If you can believe it, 2025 marks our 20th year covering design, which means that we’re now witnessing an entirely new generation experience how design week in New York unfolds. Does this make us feel old? Yes. But it also makes us feel wiiiise, like we might be the best conduit for understanding how design week in New York came to be the unruly, too-large-to-see-everything, too-long-to-even-agree-when-it-falls thing it is today. When we started, in 2005, ICFF was the biggest thing going. At night, we’d drink prosecco at parties for companies like Boffi or Cappellini; a party at the late, great design emporium Moss was the most exciting invitation of the week unless you were willing to take the L train to Williamsburg to drink beer in the backyard of The Future Perfect (which we were). In the wake of the financial crisis, Sight Unseen decided we could take things up a notch, embarking on an eight-year run of scrappy design fairs that saw us showcasing independent designers everywhere from a Japanese butcher shop to the uppermost floors of the Gordon Bunshaft–designed Grace Building.

Post-pandemic, there was a vacuum — and a very real need to mint money — from which the framework for today’s design landscape emerged. Independent designers began opening up decadently designed showrooms for their own work, new galleries sprouted up eager to work with younger, more experimental designers — and yet while there was a “rising tides lift all boats” approach at play, it still felt like the bottom had fallen out. Where could people go where they might actually be able to afford the work on view? Where could young designers without a platform show their work? With American design’s newfound layer of glitz, had we lost some of the grit and texture that defined those earlier days?

We’re happy to report that this year, a lot of that texture came back. In many cases, designers took matters into their own hands, curating exhibitions of their peers, from NJ Roseti, Kiki Goti, and Caleb Ferris’s Forced Perspective to the Jess Fugler and Eliza Axelson-Chidsey–curated Paraphernalia showcase at Fredericks & Mae. But in general, opportunities were everywhere for showing new work, from an incredibly solid debut for the new trade fair Shelter, to the Hello Human–curated showcase at Public Records, to yes, the OG mothership that is now ICFF/Wanted. We found excellent work by ex-RISD kids in a Chinatown basement, design pieces mingling with fashion at boutiques like Colbo and Knickerbocker, and, a true sign of the times, quite of bit of great work in extremely expensive new residential developments. Tomorrow we’ll be featuring our favorite group exhibitions, but today we’re focusing on our favorite independent designers, collection debuts, and one-offs from the week-turned-month that was.

In Common With

It seems almost an unfair advantage that Nick Ozemba and Felicia Hung of In Common With shot their new Strata collection of lights at Villa Borsani outside of Milan, a locale that would make nearly anything look beautiful and perfect. But the fact that the new pieces — which deploy experimental techniques like silkscreening glass powder or fusing a patchwork of hand-cut glass tiles — look so at home in the iconic interior is a testament to both their craftwork and their longevity. A raucous launch party — involving a striated, strawberry-topped sheet cake — at Quarters, their Tribeca showroom, was one of the more fun events of the month. Photos © William Jess Laird

SIN

Virginia Sin debuted two new ceramic lighting collections at ICFF this year: Obel, whose totemic bases were inspired by Egyptian obelisks and tombs, and Stria, whose thick ceramic strips are woven to recall puffy, three-dimensional textiles.

Brendan Timmins

On the final day of design month, Brendan Timmins debuted Synergistic Corner Seating A & B at a party at Knickerbocker thrown by Friend Editions and Holy Cowow. Initially conceived by Timmins in his signature vernacular from scraps of aluminum and burl, the chairs expanded to become a collaborative project with Garret Morin of Holy Cowow, who helped bring to life the cushions and ceramic tufts. “The final chairs are a bricolage,” says Timmins, “an intentional assembly of diverse elements and ideas functioning in concert as a cohesive whole.”

Devin Wilde

Devin Wilde arrived on the scene only last year with his debut collection of ceramic vessels, with their distinct architectural forms, #tinyball finials, and mesmerizing glazes. But he’s already scaling up in a major way with Series No. II, which reimagines some of his more iconic forms as larger pieces of ceramic furniture, including four side tables and two cocktail tables. Wilde’s work was everywhere around town this month: at Lawson-Fenning’s new Noho showroom, lining a plinth at Lovehouse’s new storefront Chinatown gallery, and in the Jonald Dudd group show at Shelter. Photos © Eric Petschek 

Ah Um Design Studio

A new name on the scene, Zack Nestel-Patt of the LA-based Ah Um Design Studio presented his debut collection of furniture at Wanted Design. A former jazz bassist and touring musician, Nestel-Patt stumbled into wood-working after a part-time job making cremation urns introduced him to the craft. His Jura collection, made from a mix of ceramic tile and wood, draws from a range of influences, including George Nakashima, Luis Barragán, and J.B. Blunk.

Studio Anna Dawson

Also at Wanted — where we first spied her work back in 2022 — Brooklyn-based Studio Anna Dawson launched three new lighting collections inspired by the carved glacial landscapes of Patagonia: Calle, Hour, and Valley, which all capture natural phenomena Dawson witnessed on ocean swims and alpine hikes.

