Swiss-US Furniture Design Highlight

Being a big furniture design enthusiast, I was excited to go to the 20th annual International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) last weekend. The Javits Convention Center bustled with a vibrant mix of interior designers, architects, retailers, designers, and manufacturers. The national and international exhibitors offered an interesting insight in the latest trends in contemporary furniture. In my opinion, the star of the show was Loadbearing, a US/Swiss company providing furniture for the home and casual office. I swear, I fell in love with this shelving system before I even knew it was designed by a Swiss.


I love the color combination in the main picture: Lipstick Red, Fuchsia & Light Blue, but of course, I do like these “Swiss colors” too. The nice thing about this storage system is that it allows you to create your own design that fits your space, needs and taste. You first pick the type of unit you want and then choose from a wide range of sliding doors, either wood veneer or powder-coated steel in various colors.

Here’s a beautiful example of a book shelf with wood veneer doors:

If all these inciting opportunities are too overwhelming, Loadbearing has a page on their website where customers upload images of the pieces they designed. Click here to get inspired.

Loadbearing’s Mshelving, designed by the Swiss designer Mathias Frei of Zürich, seems to be the perfect symbiosis of Swiss and US attitudes. On their website, they state: The “Swiss” side of our nature requires practical, attractive, clever solutions. The “US” side wants to have it our way. Neither wants to pay a fortune. The combination results in smart, well-made, good value products that you can customize to fit your needs.

What I like about it? It’s simple, creative, utilitarian and just beautiful.