How many new things should we actually be making? This is the question that plagues so many designers now as the issues facing our planet continue to worsen. “I find the design industry very troubling in a lot of ways, and I do feel the tension of creating new pieces in a world of excess, with the majority of furniture and lighting ending up in landfill. It’s really hard to reconcile sometimes,” says Kate Stokes, co-founder for Melbourne studio Coco Flip.| Sight Unseen
Despite a wane in the curated "Instagram aesthetic," hotels and restaurants still often must rely on vignettes that guests will be inclined to photograph, post, and tag as part of their organic — and free — marketing strategies. But for New York-based Islyn Studio, the aim is to lift these guests out of their digitally oriented lives entirely, and — even if for a brief spell — focus on the sensorial value of the space they’re in. “We reject trends and ‘Instagram moments’ in fa...| Sight Unseen
Harnessing tree sap to bind wood is a technique that dates back more than 45,000 years — a fact that fascinated Catskills-based studio Earth to People enough to revive the age-old process, using nature's glue to assemble furniture pieces crafted from reclaimed cedar and aluminum. Founders Jordan and Brittany Weller are “driven by a love of ancient stewardship and the handmade,” and for the past two years, they've dedicated their practice to reviving historic furniture-making traditions ...| Sight Unseen
At the Stockholm Furniture Fair earlier this winter, we found the thing we're always searching for at these things: a designer whose work is so sophisticated and ready for the market that they're bound to be in the conversation for years to come. (A booth full of bangers, if you will.) And so our Best in Show at Greenhouse award this year went to Tobias Berg, a Norwegian designer with one of the most assured debuts we've seen in years.| Sight Unseen
Whoever said “nice guys finish last” clearly never met designers Sacha Leong and Simone McEwan. Since they started their London-based studio, Nice Projects, five years ago, the duo has completed a string of hospitality interiors that each has a distinctly expressive identity rooted in context, a strong focus on natural materials and local craft, and a touch of magic that has helped the dining spots soar in popularity.| Sight Unseen
In my general round-up of the Stockholm Furniture Fair last week, I noted how ably Scandinavians seem to grapple with the realities of our culture of waste. Nowhere at the fair is this more evident than at Greenhouse, the emerging design section that mixes independent designer showcases with group installations by design schools and curated projects.| Sight Unseen
Following a storm, there’s a moment when surfaces are left covered with beautiful, randomly dispersed droplets that glisten until they evaporate. In his new series — appropriately titled After the Rain —Parisian designer Quentin Vuong has been able to recreate this effect with startling accuracy across a series of blackened oak furniture pieces, upon which he painstakingly hand-applies black epoxy resin. Currently on show at Galerie Gastou, the series is the latest example of Vuong’s ...| Sight Unseen
