.

The dominant trend was a color reset toward rich burgundy, lavender, and plum, paired with softer, curvier furniture forms, pleated and fluted detailing, and tactile materials like velvet. Underneath the aesthetics, human-centered and wellness-driven design - movement-responsive seating, circadian lighting, and acoustic comfort - ran as the connective theme.

Illuminate at NeoCon is a dedicated lighting pavilion that debuted at NeoCon 2026 on the Mart's seventh floor. It brought together architectural, decorative, and technical lighting brands with its own programming (five educational vignettes, 14 Spotlight Sessions, a featured panel, and lighting-focused CEUs), reframing lighting as a core design material rather than a finishing touch.

KI won Best of Competition for its Cognetic Technology, a gravity-powered, multi-axis seating system that continuously responds to natural body movement. It also earned Gold and an Innovation award. In total, the 36th Best of NeoCon recognized 71 products across 42 categories from 274 entries.

The 2026 People's Choice winners were Mohawk Group's Hero Rubber (made with Nike Grind), SurfaceWorks' Newton, BIOS Lighting's SkyView Tile, Andreu World's Patin Chair, Haskell Education's Pathmaker Table Series, and HALCON Furniture's VESPER.

Headline keynotes included innovator and entrepreneur Jessica O. Matthews, designer and futurist Nick Foster, and digital-culture speaker David "Shingy" Shing, alongside a deep education program and special activations such as NeoCon Collab: Half-Light and Art on The Mart's "Love Language" projection.

NeoCon 2027 takes place June 13-16, 2027 at The Mart in Chicago, the show's 58th edition. See neocon.com for details.