CHICAGO - NeoCon, North America’s largest contract furnishings trade show, is already serving up healthy doses of wood touches and treatments - frequently combined with high-tech components that also carry environmentally sustainable credentials. With 700 exhibitors, the show is expected to draw more than 40,000 during its run through June 12 at Chicago's Merchandise Mart.

Carlisle Wide Plank Floors is using the show to acquaint buyers with the latest introduction in its proprietary SlowCraft heartwood milling products: Design Series II. These are wide plank floors in a variety of species using cuts and colors that are among the most consistently requested by  designers . The line includes more contemporary transparent tints and colors like grays and charcoals, says Robert Deutsch, who handles Carlisle sales in the Midwest.

Also new from Carlisle is engineered flooring, which is engineered in 11-ply marine grade plywood from Baltic Birch, and a top layer that is 3/16-inch thick.

TMC, an Ann Arbor, MI contract furniture manufacturer serving the educational market, has added relief panels in veneer panels and laminates that complement its lines of natural wood and plywood school furniture and decorative elements.

Thos. Moser showed its contract line for the first time in several years, and designer Adam Rogers' Elements snared a Silver Award for a sideboard with Paperstone drawer fronts. The Elements line adhere's to the Thos. Moser philosophy of classic woodcraft.

Miter joints are secured with squared wood pins. Melding contemporary office requirements with high style, Rogers hollowed a leg through which power cords are discretely threaded, with outlets embedded in a drawer - leaving the desk surface as a clear plane of highly finished wood.