Brianna Arpy has walked the floors of NeoCon, the largest commercial interior design show in the country, almost every year since she was an intern. This June, she saw it from a new seat: as a member of the NeoCon jury.
One product she judged, a chair that moves unlike anything she had sat in before, made such an impression that she brought it home so her Quad Cities coworkers could experience it for themselves.
Inside the NeoCon Judging
A mentor in Milwaukee who had served on the jury first asked whether she would be interested. “I was very surprised to get that kind of tap on the shoulder this early on,” Brianna said. This year, she applied and joined a jury selected to represent a broad range of experience levels and every market sector.
How the Jury Works
- Roughly 40 to 50 jurors arrived a couple of days before the show opened.
- Jurors previewed every product in their categories online first.
- Small groups spent five to seven minutes with each product on the show floor.
- Each visit included a conversation with the people who designed or manufactured it.
Why in person matters: “Online, it seemed like just another chair. In-person, I immediately understood what made it a game changer.”
Questions Beyond the Spec Sheet
Brianna also pressed manufacturers on questions she says are often overlooked:
- What industry standard sustainability criteria do this product and its process meet?
- How are the people who make the product treated?
- What type of company are they? Do they offer employee wellness programs or have various building certified facilities?
The Chair That Moves Differently
The chair, part of KI’s Kiaura collection built with Cognetic Technology, earned seven Best of NeoCon awards, including Best of Competition, and swept every category it was entered in.
Designed Around a Real Need
Its story began with an inventor who returned to work after a back injury and found sitting all day so uncomfortable that he had trouble concentrating. The technology lets people physically fidget throughout the day, which Brianna saw as a real tool for designing for neurodiversity in the workplace. It “helps them stay grounded and find their own center of gravity,” she said.
How It Felt
“As somebody who’s a little bit taller, I struggle to find a chair that fits me correctly,” Brianna said. “When I sat in the chair, instantly I felt joy, but I also felt calmer after being in it for a little bit.”
Built for the long term: Its developers worked directly with interior designers and user groups before its release, and they are studying its effects over time, from cognitive function to employees returning from workplace injuries. “It just shows that they really thought about the chair’s impact on users long-term and looked towards research and evidence prior to making claims about the technology and its performance.”
Why It Matters for a Designer
“You can’t really know what it is until you’ve seen it and experienced it firsthand,” Brianna said. Judging sharpened her sense of where design is heading. Alongside plenty of AI and higher tech, “there’s a shift back toward craftsmanship, human connection, and bringing humanity back into design.”
How do we design for all different abilities?
That question stayed at the front of her mind. She sees the chair’s potential reaching well beyond the office:
- Workplace: comfort and engagement through a full day of sitting
- Healthcare: applicable to trauma-informed design principles and for patients going through a difficult time or waiting for a diagnosis
- Education: classrooms and other learning environments
Designing for every ability is something Brianna advocates for well beyond NeoCon. She was recently selected to serve on the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) National Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB) Committee, building on her work with IIDA’s Equity Council and helping establish ASID Wisconsin’s DEI Committee. “Empathy, accessibility, and accommodations matter, in the spaces we create for others, and in our workplaces too,” she said.
Bringing It Home to the Quad Cities
After the show, Brianna kept asking herself one question. “How do I bring this experience back to my office? I didn’t think a webinar would do that justice.” So KI brought the chair to the Quad Cities office as a stop on its roadshow.
Coworkers from every market sat down to try it, and people of all body types and sizes experienced it in a similar way. As they started to swivel, eyes went wide. In Brianna’s words, the room “lit up.”
Sharing is learning: “When I teach others about something or share something with other people, it also helps me reinforce that information, and not only learn it, but expand upon it. So I think it’s a win-win for everyone.”
The demo tied back to a sign Brianna spotted in the Metropolis Magazine showroom at NeoCon:
Good design is fun.
“That really brought it back for me: remembering why I even got into interior design, and what I want to bring and share with other people,” she said.
Her Advice for the Next NeoCon Juror
- Experience the whole show. “Take advantage of every opportunity that you have and really try to experience the whole show.”
- Stay after judging. “Stay and learn after you’ve done the jury portion.”
- Pack for comfort. “Bring comfortable walking shoes and a good bag to carry stuff in, and you’ll be set.”
Bottom line: “Just soak it all in.”
Design for Every Body
Shive-Hattery, recently named ASID Firm of the Year, has more than 60 interior designers creating spaces that support the people who use them. Let’s talk about what that could look like for your team.
Related Insights
- Shive-Hattery Named 2026 ASID Firm of the Year — National recognition for the people and projects behind our interior design practice.
- Interior Design at Shive-Hattery — How our interior designers create spaces around the people who use them.
About the Contributor
Interior Designer
Brianna is an interior designer in Shive-Hattery’s Quad Cities office. She first discovered interior design while job shadowing an architect in the firm’s Moline office in high school, and she has attended NeoCon almost every year since she was an intern. With experience on both the design and furniture sides of the industry, she brings a people-first lens to every space. In 2026, she served on the Best of NeoCon jury and was selected for the ASID National Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB) Committee.
