Does Eny Lee Parker Have the Best Booth at ICFF?

When Eny Lee Parker debuted her first collection two years ago at Sight Unseen OFFSITE, her use of terracotta as a structural material for furniture was so novel that we built a whole trend piece around it, wondering how it might begin to influence other aspects of the design world. But we didn’t stop to think about how it might influence Eny’s practice itself — which in the beginning was also rife with experiments in velvet upholstery, wood, and other materials. In the years since, Eny has doubled down on ceramics as a primary material — despite having injured her back a little over a year ago while throwing a large piece on the wheel. “I’m doing my best coming up with things I can manage without throwing all the time,” she explains, “so my new pieces are all about doing what you can — no need to be perfect.”

It’s a humble way to describe what many have dubbed the best booth at ICFF this year (for the second year in a row): Against pastel colored walls and atop a wool and viscose rug of Eny’s own design (“basically doodles from my sketch book,” she says), are seven new designs, almost all of them in ceramic. While her original terra-cotta pieces had the crisp lines and angles that come from the wheel, most of these are hand-built to an even more pleasing, lumpy effect — a glass and ceramic breakfast table, layered mirrors made from pouring clay slip to achieve “a pancake batter effect,” Blob sconces (self-explanatory), stools, hand-deformed vases and more. See them at ICFF through tomorrow IRL, or scroll through for a peek at one of our faves.

PHOTOS BY JAHMAD BALUGO

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