Furniture takes a wacky turn on its way to the fair.

The International Contemporary Furniture Fair is a designer's forum where anything goes. W&WP showcases some of the dazzling creations of designers whose influences range from Thomas Chippendale to Frank Lloyd Wright to Bugs Bunny

Some 340 designers, artisans, architects, design school students, custom woodworkers, and manufacturers of production and limited edition furnishings showed off their wares in May at the Fifth Annual International Contemporary Furniture Fair in the Jacob Javits Center, New York City.

One impression quickly emerged from the many formidable and fanciful displays. Although these exhibitors take their work seriously, not all are dead serious about furniture. They respect its functions, but break loose when it comes to form. Approaching the design of furniture with a spirited New Age eye more often than not leads to having fun with it. That makes ICFF a very upbeat place to be -- with playful people in a setting that crackles with creativity.

Aris Paganakis is a member of this new generation of furniture designers and his work is a perfect example of the fair's fantasy aspect. Both witty and whimsical, his creations have cartoon-like animated qualities -- as if they would sashay around the living room when no one was home.

Viewers suggested that a squatty, bombe dresser might have been designed for Winnie-the-Pooh and a surrealistic, undulating grandfather clock for Alice in Wonderland. It is not surprising then to learn that Paganakis credits Bugs Bunny cartoons and children's author, Dr. Seuss, as inspirations. But the designer's imagination and sense of humor are solidly backed up with craftsmanship. Paganakis is following Gustav Stickley's example, he said, "making big, strong structures with minimal ornamentation" in his Pennsylvania workshop.

The witty and wonderful world of -- Chippendale?

Two halls away, the furniture design program at San Diego State University was represented by the work of eight graduate students including Richard Ford Jr. Ford's tipsy Chippendale highboy parallels the animated style of Aris Paganakis, but developed from his own understanding of furniture's historical origins. It has the obligatory broken pediment and "flame" finial of its traditional counterparts, but these are strictly for fun.

Don't let the highboy's off-kilter stance and wacky proportions fool you into thinking it was recklessly made. The construction is meticulous, probably twice as difficult as carpentry for a normal design would be. It stands sturdily on its chunky and uneven little cabriole legs and those crooked drawers slide out like they were buttered. Ford's final flourish, a bright red and blue paint job with gold trim, is smooth as silk.

Another designer with an outlandish sense of humor (and a long list of credentials) is Glenn Elvig, sculptor-woodturner-artist and creator of last year's showstopper, "The Big Bopper." Elvig and the Bopper were back, along with several new pieces. Bopper's red leather seat (with seatbelts) is mounted on a huge spring attached to a hubcap base. Wrapping around the slender chair back, the arms end in a set of red leather boxing gloves. Another Elvig work, Custer's last (plant) stand is, as you probably guessed, pierced with arrows.

Elvig is a member of the American Craft Council and former president of both the Minnesota Woodworkers Guild and Minnesota Craft Council. His work has been exhibited in London, Tokyo and in galleries and shows throughout the United States.

'Innovative design takes innovative manufacturing'

Prominent among the widely-known furniture companies at ICFF were Dakota Jackson, Design America and Thos. Moser Cabinetmakers. Jackson introduced his first line of bedroom furnishings for the general marketplace, The Big Sleep, which emerged from his Engineered Design program.

Jackson said the program comprises a team of in-house designers who are closely linked to the manufacturing process. "Manufacturing cannot be a second thought -- you can't have innovative design without innovative manufacturing. It's all about machining," he added. Dakota Jackson's Vik-ter stacking chair, which he personally introduced at NeoCon two years ago, is highly production oriented with a laminated seat process that has been reduced to seven minutes.

Jackson also previewed a new 22-ply maple, sweet gum and poplar, steel-reinforced chair to be mass produced for long-term use in public spaces. "Generic meets high style," he commented, adding that anything well styled can crossover from commercial to residential use. His Vik-ter chair was designed for the contract market and is now offered for residential buyers through the store of the Museum of Modern Art.

