04.11.23

Current Obsession

Meet the 1980s-Era Designer Whose Chair Went Semi-Viral During the Pandemic

The impulse to reassess design from the late '70s and '80s — and to place it in a current context — has clearly been in the air, most notably at last year’s Return to Downtown group show from Superhouse and Magen H Gallery and at the more recent Blurring the Timeline show, also at Superhouse. Standout pieces from both exhibitions included chairs by a designer whose name you might not be familiar with: Howard Meister, part of the core group of designer-artists at Art et Industrie, a now-legendary New York gallery that opened in 1977 and closed in the late '90s. Here, we caught up with Meister from his home in Western Massachusetts. In a roving, entertaining interview, he shared with us how he got his largely accidental start and went from being “a dope in a suit” to an artist, his belief in the importance of craft and his desire not to be “survived by crap."
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04.10.23

Excerpt: Exhibition

Three Exhibitions Explore a Multiplicity of Color at Salon 94 Design’s New Permanent HQ

Kwangho Lee's first-ever New York solo exhibition, which recently invaded the ground floor of Salon 94 Design's newly established permanent uptown HQ, is called Infinite Expansion. And in a way that's the best phrase we can think of to describe most of the pieces displayed over five floors of the enormous former townhouse, no matter who they're by. Each mini-exhibition shows an artist who has often dwelled on similar processes or forms throughout their career but has infused them each time with a sense of the new.
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04.09.23

Saturday Selects

Week of April 3, 2023

A weekly Saturday recap to share with you our favorite links, discoveries, exhibitions, and more from the past seven days. This week: Eny Lee Parker's collab with Lulu & Georgia, a new incubator program at Colony starring two RISD grads, and a new chair, arrived Stateside, that reminds us of Britpop and the house style of the UK’s “Big Brother.” 
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04.06.23

Sighted

Gaetano Pesce Vases and a Cabinet That Looks Like a Japanese Capsule Hotel: Inside Melbourne’s Newest Fashion Boutique

A jewelry cabinet that looks like a scaled-down Japanese capsule hotel, with chartreuse-colored compartments fronted by metal and glass doors; a glossy deep-red lacquer applied around the edges of the ceiling; a Gaetano Pesce vase: We’re all familiar with the adage "shop ‘til you drop,” but at the Melbourne boutique Stable, designed by Studio Manifold, you might actually want to lounge for hours.
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04.05.23

Current Obsession

On the Great Pine Resurgence of 2023 — AKA For Pine Nuts Who Love It Knotty

Have you been reading For Scale? It's the new furniture-focused Substack that seemingly everyone is already turned onto, and we get it — it's an absolute joy to read, with favorite topics so far including but not being limited to: plastic, children's furniture, the "twink aesthetic," and Psycho-Decorating 101 (a favorite Sight Unseen tome). So, we did what any editor with half a brain would do: We hired For Scale's excellent and very fun writer, David Michon, to pen what we hope is the first of many columns! Today's subject: a paean to PINE.
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04.03.23

Excerpt: Exhibition

See Inside Maniera Gallery’s New Home, a Belgian Art Deco Masterpiece

When Belgian design gallery Maniera first opened nearly a decade ago, the works were located inside the loftlike apartment of Maniera's founders, Amaryllis Jacobs and Kwinten Lavigne. The gallery has gone through many incarnations since then — including once popping up in a famed Brutalist house in Ghent — until this spring, when it moved into its new permanent digs: the Hôtel Danckaert, also known as Villa Dewin, a landmarked Art Deco building in Brussels designed in 1922 by architect Jean-Baptiste Dewin. Maniera’s first exhibition in the space, which opened last month, features 15 new designs by artists and architects, all of which were created to respond to the gallery's imposing setting. 
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03.29.23

Interiors

This Intensely Color-Blocked London Victorian Will Make You Rethink the Possibilities of an Historic Home

When Studio Rhonda was asked to redesign a Victorian terrace house in North London for a friend, “the brief was to go crazy, a celebration of life moving forward,” notes Rhonda Drakeford, director of the studio. With a trusting client, Drakeford completely pulled it off while pushing the limits of what you can do with color. Thick stripes and blocks of saturated primary colors harmonize with earthier tones of terracotta and chalks — over 30 shades of paint, in all. Drakeford kept the period details of the residence but glossed over them, in some cases literally: ignoring moldings and architraves, the dictates of corners and where walls meet ceilings. Instead, she used color and geometric shapes to delineate the space.
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03.28.23

Shopping

With Our New Furniture and Lighting Collection, You Can Put Sight Unseen Into Your Projects (Or Your Home)

(Re-)Launching today, shop.sightunseen.com is now an online gallery of our full furniture and lighting collection, available either for easy online check-out, or to use as a living lookbook for your projects, with our dedicated sales person ready to work with you on trade orders and customizations. Our offerings will be constantly updated as we discover and write about new design series, and will always run the gamut from simpler staples to statement pieces that can add a megadose of personality to any interior.
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03.27.23

Current Obsession

Revisiting the Poetic Work of Japanese-Born, Italian-By-Choice Designer Kazuhide Takahama

If there's one chair most design enthusiasts know by Kazuhide Takahama, it’s the Tulu. You’re likely familiar with its sled base composed of slim, welded-steel rods and its square upholstered backrest that seems to be floating independently in the center of a metal frame. It’s popping up more and more — from eBay listings to frescoed palazzos in Italy — and it’s no wonder. It’s a beautiful piece — subtle, minimal, and formally innovative for the late 1960s when it was designed — but despite the Tulu’s popularity, the rest of Takahama’s work is not nearly as recognizable. But as the casual collector becomes more and more aware of his work, we’ve decided it’s high time to take a deep dive into the work of Kazuhide Takahama.
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03.26.23

Saturday Selects

Week of March 20, 2023

A weekly Saturday recap to share with you our favorite links, discoveries, exhibitions, and more from the past seven days. This week: layered neutrals in a classic Haussmann apartment in Paris, an all-female design exhibition in New York, and the best Wright design auction we've seen in years.
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03.22.23

Sighted

This Textured, Minimalist Jewelry Showroom Was Once a London Pub

Over the past decade — in case you missed it — minimalist interior design has drastically shifted gears. Once a cold, sterile, and frankly boring style, it’s gradually warmed up and become imbued with all sorts of textures and depth. The latest convert to this pared-back but incredibly rich style is London interior designer Hollie Bowden, who recently designed the new showroom for British jewelry and ceramics brand ​​Completedworks.
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03.20.23

Interiors

The Moody Textures — and Glass Blocks — of This California Restaurant Set the Vibe

Los Angeles-based designer and 2023 American Design Hot List-er Jialun Xiong has a strong background in interiors, architecture, and furniture design, all of which is on full display at her latest project, the new City of Industry restaurant 19 Town. Xiong went for “lavish restraint” in this 4,200-square-foot space, divided into dining and lounge areas that are each subtly well-defined yet work together as a whole.
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