From a chair inspired by a bale of hay to shell-shaped cutlery, these are the design finds that surprised at the Big Apple’s annual festival, NYCxDesign.
MIRROR MIRROR
Jesse Hamerman’s curvy frames come in square, rectangular, circular and oval. The Looping Mirror is pictured here.Supplied
Just when you thought you’d maxed out your pottery collection, you turn a corner at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair and spot Beginner Ceramics’ Looping Mirror. Part of this year’s Wanted exhibition, Jesse Hamerman’s curvy frames come in square, rectangular, circular and oval formats in colours ranging from Grass Green to Royal Blue. They’re a clever evolution of the Brooklyn maker’s more 3-D works including curvaceous vases and mugs glazed with Hockney-esque swoops. And unlike those pieces, you won’t need to eke out more shelf space to display your latest buy.
SHELL GAME
The Shelton Metal Shell Spoon mimics the spoils of the seashore.Billy Logan Creative/Supplied
Setting your table veered into surrealist territory post-pandemic (see Gohar World’s egg candelabra centrepieces or Misette’s squiggle-bordered linens. Perhaps, after years of isolation, it was because the ability to gather again seemed equally far-fetched or worthy of a heightened sense of ceremony. Whatever the reason, dreamlike tablescaping continues thanks to designers like Colby Shelton Byrd. At Shelter, an offsite exhibition that ran concurrently with ICFF, the online platform American Design Club offered up the jewellery designer’s tabletop curiosities. Flatware, including a shell serving spoon available in stainless steel or brass, mimics the spoils of the seashore. For smaller scoops, there’s a set of diminutive espresso spoons in the shape of mollusks.
ALUMINUM FOIL
Pelle Designs’ lighting collection is inspired by the ‘crude geometries’ of ductwork and industrial machines.Supplied
After years of brass hardware booming, cooler metals feel fresh again. They aren’t finished in reflective chrome, though, but rougher, brushed textures. At the Pelle Designs studio deep in Red Hook, Brooklyn, a sculptural illustration of this shift is the Helm lighting collection, which is available in Canada through Hollace Cluny. Originally launched in 2024, the brutalist lineup was inspired by the “crude geometries” of ductwork and industrial machines and fashioned from solid aluminum plates with obvious welds. Its latest iterations, the Helm Oblique 12 and 4, refine those corners into sharper angles.
NORDIC COLOUR
Kasthall Anemon Blue rugSupplied
On May 19, the design crowd and officials from Sweden, Finland and Norway gathered at the residence of the consul general of Sweden on Park Avenue for the launch of the Scandinavian Design Embassy, an initiative to ramp up awareness of Nordic housewares. One lesson that the audience left with was the importance of colour in a region that’s often better known for minimalism and muted palettes. That evening, this more vibrant approach was illustrated by Vestre’s canary yellow outdoor bench and Design House Stockholm’s bird figurines. The value of colour was also debated at a talk a few days earlier at the showroom of Swedish rug house Kasthall, which spotlighted its Anemon motif based on a watercolour of violet-hued blooms.
MORE MODULAR
Moooi’s Nomad showroom features a full-scale horse lamp.Supplied
In the front window of Moooi’s Nomad showroom, under the watchful gaze of the Dutch brand’s full scale horse lamp, designer Nicholas Baker’s new Haybale lounge chair and footstool helped complete a curiously bucolic vignette. Available in a range of upholstery options, the pieces look most literal in rich cognac leather with matching webbing straps. Recently, the design zeitgeist has elevated retro modular seating, from Togos to Mah Jong cushions, to icon status, and the Haybale seems destined to become a future collectable.
