Contract furniture companies Arcadia and Encore recently announced the grand opening of their expanded showroom on the 3rd floor of Chicago’s THE MART, which was officially unveiled during NeoCon 2024. Offering an engaging experience for visitors, this extension nearly doubles the showroom’s size, bringing the total square footage to 5,234, and provides an enhanced platform to showcase the diverse and growing product offerings from both brands.
Designed by Karen Steuben Dunbar, principal and owner of Inovus Design, and her team, the new showroom is intended to spark inspiration and demonstrate the versatile capabilities of Arcadia and Encore’s products. The floorplan includes warm, welcoming niches that range from lounge areas to training, hospitality and conference applications, as well as casual meeting spaces of varying scales. A dedicated healthcare products area reflects the brands’ strengthened presence in this market, anticipated to be a key growth segment. The expanded space also allows for greater flexibility in highlighting products tailored to higher education.
“When we were presented with the opportunity to expand our existing showroom, we realized that it was something we just couldn’t pass up,” said Helen Kim, VP of Marketing. “To anchor such a prominent corner on the 3rd floor of THE MART has always been a long-time goal and with the planned launch of 10 product collections in 2024, the timing just couldn’t have been better. Karen and her team did an outstanding job in helping us to achieve our vision, both in scale and in creating an overall feel that’s polished and welcoming.”
Designed with Hospitality in Mind
The showroom features a hospitality area designed to entertain clients, complete with a modified Avelina table that functions as a bar, as well as cabinetry, countertops and a signature veneer wall treatment—all custom-made in-house. An accompanying galley-style kitchen includes all the amenities for hosting parties and gatherings of all kinds.
Designed with an inviting, residential-style appeal, the showroom’s color palette features warm woods along with black and white tones with pops of sepia to soften the high contrast. Modern light fixtures in black and copper hues are strategically incorporated over several key areas, further enhancing the ambiance, while oversized acoustical artwork and Turf wall panels enrich the space’s visual and sound-absorbing qualities. To invoke a sense of well-being and provide yet another layer of contrast, biophilic elements are also integrated throughout the showroom, conveniently displayed within several new planter collections launched this year.
Both visually stunning and highly functional, the expanded showroom is an achievement on all levels for the Arcadia and Encore brands. Beautifully highlighting their breadth of products, it also provides a dynamic way to showcase their capabilities on a much more comprehensive level, all the while engaging more deeply with clients and the design community as a whole.
Located at space #340 on the 3rd floor of THE MART, the space is open to the trade for scheduled appointments throughout the year.
