10.02.15

Sighted

OTTO Objects by Roula Nassar

Nassar runs the Brooklyn studio OTTO, through which the erstwhile fashion student and ever-curious autodidact became known primarily for her art books and artisanal knitwear — the items that caught our eye back when we first featured her last February — before turning her hand to the vessels featured here, partly because of their appeal as a consummate blank canvas.
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SARKOS' hand-painted wallpaper
09.30.15

Up and Coming

SARKOS, a Brooklyn Wallpaper Company

One of the primary objectives of Sight Unseen OFFSITE has always been to feature up-and-coming designers who are experimenting with materials and processes in interesting, and often very personal, ways. So we were delighted earlier this year to welcome Stephanie Dedes Reimers’s just-launched wallpaper company SARKOS to our line-up. SARKOS — whose name translates from an Ancient Greek word for the tactile sense of our earthly spirit — mixes deeply personal inspiration with fine art, hand-painting techniques, creating a line of papers that are muted and highly individual.
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09.29.15

Fair Report

At the 2015 London Design Festival

In terms of sheer distance traversed, if not content, LDF now stands nearly on par with the Milan fair. But these days it’s also becoming equally vital as a destination for open design debate, with a strong manufacturing voice represented and a buffet of ambitious installations on offer. Guide in hand, we hit the mean – but thankfully sunny – streets of London to choose our favorites from this year’s show.
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09.28.15

Q+A

Laura Houseley on Ready Made Go at the London Design Festival

Last week's London Design Festival included plenty of beautiful objects thoughtfully displayed on pedestals or on gallery walls. But possibly even more compelling was the setup at the Ace Hotel's Ready Made Go exhibition, curated by Laura Houseley of Modern Design Review magazine, where visitors could experience a handful of new designs by local up-and-comers actually put to work in their intended habitat.
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09.26.15

Saturday Selects

Week of September 20, 2015

A weekly Saturday recap to share with you our favorite links, discoveries, exhibitions, and more from the past seven days. This week: Photographs that make us scratch our heads (like the one above by photographer/architect Erin O'Keefe), a colorful Baggu x New Friends collab, and a bunch of fall art exhibitions.
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02.25.14

Sighted

Otto Knits

Despite a BFA from Parsons, Roula Nassar sees her grandfather as the biggest influence in her design education. "He was an engineer by trade, but he was also a self taught sculptor and photographer. If something interested him he would take it upon himself to figure out how to do it, in his own way. I really identify with that approach — working outside of a system or industry to conceive things in a singular way." You can certainly see his legacy in Nassar's multi-disciplinary studio Otto. Based in Brooklyn, Otto has an output ranging from photography, through books and film, to the three dimensional: knitwear and a currently-in-progress resin bowl.
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09.25.15

Shopping

Top 5: Mobiles

A periodic nod to object typologies both obscure and ubiquitous, featuring five of our favorite recent examples. Today, we're turning our attention to a perennial favorite subject: mobiles! (And for those in small spaces, don't worry — these beauties will look as good hanging against a wall as they do in mid-air.)
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09.24.15

Q+A

David Haskell on His Psychotic Plants Show at Coming Soon

New York-based editor and Kings County Distillery co-founder David Haskell has been collecting cacti and other succulents in his spare time for the past decade, and he’s also spent his Tuesday nights over the last two years cultivating his skills as a budding ceramicist. In search of the perfect pots for his handpicked plants, Haskell linked his two passions, the results of which are on view at “Psychotic Plants,” opening tonight at Coming Soon.
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09.24.15

Up and Coming

Norwegian Product Designers Gunzler Polmar

Gunzler Polmar, led by ceramicist Victoria Gunzler and furniture designer Sara Wright Polmar, haven't churned out a ton of work just yet, but the projects they have designed — including their new textile series launched this week at 100% Norway in London — display an eye for form, proportion, and material that certainly merits further attention.
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09.22.15

Up and Coming

Norwegian Product Designers Stokke Austad

It's a bit strange to call Stokke Austad Up and Coming, especially since their current project list includes the interior design for a major new wing of Oslo's airport. But this week we're spotlighting three of our favorite studios presenting new work at this year's edition of 100% Norway at the London Design Festival, and we'd be remiss if we didn't include them in that list.
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09.22.15

Sighted

Tetra, A Designer Smoking Accessories Shop

Launched yesterday, Tetra is the first shop devoted entirely to beautiful smoking accessories like lighters, ashtrays, and incense burners — objects that have either have never before been aggregated in one place, or, more often, have been neglected by design entirely. Marianne Brandt, Enzo Mari, and Dieter Rams created incredibly sleek smoking accoutrements for the home in the '50s and '60s, and Tetra's intent is to revive that tradition in a contemporary way.
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09.21.15

Up and Coming

Norwegian Furniture Designer Silje Nesdal

This week we're showcasing three Norwegian studios showing new work as part of this year's 100% Norway at the London Design Festival. First up is Silje Nesdal, who began her career with a short stint in fashion and textiles, then incorporated those skills into a furniture practice, creating objects that are functional and honest in their construction.
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09.19.15

Saturday Selects

Week of September 14, 2015

A weekly Saturday recap to share with you our favorite links, discoveries, exhibitions, and more from the past seven days. This week: A series of things we never dreamed we'd be able to buy (a huggable Greek column, an original Sottsass pen), a special guest report from Maison et Objet, and the most beautiful sculpture we've seen in ages, pictured above, spotted at Art Berlin Contemporary.
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