Product Highlights from WantedDesign 2018

This year’s WantedDesign, a series of events showcasing emerging talent that runs during NYCxDesign week (and concurrently with ICFF), featured exhibitors from 19 countries, which founders Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat say cements the show’s status as “a creative hub for the international community.”

Within the 2018 WantedDesign were two breakout events: Launch Pad, a program for independent designers seeking manufacturers and distributors; and the inaugural Look Book, a curated selection of work by 12 North American makers of high-end furniture, furnishings, and accessories. The latter program was developed in response to requests from WantedDesign alumni for a platform that connects makers in the U.S. and Canada to interior designers and architects interested in purchasing their goods. Selected design studios not only exhibit at the show but also appear in an actual look book.

For Look Book participants Paul Crump and Justin Kwash, principals of Baltimore-based Crump and Kwash, which specializes in contemporary “heirloom” furniture, the appeal of the WantedDesign was its scale. Having exhibited at ICFF in the past, “we wanted to try a more intimate show, so we applied for the Look Book section of Wanted,” they tell ARCHITECT. The duo showed four pieces, including the Lloyd Chair in walnut with bronze rungs and a leather-wrapped back support.

Chicago-based Lake + Wells Studio, another Look Book participant, reinterpreted the chandelier as a modular lighting system that can be custom configured on site and outfitted with a choice of three 1.3W LED-illuminated crystal diffusers.

To promote emerging American designers who have distinguished themselves through their body of work, as well as their design language and business model, WantedDesign and Bernhardt Design created the American Design Honors program. This year’s recipient was Oliver Haslegrave, creative director and founder of Brooklyn-based Home Studios. Haslegrave’s installation, “Homework,” was “an experimental process of furniture and clothing created by me in the off-hours of our [studio’s] interiors projects,” he tells ARCHITECT.

In the vignette, Haslegrave explored the use of upcycled materials by creating five pieces, dubbed “HW08–HW15,” which included a bench made with leather and denim from a pair of his own jeans. “I worked with forms—clothing rack, standing mirror—as well as materials—faux fur, foam—that I hadn’t used before, as well as seven shirts, which were the first pieces of clothing I’ve made,” he says.

Meanwhile, WantedDesign’s Launch Pad presented work by 33 designers from 11 countries. Memorable pieces include Phaedo Design’s Lexan Series table, designed to ship in a flat pack for on-site assembly. Measuring 30 inches wide by 60 inches long, and 16 inches tall, the table comprises interlocking pieces articulated by edges oil-painted in blue.

Shower Light by Tokyo-based Shinya Ito & Kaori Yamamoto contains LED-illuminated optical fibers that mimic the shape of water passing through a showerhead. It measures roughly 20 inches tall and 21 inches in diameter.

Of all the displays by international design collectives, none perhaps made as dramatic an impact as Mexican furniture designer Left’s Loopita, a looped chaise lounge that facilitates conversation between two people by seating them next to and facing each other. Measuring 68 inches wide by 81 inches long, and by 41 inches tall, Loopita comes with a birch frame for interior applications; an exterior model with a teak frame is also available.

The 18th edition of WantedDesign Manhattan was held May 19–22 at the landmark Terminal Stores Building in New York’s Chelsea district; a Brooklyn, N.Y., spin-off ran May 17–21 at Industry City. WantedDesign expects to expand the Look Book program next year.