…In which we show you the rest of the incredible work we presented this year at Sight Unseen OFFSITE, which took place at Hudson Mercantile and featured the work of more than 100 designers, who hailed from places as varied as Los Angeles, Vancouver, Indianapolis, St. Augustine, FL, Detroit, Seattle, Montreal, and, of course, Brooklyn. If you happened to miss it — or if you just want to relive the glory — check out our slideshow at right, which features all of the studios that exhibited on the 6th floor of our show.
Thanks again to everyone who attended, thanks to the exhibitors who helped make this week’s show such a beautiful success, thanks to the Collective Design team for their tremendous support, thanks to our graphic designers Kokoro & Moi and our PR team at Camron, and many thanks to our partners — Cain Cain Studios, Dazian, Space Productions, and Welkin Vines. And a huge round of applause to our title sponsor Ford, without whom none of this would have been possible in the first place!
Pat Kim and Julianne Ahn of Object + Totem joined forces to show new work: She a series of more sculptural ceramic objects, and he three new furniture pieces in various woods.
Toronto studio Mercury Bureau showed recent works, including its new hanging Trace Lamp.
Seattle-based, current Cranbrook student Aleksandra Pollner debuted new furniture, having mostly made smaller objects in white porcelain in the past.
Fellow Cranbrook student Nina Cho added to her line of small sculptural objects in various metals with a larger-scale table and chair.
Montreal lighting brand Lambert et Fils launched their new Beaubien and Clark lights, the latter in a pretty orange ombre.
New York / New Zealand duo Thing Industries showed off recent works like their Indoor Stoop shelves.
Michael Felix came all the way from LA with his line of leather sofas and stools, plus some new wooden shelving.
Providence duo Ben and Aja Blanc‘s hairy mirror was one of the big showstoppers this year.
L.A. studios 100xbtr and B. Zippy & Co also teamed up, with the latter’s ceramics adding the perfect pop of color to the former’s furniture.
These geometric mirrors were presented bySocial + Studies, a new project by stylist Gillian Wilkins and Hillary Taymour of the fashion brand Collina Strada.
Whyte hung its new wall shelves above (and placed its new side table on) Haptic Lab’s new Cloud rugs.
Huy Bui of HB Collaborative returned to OFFSITE for a second year with Plant-in LIFE, a modular system to display both plants and possessions.
Fort Makers exhibited new Line Lights and wooden LED lamps by Noah Spencer.
The food + design blog Mold launched its Life Measured pitcher by Visibility via three totems with hidden dioramas inside.
(A peek inside one of the diorama totems, which were created by All Courtesy Of.)
RoAndCo joined forces with Paper Chase Press, Brendan Timmins, and Flavor Paper to create this fun-house photo-booth with custom postcards for sale.
Yield traveled from Saint Augustine, Florida, to display their latest wares — copper pendants, ceramic coffee presses, and other small furnishings.
Jason Kachadourian launched his new project, KACHADOURIAN, with a new suite of lamps and zig-zag tables.
Wintercheck Factory went super minimalist with a Judd-like bench, table, and lamp series featuring gridded wire glass.
Chris Specce also went minimalist — with his booth presentation — featuring just three ladders, a chair, and a set of paper bananas (not shown).
Stephanie Dedes Reimers of the hand-painted wallpaper line SARKOS went the opposite direction, building an elaborate structure to show off her newest designs.
Brooklyn’s Cold Picnic built a landscape out of their new rug blocks, which were wrapped in existing rug designs from their line.
Seattle’s Blk Pine Workshop, known for its simple canvas bags and accessories, launched its first furniture collection, pairing wood and canvas slings.
Christopher Stuart of Indiana-based LUUR studio, brought his newest furniture and lighting, but had a surprise hit with his collection of magnetic North South bracelets.
Alex Proba of Studio Proba, known for her Poster a Day series, brought an extension of that project — one-of-a-kind works that incorporate physical materials like colored Plexiglas.
Chris Wolston presented his new Fetish Lights, which incorporate neon tube lights and big chunks of colored glass — click here to read more about the project on Sight Unseen.
Friends & Family, the NYC creative agency founded by Taavo Somer, exhibited its in-house line of wooden furniture for the very first time.
AVO returned to OFFSITE with new resist-dyed and block-printed leather rugs, pillows and interior paneling, as well as hanging chair made in collaboration with Ladies & Gentlemen Studio.
Pablo Alabau also returned, with his Casa Polo tables, based on early rationalist architecture.
The new spring collection from Assembly Design includes an expansion of the studio’s glass series, plus new tables focusing on classic wood joinery.
Magazine and creative agency Tunica filled its tiny space with recent projects, including a new series of ceramic vases made in collaboration with Saint Karen.
Florida-based DAMM Design launched its new Stelae floor lamps, made from laser-cut steel painted to look like tribal symbols or futuristic totems.
Lighting company Allied Maker presented its latest collection of pendants and sconces in a geometric set design that couldn’t be more Sight Unseen.
As anyone who's ever made an album knows, sophomore efforts are by far the toughest to pull off. And so, even though we here at Sight Unseen have been putting together a major Design Week showcase in some way or another since 2010, this year marked only our second outing as Sight Unseen OFFSITE, which debuted last year to enormous fanfare and praise.
When we founded the Noho Design District back in 2009, it was meant to provide a much-needed, well-curated platform for independent designers, whose numbers — particularly in America — had begun to surge. But it was also meant to add an extra dose of dimension and excitement to New York Design Week (or NYCxDesign, as it has since come to be known), which at the time was considered preeeeeetty lackluster, to say the least. By that measure alone, the first edition of Sight Unseen OFFSITE, our successor to the Noho Design District, was a massive success; word on the street was that this NYDW was the best anyone could remember, and we're proud to have played a significant role.
Though your Sight Unseen editors have been in major curation mode for the past two weeks, we've also had day to day work to do as, you know, journalists. So for five days during our Sight Unseen OFFSITE event last week, Monica and I set up camp on the Astroturf-covered bleachers of the MOLD Future Food Café, where we caught up on emails and posted stories to this very site. It was the perfect vantage point from which to view our own event: We could see friends and VIPs on their way in, and we could overhear people heading to the elevator, on their way up to the second floor. The most common refrain we heard? "Oh my God, there's more upstairs?"
