Back in their usual spring time slot after being postponed to fall last year, ICFF and WantedDesign Manhattan 2022 brought fresh insights into the design world’s latest fascinations. Our NYCxDesign 2022 preview and initial show report rounded up a few of the top trends and early standouts, including Juniper Design’s metaverse-inspired lighting and Piscina’s artistic woodwork.
But we’ve saved the best for last. Here are two of our favourite NYCxDesign 2022 trends that we see having serious staying power — plus the designs that represent them best.
After winning the Prototype competition at January’s Interior Design Show, Toronto-based Sarah Yao-Rishea brought her Alcove vases to WantedDesign Manhattan’s Launch Pad.
Their tubular metal compositions encourage intricate ikebana-style arrangements that sort flowers by individual stem.
For its first furniture collection, design blog turned retailer Sight Unseen teamed up with Long Island manufacturer Bestcase and enlisted heavy hitter design studios like Evan Jerry’s Studio Anansi.
Pairing brushed stainless steel with a sage resin handle, the Nova Scotia–based designer’s Brut bar cart boasts a stark yet nonetheless charming silhouette.
Shown as a prototype at ICFF ahead of its 2023 launch, Luca Nichetto’s modular Cube system for Brown Jordan Outdoor Kitchens features slatted stainless-steel panels in playful colour combinations.
Whether dinner calls for red meat or vine tomatoes, soft-close drawers ensure all necessary cooking tools stay within reach.
Held at Rockefeller Center in a former post office, “Intervenciõn/Intersecciõn” — the first NYC exhibition organized by travelling gallery MASA — was like a postcard from Mexico’s design community.
One of several poetic standouts, Esrawe Studio’s Frecuencia bench uses bent steel bars of varying lengths to create the illusion that the piece is fading away.
In WantedDesign Manhattan’s Look Book section, Caleb Ferris unveiled his Al Dente collection of sculptural tables inspired by the shapes of macaroni and lasagna noodles.
Combining machine-cut and handmade maple forms, the sophisticated outcomes feel more Eataly than Olive Garden.
After designing a series of side tables inspired by 18th-century French marquetry, NJ Roseti followed up with these delightfully warped variants shown at ICFF.
Produced in walnut, maple and mahogany veneer, the designs look like they’re suffering from some kind of glitch, blurring the line between digital and physical.
The monotony of drinking from the same glasses all throughout the pandemic prompted Portland, Oregon, designer Irina Flore to imagine something more playful.
While some of her Joyful goblets sit centred on their bases, others are whimsically askew — perfect for Alice in Wonderland–themed cocktail parties. Exhibited in WantedDesign Manhattan’s Launch Pad section, the collection is handcrafted in Istanbul.
For “Anti Chairs,” Emma Scully Gallery invited six designers to challenge old ways of sitting.
New Orleans–based Bradley L Bowers unveiled Frank, an invitingly cushy upholstered chair modelled after taut muscles.
Standouts at spring design shows like ICFF and WantedDesign Manhattan engaged with shiny textures and uncanny forms.