06.06.16

Shopping

32 Statement-Making Geometric Rugs You Can Buy Right Now

At the end of last year, we began to notice a new trend in patterned rugs. Gone were the ubiquitous chevron stripes and hexagonal motifs, and in their place was a new kind of graphic, geometric look — elemental shapes that had been stacked, abstracted, layered, mixed, or simply juxtaposed alongside each other (in other words, a pretty healthy reflection of what's happening in furniture design right now as well). As with most trends, the second we began noticing one or two rugs in this vein, they were suddenly everywhere. So, we did what any object-obsessed, semi-helpful design blog ought to do — we gathered them all into one place, for your shopping enjoyment. Herewith, your definitive guide to Sight Unseen's favorite, statement-making geometric rugs — and where to find (and buy) them right now.

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06.04.16

Saturday Selects

Week of May 30, 2016

A weekly Saturday recap to share with you our favorite links, discoveries, exhibitions, and more from the past seven days. This week: Beige is back, so are Tevas, and yet another Wright auction is absolutely killing it (the upcoming Contemporary Glass — which introduced us to this granite and glass concoction by glass artist William Carlson — is just. so. good.)

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06.03.16

Up and Coming

You’ll Never Guess What These Ceramics Are Made From

When you first catch sight of the pieces in South Korean artist Jongjin Park's Artistic Stratum ceramic series, it's almost impossible to tell that they're ceramics at all; their textured, layered surfaces call to mind everything from sponges to unsanded wood. But the pieces were in fact made using a technique Park stumbled upon while researching his Master's thesis at Cardiff University in the UK: By painting clay slip onto pieces of paper towel, layering them, applying pigment and then firing them at 1280 degrees, Park creates a masslike trompe l'oeil.

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05.27.16

Sighted

We May Have Just Found the Holy Grail of Rugs

Launched at Matter during New York Design Week, these gorgeously sophisticated rugs designed by Studio Proba and Aelfie Oudghiri strike a much-sought-after — but rarely achieved — aesthetic balance: They're basic enough to go with almost anything, but stylish enough to anchor a well-designed room. The holy grail of rugs.

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05.25.16

Up and Coming

Meet the Talented Sisters Behind Our New Favorite Lighting Brand

If you visited Sight Unseen OFFSITE last week, you might have noticed one standout booth in particular, dressed as it was in moody shades of blue, showcasing an incredible number of variations on the sculptural, globe-bulbed typology that's recently become so en vogue in the lighting world. In fact, in its striking beauty, the booth was impossible to miss: The lights were the work of London-based sisters Gwendolyn and Guillane Kerschbaumer, two Austrian-born designers who work under the studio name Areti.

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05.07.16

Fair Report

10 (More) Things We Loved at Collective

The 2016 edition of Collective Design ends tomorrow, and though our time there has been mostly spent chatting with visitors, press, and neighbors in our own, relatively massive booth, we were sure to put on our press hats to suss out what other gems were on view. The caliber of the fair is truly excellent this year, from the wire and wood Nendo cabinets that line the entryway to the Lindsey Adelman light explosion way at the other end. Here are 10 of our favorite, must-see moments.

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05.05.16

Fair Report

Fountains, Pink Daybeds, and Foam: A Tour of Our Booth at Collective

For the second year in a row, Sight Unseen is proud to be presenting at Collective Design, which opened to the public yesterday and runs through Sunday afternoon. We're smack in the middle of the fair this year, spotlighting new work by five American design studios on the rise: Bower x Studio Proba, Chris Wolston, Only Love Is Real, and Fort Makers. At the VIP opening on Tuesday night, we heard comments like "It's like Sight Unseen come to life!" "It's amazing how every booth is so different but everything goes together perfectly!" and, straight from Julianne Moore's mouth, "This is gorgeous." We couldn't agree more.

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05.03.16

Sighted

Sneak a Peek at our Collaboration with Designtex, Debuting at Collective Design!

When Collective Design invited Sight Unseen to create a special installation for the second year in a row, spotlighting new work by five independent American design studios on the rise, we knew we wanted a visual thread that might tie the collections together and add an extra dimension to the presentation. Enter Designtex, the Steelcase-owned manufacturer of textiles and wallcoverings, whose genius Made to Measure program we'd been eyeing a while, partnering as it does with some of our favorite artists, illustrators, and designers to create a totally customizable wallcoverings or textiles. For Collective Design, opening tomorrow, our five designers — Only Love Is Real, Chris Wolston, Studio Proba x Bower, and Fort Makers — will debut a collection of furniture and lighting set against a backdrop of custom wallpaper they’ve developed with Designtex especially for this show.

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04.23.16

Saturday Selects

Week of April 18, 2016

A weekly Saturday recap to share with you our favorite links, discoveries, exhibitions, and more from the past seven days. This week, a massive art chaser to counteract the design hangover we've had ever since Milan: new exhibitions by SU faves like Naomi Clark, Lily Stockman, Brent Wadden, Carol Bove, Kate Steciw, and more. (Plus: the amazing golden Stabile chair by Barcelonan designer Max Enrich, above, because we couldn't resist!)

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04.16.16

Fair Report

The Best of the 2016 Milan Furniture Fair, Part I

The 2016 Salone del Mobile and Fuorisalone — aka the Milan furniture fair — closes today, and we were there on the ground, running around like crazy people trying to absorb a year's worth of new furniture in less than a week's time. According to our iPhones, we walked about 7.5 miles a day in our quest to scout great design. Here's the first of three posts chronicling what we found.

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04.13.16

Sight Unseen Presents

Visit Us at Collective Design This May!

From May 4 – 8 at Skylight Clarkson Sq, we are thrilled to be showing at Collective again, spotlighting ambitious new work by independent American design studios on the rise. For our 2016 showcase, Bower x Studio Proba, Chris Wolston, Fort Makers, and Only Love Is Real will debut a collection of furniture and lighting set against a backdrop of custom wallpaper developed with our amazing sponsor Designtex especially for the show.

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04.12.16

Up and Coming

This Former Acne Art Director Makes Furniture With a Graphic Eye

When we first encountered Swedish designer Erik Olovsson two years ago in the basement of Rossana Orlandi, he had but two products to his name — a wavy-lined metal and marble clothes rack and a modular, geometric shelving unit, both created in collaboration with his fellow graduate and graphic designer Kyuhyung Cho. Since then, Olovsson has been developing and tinkering with the beautiful projects he's unveiling in Milan this week.

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