Every spring the globe’s most notable furniture designers bring the latest examples of their work to Manhattan for New York Design Week . But what started as a single trade show— the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) —has now mushroomed into a series of satellite shows that stretch from midtown all the way down into Brooklyn’s newest design destination: Industry City . What does two weeks of nonstop design feel like? Well, most of us have a serious case of sensory overload. But as we clear the piles of business cards, lookbooks, and coffee cups from our desks, here are the happenings that rise to the top of the heap.
Hermès, with a reputation for over-the-top displays, tapped experimental theater artist Robert Wilson to create a transportive world within Chelsea’s Cedar Lake for the American debut of its latest furniture collection. At the surrealistic display, the brand’s luxurious leather furnishings (and a flock of white birds) were suspended from the ceiling, creating a fantastical playground for a cast of performance artists.
British furniture and lighting designer Lee Broom opened a 2,000-square-foot pop-up shop at 63 Greene Street, displaying his striking fixtures amid details of British Georgian architecture through June 10.
Many welcomed the idea of chilling out on Leong Leong’s Topo installation for Ford at Sight Unseen Offsite, set in midtown Manhattan’s Grace Building. The undulating topography was created from six-inch-thick foam massage rollers cut at varying heights.
Brooklyn-based firm Bower created a labyrinth of mirrors at Sight Unseen Offsite.
Two Brooklyn-based firms— Calico Wallpaper and Mast Brothers Chocolate—collaborated on a salty installation at Sight Unseen Offsite. The Mast Brothers created chocolate bars using 12 different types of salt, and Calico used the same salt varieties to craft a series of pale, speckled papers that covered the pedestals and walls.
After an inspiring visit and workshop with the Hancock Shaker Village in Massachusetts and the Mount Lebanon Shaker Museum in upstate New York, a group of 11 young designers created modern riffs on traditional Shaker furnishings, displayed at Sight Unseen Offsite.
At ICFF, upholstery masters Dmitriy & Co. and Brooklyn-based woodworker Asher Israelow unveiled a brand-new collaboration that blends their aesthetics into one beautiful product.
Steven Haulenbeek, winner of WantedDesign’s American Design Honors devised a colorful series of vessels crafted from resin-bonded sand.
For the Makers & Brothers pop-up shop at the Standard East Village, woodworker James Carroll carved stools on-site, available for purchase, and designer Max Lamb set up his own lemonade stand, serving a lemonade-inspired cocktail.
Italian designer Ferruccio Laviani transformed Foscarini’s SoHo showroom into a topsy-turvy playhouse, celebrating the Alice in Wonderland proportions of the brand’s new supersized lamps.