If attending ICFF is exhilarating, what effect must it have on exhibitors? Even Dakota Jackson couldn't resist a little levity which he expressed by exaggerating the forms of his new bedroom pieces. He described The Big Sleep designs as furniture that could be found in children's books or animated cartoons. "They are what you might call full-figured," he said, "inflated, but controlled."

Arts & Crafts -- still timely

In its literal sense of "with the times," contemporary design is considered timely. The appearance of Arts & Crafts furniture at ICFF reinforced the message that good design is also timeless.

Several Arts & Crafts-influenced pieces are included in Thos. Moser Cabinetmakers' New Century series: round and square pedestal extension tables, side and arm chairs, a post-and-panel sideboard and a slat bed.

In commemoration of its 20th anniversary this year, the Moser company exhibited its first miniature collectible, a 1:12 reproduction of the Moser signature piece, the continuous arm chair. Arts & Crafts-inspired lamps with hardwood bases and copper shades are also a new undertaking.

The straight lines and traditional joinery of Maxwell & Kelly Furniture, Philadelphia, reflect Shaker, Wright and Mackintosh influences, but the interpretations are steadfastly original. John Kelly and Michael Maxwell decided to take the Arts & Crafts emphasis on joinery a step further and expose everything in a five-drawer chest without side panels. Sides of the drawers replace the sides of the dresser. Good looking from any vantage point, and with drawers opening from either end, the chest can serve as a room divider.

Maxwell and Kelly said they are dedicated to functional furniture that is affordable and impeccably made. Their M-1 series furnishings are made of solid black cherry accented with black walnut pegs, slides and pulls.

Strong, bold lines

The spirit of the Arts & Crafts movement also prevails at Wendover Woodworks, Newburyport, MA., where partners Andrew Willemsen and Henry Fox create limited edition pieces in the time-honored manner of hand-cut dovetails and mortise and tenon joinery. When speaking of design, they say they draw upon a variety of influences, from the Federal architecture which prevails in Newburyport to Shaker forms and nature. Their works emphasize strong, bold lines and celebrate the beauty of American hardwoods.

The Midnight table, one of a series of demi-lune tables from Wendover Woodworks, is crafted in solid bubinga with a sprinkle of mother-of-pearl stars inlaid in the top. Between the top and the three ebonized mahogany legs are copper leaf "planets." The Zero chair is made of cherry, ash and spruce, with a urethane-glazed dacron panel back that stretches to the floor. The Zero desk has a similar dacron panel under its glass top that changes the look of the piece whenever light in the room shifts.

This was Wendover's third year at the fair. "There is a lot here that is flashy and fun to see," Willemsen said, "but 10 years from now where will it all be? Some of these things would be awfully hard to live with."

EASY-TO-ASSEMBLE SYSTEM, FURNITURE PROTOTYPES INTRODUCED AT ICFF

ETA (Easy-to-Assemble), a unique, fastener-free system of joining and assembling furniture, was introduced by Green Design Inc. of Yarmouth, Maine, at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair.

ETA is a system of interlocking joinery in which furniture components are connected in a specific order through a series of precision-cut slots. As each component slides into place, it secures the piece that was inserted previously. The last component locks the entire piece of furniture into a unified structure, according to Doug Green, the inventor, who compared the assembly process to an Oriental puzzle box.

ETA enables ETA-designed furniture to be assembled in minutes without tools, glue, screws or other fasteners. Green said the process is suitable for solid wood, MDF, and veneered and laminated composition products. Components are interchangeable for efficient manufacturing and reduced inventory costs, he added.

ETA will allow a manufacturer to capitalize on computer manufacturing technology, making furniture more profitable to produce and more affordable to purchase, Green said. The company expects to license both the ETA system and ETA furniture designs to manufacturers.