Danny Kaplan

Danny Kaplan kicked off New York’s month of design way back on April 30, with a party at his new Noho showroom that highlighted three new directions for his studio — none made from his signature ceramic. His Art Deco–inspired Facet chair features a metal sheath fitted, capelike, over a tubular base, while his Collage rugs call to mind the rich textile history of the early 20th century. Kaplan’s colorful Divot mirrors were designed in collaboration with Joseph Algieri; “the original form was thrown on the wheel in clay, then used as a mold to cast the piece in resin — a process that preserves the rich, tactile quality of the ceramic while opening the door to a vibrant new color palette.”

USM x Henry Julier

USM has been majorly branching out lately with its collaborations — we’ll be covering the company’s foray into pink in this week’s Saturday Selects — but this might be our favorite one yet. A partnership years in the making, Woven Structures, designed by Henry Julier, pairs the Haller Modular System’s typical powder-coated and chromed steel grid with Danish paper cord for a series of 10 versatile pieces. It’s also the first collaboration to be incorporated into USM’s permanent catalog rather than existing as a short-lived edition. Photos © Chris Mottalini

Josh Greene for Lawson-Fenning

Interior designer Josh Greene recently designed the new Lawson-Fenning showroom in New York, and this month, he debuted a 12-piece furniture line with the bicoastal brand as well. Called Agapanthus, the pieces nod to Greene’s upbringing in Southern California, with tufted seating created in homage to his grandmother’s sofa and a palette recalling the flowers of his childhood garden.

Pieces

Touring Shelter occasionally felt like looking in a mirror and seeing ourselves reflected nearly a decade ago: That’s when we debuted Pieces, a Brooklyn-based trio that’s turned into an incredibly dependable rug brand for when you’re looking for something special but not totally market-saturated. They debuted their first hand-knotted rugs in a new collection called Plaid, which reimagines the traditional motif through a modern lens. 

Item: Enso

Yuria Kailich and Joel Harding of Item: Enso debuted Soft Grounds — a collection of items featuring materials like patinated steel, hand-built ceramics, vintage silk, and natural stone — in a showcase at the Lower East Side fashion boutique Colbo (fitting in its geographical proximity to spiritual predecessors like Green River Project and Bode). Our favorite pieces were a lamp with draped with a curtain of ceramic chains and a hand-tiled coffee table framed in patinated metal.

From High Gloss

We loved these lamps by Natalie Herrera of Studio High Gloss, who showed at Chambers, a group show curated by Olivia Sammons at 9 Chapel in Brooklyn. Called Home Collection, the candle sconces and table lamps explore the space between sculpture, design and function and combine ceramic details with rough-sawn timber.

Nassi Lamps

At Shelter, Francesca de Giorgi of Nassi Lamps shared a booth with Bower (who we’ll be featuring more in-depth next week), debuting her Capanni collection. We’re particularly partial to the sconce with embroidered faces.

Heather Chontos x Layered

The American-in-Portugal painter Heather Chontos teamed up with Swedish rug brand Layered for a new, abstract collection that debuted at Voltz Clarke gallery (where, you might remember, we held our 2023 show, backdropped by Chontos’s paintings!) Says Chontos: “These works reflect different stages of my process, from creating collages from antique book pages to painting with oil pigment sticks directly onto linen. ‘Collage’ is one of my personal favorites — it was created from torn pieces of old film posters and pages from French magazines. I was gifted a suitcase full of antique papers in different colors and textures and pieced them together into a painting. The rug captures exactly that feeling — the textures, the richness of the colors, and their quality.” 

Ford Bostwick

Ford Bostwick debuted his first collection of lighting at Shelter, deploying folded steel sheets and color in a series of Albers-inspired sconces and floor lamps. When dimmed, the sconces appear like paintings on the wall.

Pelle

At their studio in Red Hook, husband-and-wife team Jean and Oliver Pelle debuted 24 new works including their 1x2x3 armchair and steel and marble Schema Tables.

Caely Melford Studio

Debuting at Shelter was Caely Melford, a RISD grad and furniture and lighting designer based in Mystic, Connecticut. Her new body of work, Vessels of Holding, deployed bronze-cast oyster shell hardware, walnut, and hand-formed aluminum, among other materials.

LikeMindedObjects

This mycelium foam lamp by Elise McMahon of LikeMindedObjects popped up at Shelter and in the Atelier Jouffres showroom; we love how, when lit, it glows like amber.

Steph Trowbridge

Wood carved to look like something softer, like fabric, was a huge theme at this year’s show, and these mirrors by the South Jersey–based maker Steph Trowbridge were among our favorites.

Tennant New York

We still haven’t seen these in person — save for one included in Jonald Dudd’s show at Shelter, which we’ll be covering tomorrow — but we remain intrigued by Tennant New York, a new lighting brand featuring materials like bamboo and rubberized resin that’s been treated to look like a starfish. Keeping an eye on this one!