Inspiration: 

This year’s BDNY booth pulled focus around the theme “In Your Element”. Dictionaries will give translation to this phrase by saying it means to feel comfortable in what you are doing, but we believe it goes beyond that. To us, it’s a strong sense of belonging, it’s knowing for certain this is where you are meant to be. It’s a passion that transcends into all that you do. To truly be in one’s element, it should be described as being filled with genuine joy, interest, and contentment. This passion and desire to embrace and grow within one’s element is what continues to push this industry forward in beautiful, interesting, and innovative ways. It has been an honor over the past year to see so many of our friends and clients shining in their element. The talent we are constantly surrounded by is always amazing to witness. “In Your Element” just felt like the right fit to round off the year.

Design Approach:

Planning around the booth presented lots of opportunities to challenge the norm and push ourselves to explore the ways in how we encapsulate who we are. This year was a first with introducing tech into the booth design. Filling the space with two giant 6ft screens and iPads, definitely felt like the type of statement to be made in Vegas, but it was a move that was unexpected and unpredictable in the best way. BERMANFALK is infused with technology throughout all our processes. To incorporate these technical elements into our booth, was really just aligning how we already utilize technology to transcend our core values. 

On top of this, we also designed the booth and furniture solely in house for the first time. In previous years we’ve also chosen specific pieces to highlight from existing projects and worked with a marketing agency to bring the rest of the booth together. So this year we decided it was time to commit all the way and throw ourselves into the entire process. It was so fun playing designer for a bit and having the opportunity to pick up a pencil and sketchbook as a change. This really allowed us to focus on different techniques and styles we haven’t typically showcased in a tradeshow space before. The experience was extremely rewarding, and admittedly humbling lol. Needless to say we all have major respect and love for all the designers in our life. The creativity is astounding!

The Furniture:

What you might’ve missed while at the show is the subtle undertones of natural elements for each quarter of the booth – Earth, Fire, Air, Water. Though the aesthetic was fairly consistent throughout the booth, a lot of thought was put into how to faintly use finishes and colours to represent the “In Your Element” theme even further. 

Here are just some of the techniques and finishing styles we incorporated for the different pieces in each element:

Earth Bar: Green marble top with sectioned panels framed in our BF-25 dark bronzy ash with a cream-coloured vinyl backing and golden metal mesh overlay. Smaller details included LED strip lighting applied underneath the inside of the bar, and plating the sink in a gold finish to match the hardware and metal mesh.

Fire Coffee Table: Many different techniques were used on this piece to give it a “fire pit” effect. Starting with our BF-15 Cremini Walnut finish done in a tambour style for the outside. Inset in the center was our MT-12 champagne metal overlaid with glass. Space was given between the two layers to create the impression that the inside was much more sunken into the base than it was. To give some extra elegance to the piece, a nice translucent/scaled looking quartz was incorporated on the top edge.

Air Vanity: Beautiful light grey vinyl was wrapped around most of this piece, using our MT-14 polished stainless steel to give some extra reflection and charm. White and flowy marble stone was set into the tops, and drawer boxes were painted to match the vinyl fabric in a glossy finish. From a drawings standpoint, this required lots of dialogue to decide how to wrap the vinyl in order to give it a seamless look whenever it interacted with the metal or stone.

Water Table: This piece was an act of love requiring much dedication and technical knowledge. The base required making a custom resin mold, perfectly carved and formed to create this eye-catching ripple effect in a light emerald high-gloss finish. To add even greater depth to the piece, our MT-6 oil rubbed bronze was inset as vertical bands on each curved edge of the base. This metal was also then used as the middle to another stunning marble, resulting in a very ritzy tabletop. The base was then installed to angle the top corner to corner. In particular, this table required many different aspects to be taken into consideration, ensuring the piece, though gorgeous, also remained perfectly stable.

Day Of:

After spending almost a year planning for this booth it was so exciting to see it all finally come together. Our new Finish Library was officially launched to the public. Aaron and Daniel Berman came to their first industry event as new leaders to BERMANFALK. We also had an amazing contest with great participation to win a 3-night stay trip to Fairmont Chateau Whistler for two (flights included). Shoutout to our winner Cesar Ramirez from KNA Design. We hope you have the best time!

Thank You:

Of course all of this wouldn’t be possible without a myriad of people. It’s time for the speech part of this article, and we’ll just start by saying that it truly takes a village. Firstly, thank you to our team for your commitment and attention to detail given to this project. Thank you to Emerald X for the planning and organizing. Thank you to Cultivated for the amazing bar staff and mimosas! Thank you to Installation Service Group (ISG) for coordinating the booth build, installation, and dismantle. Thank you to United Fabrics for being so easy and great to work with when choosing fabrics. They all looked fantastic! Thank you to Milliken once again for a 2nd year of beautiful and fun carpet. There are so so so many more people to thank. We look forward to this event every year, and every year we come back inspired and filled with excitement. We love the people we work with!

Final Thoughts:

To end this recap we just want to say thanks to everyone that took the time to drop by our booth and say hi. It was so great to see all the familiar faces and friends we’ve made in this industry and catch up. We also loved making the new connections. There have been a lot of exciting things in the works at BERMANFALK this past year. We were eagerly waiting to finally be able to share those passion projects and milestones with everyone. It brings us a lot of joy to see people responding to those changes, and lights an even bigger passion in us to keep pushing for growth. We work in a very engaging and bustling industry, surrounded by so many talented people. Not to sound cheesy, but we hold our relationships very near and dear to us. Thank you for your continued support, and thanks for sharing with us what it truly means to be living in your element. 

Can’t wait to share with you our BDNY 2024 plans 😉