All the best furniture I saw last week
And lighting and art at NYCxDesign.
I am 100% sure it is physically impossible to attend all of the events during NYCxDesign’s week-long festival. There’s the big furniture fairs like ICFF, Wanted, and Shelter (a newcomer!); group shows packed with independent designers; and what feels like every brand in New York flinging its doors open for a party or preview. I laughed out loud when I saw my friend’s Google calendar (cue melting head emoji). But what I did manage to see felt more electric than recent years. People were out and about, excited, and just feeling it—the week just felt a little more fun (exhibit A: the Souvenir show). —Samantha Weiss-Hills, managing editor
On Board
On Citibikes and the subway, in Ubers, and clomping by foot, our editors fanned out across the city to take in as much of NYCxDesign as we could. A few highlights: In Common With’s new Strata collection; Vitra’s epic new showroom looking over the Manhattan Bridge; a trifecta of women exhibiting at The Future Perfect; and a really divine show at Jacqueline Sullivan Gallery. In between appointments, the duo behind Astraeus Clarke offered respite in their Chinatown showroom with coffee, amaro sodas, and lots of power outlets. (Plus, I got a preview of their brand new dining table; win-win.)
Below is just a little slice of what made an impression on me.
Everyone wanted to play with the lanterns from Tortuga Forma and Chamusquina. The pair brought together Japanese textiles and elegant drumshades, all anchored with a playful pulley and counterweight system.
I sat next to Luke Malaney at a dinner in Amelie du Chalard’s ethereal gallery, and marveled at his Ballroom vanity, a cabinet crafted from ash and copper and finished with milk paint. (I also loved Alexis and Ginger’s pleated Venus lighting fixtures.)
Good afternoon to this Pierre Yovanovich pendant and nothing else. How the glass looks like it’s draped over the iron? I need to lie down.
House numbers were in need of a little jostle, and I saw just that at Sight Unseen and Petra Hardware’s showcase. Flawk’s aluminum Bob style is inspired by the inflatable air dancers you see in front of car dealerships.
USM is always up to something smart, and their latest collab with NYC-based industrial designer Henry Julier is no different. The 10-piece collection incorporates Danish paper cord woven around the Haller modular system.
Devin Wilde’s ceramic side tables are so good, I need them all. But if I had to choose, it would be Series II Table No. I in ivory.
From Anna Dawson, the designer that rocked ICFF in 2023 with her Swell Catchall, comes a charming new line of lighting dubbed Calle after the lily.
On a day that felt like there were 100 openings happening, I started at Assembly Line in Brooklyn to see a few pieces from Juntos Projects and Green Blue Works. I was immediately smitten with the Isos Lounge Chair and the gold foil-flecked Ball Pendant.
Lawson Fenning called up interior designer Josh Greene to design its latest collection, furniture inspired by Greene’s southern California upbringing. This slipper sofa’s tufted seating echoes that of his grandmother’s couch.
Hot Topic
Group shows were the talk of the town this year. From the Simple Flair Apartment to Love House’s Family Show and Matter Matters at BAS Stone, designers were showing new and recent work among their peers in several boroughs. A few moments I’m still thinking about:
In Hello Human and Lyle Gallery’s group show OUTSIDE/IN, first-gen Mexican-American Clarissa Guzman’s Ceremonia candelabra really stood out to me with its hand-built flourishes and spiritual symbolism.
The highlights from Colony’s The Independents show: a folding screen with integrated lanterns by Brooklyn-based Kawabi and the bold daybed by Hawaii-born artist Syrette Lew of Moving Mountains; the latter is a nod to traditional pune'e furniture.
The irreverent independent exhibition Jonald Dudd is always a romp, and the 2025 edition, curated by Chen Chen & Kai Williams, didn’t disappoint. Things I loved: Caleb Engstrom’s DRY KISS chair, Miles Gracey’s Shell Surface, Emmie Strang’s Yarrow rack, and Basia Pruszyńska’s Owca Lamp. The show also partnered with Blu Dot to present works inspired by the brand’s iconic Strut table.
The latest exhibition at Egg Collective celebrates wood, such an essential and humble ingredient of design. Minjae Kim’s valet chair and the elegant wood and wire sculptures from Kieran Kinsella and Rodger Stevens made me pause. But it was Hildegarde Haas’s woodcuts—a medium of printmaking I’ve always been drawn to—that stole the show for me.
Side Notes
Now that we’re on the other side of winter, there’s a glorious New York summer ahead. Contrary to some (many? most?), I like to stick around the city. Free or cheap concerts abound, parks beckon for long, languid picnics, and evenings stretch into the wee hours just because. Here’s everything I’m looking forward to in the Big Apple from June to August.
As soon as the line-up for Little Island’s summer performances was announced, I snagged two tickets to the multi-artist Arthur Russell concert. (It’s now sold out, but there are numerous other events happening.)
I’m properly excited to slip into the new Chinatown wine bar Lei, from Annie Shi of King and Jupiter. I know her take on the bottle list (reportedly numbering around 300) and her swerve away from dumplings and noodles will feel fresh.
The small cinemas of New York are such gems, and on the hottest days, a cool reprieve. We’ll definitely be in the seats at Metrograph when they’re screening Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday.
The Drawing Center always puts on exhibitions grounded in New York history. Its latest, on the works of Beauford Delaney, opens on May 30 and runs the entire summer.
I’m ready to spend all my money at the Berlin-born bookstore Do You Read Me? that just landed at the Swiss Institute in the East Village. I’ll be picking up my copy of The Modernist Travel Guide there.