1 Sight Unseen Offsite
Nearly 60 independent producers of furniture and household accessories are gathered in Sight Unseen Offsite, housed in the Hudson Mercantile. Look for contemporary designs with an abundance of style, including Eric Trine’s glass-topped Tri/Hex/Perf tables (above). Sight Unseen Offsite will also have a satellite show at the Collective Design Fair, with highlights including Brian Thoreen’s Mixed Marble Coffee Table (top).
2 Eclipse Sconce by Philippe Malouin for Roll & Hill
The name says it all. Only a corona of reflected light is visible around the orb of black nickel that defines Philippe Malouin’s latest design for lighting manufacturer Roll & Hill. The tab at the bottom can be pulled forward to adjust the light source’s distance from the wall, controlling how far its rays are cast. Catch it at The Future Perfect.
3 Weathered by Kneip
Norwegian studio Kneip developed the Weathered collection with its degradation in mind. Functional objects including a seismoscope and hygrometer, rendered in materials such as oak, copper and brass, were exposed to elements that would bring out their unique characteristics. The collection is part of the Norwegian Design Icons exhibit at Collective, presented by Fuglen Gallery.
4 Casa Canova by Studio Sean Knibb
Weighing in at 350 kilograms, with a 183-centimetre-wide slab of white Carrara marble and a solid wood base, Sean Knibb’s Casa Canova table has the heft of a monument. But on its surface is a relief sculpture that realistically depicts white cotton T-shirts – hand-carved with painstaking care over 700 hours. Casa Canova will be unveiled at ICFF.
5 Uma by Pablo Designs
The world has seen portable lanterns before – and wireless speakers too – but never has it seen Uma, the first product to combine the two into a single object. Touch-operated volume controls and a leather strap make using Uma a breeze, while soft LED illumination and high-quality sound both radiate in 360 degrees, bring atmosphere to any room.
6 Against You Ottoman by Barda
This low seat, presented by Barda in the QC Design exhibit of Quebec-based studios at Wanted Design Manhattan, exemplifies a “slow made” philosophy: durability and luxury are expressed by placing emphasis on the individual at the centre of the creative process, and striving to follow sustainable practices both developmentally and environmentally.
7 ME by Starck by Duravit
Continuing a long collaboration with Duravit, Philippe Starck conceived four collections of ceramic fixtures with a clean look that can disappear into contemporary environments. The family includes bathtubs, shower trays, toilets, bidets, washbowls and basins – including the sinks seen here, integrated into a concrete counter.
8 Lateralis by Ben McCarthy for Innermost
Reminiscent of an antique oil lamp, the Lateralis table lamp from Innermost combines a frosted central diffuser that flows into a shade in amber-tinted glass. A dark wood casing with brass fittings completes the look. Following its launch at Euroluce in Milan last month, the lamp makes its North American debut at ICFF.
9 Partridge Chair by Design by Them
Hailing all the way from Sydney, Australia, Design by Them appears at ICFF to present the Partridge Chair – the latest addition to their Partridge family of seating. A wire backrest is added to the solid timber frame to create a chair that’s sturdy but visually light. Different types of wood can be specified, as well as powder-coating in a range of colours.
10 Game of Fifteen by Ascot Ceramiche
Pop art is poised to become the next big trend in tiles, and with striking looks like Ascot’s Keith Haring-derived collection, it’s easy to see why. The New York artist’s paintings adorn ceramic tiles in a range of scales, from tightly patterned repeaters to groups of tiles that create mural-like arrays over 80 centimetres across.
11 Toronto Outside the Box curated by Toronto Design Offsite Festival
In January, Wanted Design brought a series of micro-exhibitions – small enough to fit in a bankers box – to Toronto, spotlighting products from a half-dozen US cities. Toronto now heads to Wanted Design Brooklyn bearing designs such as the Elements Water Carafe and Tumblers by Alissa Coe and Vincent Joseph Monastero. Selections from several other US and Canadian cities will be exhibited as well.
12 Tartan pendant lamp by Ludovica + Roberto Palomba for Foscarini
Ludovica + Roberto Palomba developed Tartan – along with its wavy-shaded sister pendant Gem – over many years, exploring a technique for carving incisions into blown glass to create patterns in the translucent material. While Gem is a closed sphere, Tartan is open on the bottom, releasing downcast light to the surface below.
13 Anyway Armchair by Massproductions
Extending their sofa collection of the same name, Massproductions presents the Anyway Armchair at Designjunction NYC, making a North American debut following a successful launch in their hometown of Stockholm earlier this year. The brilliantly upholstered chairs are offered with sprung seats in low-backed and high-backed versions, and wood or metal legs in a range of finishes.
We’ll be covering NYCxDesign all weekend long – stayed tuned to Azure’s Twitter feed for on-the-ground coverage of dozens of shows.