While social media and technology have rendered trends somewhat erratic and seemingly unpredictable, 2024’s massive trade show during NYCxDESIGN, ICFF – and its subsection WANTED (formerly WantedDesign) with the initiative Launch Pad – has positioned a few recurring themes as critical to the advancement of design. Noteworthy makers, emerging talent, and exceptional student designers are making audiences acutely aware that cross-cultural collaboration, collectibility, and serious sustainable design are here to stay.
ICFF MAIN SHOWCASE
The artisans behind modern African design brand Arkivio expand their Ibis Collection – inspired by the Zulu word “isibopha,” which translates to “binds us” – with new pendant and floor lighting as well as standing and wall mirrors. The studio fuses hand-rolled solid brass forms, braided rope, and diffused light sources to create stunning, jewelry-like pieces for the home.
Plucked from the mind of the studio’s eponymous design comes his Café Set – the next iteration of organic-retro-futuristic home furnishings. In addition to delicious near tone-on-tone colorways are thoughtful elements like fluffy seat cushions and a removable center board for easy cleanup of spills.
Cyrc continues to pioneer post-industrial plastic recycling – and circular design – with the launch of their latest collection called Houf. Available in four silhouettes, the vessels emulate a surprising visual warmth through texture and color, and can be utilized as seating, tables, and planters.
Enigmatic lighting design studio d’Armes adds two more poetic pieces to their repertoire with 1979, by furniture designer Will Choui, and Doppler, by product designer Florian Martin. The pendant lights integrate form and function for a celebration of utility and contemporary design that is romantic, somehow setting themselves up to be future nostalgia.
Robert Sukrachand, the Thai-American designer and proprietor of Pern Baan, produces and markets products that synthesize personal narratives and craft from across physical and cultural boundaries. The brilliant Parchment Side Tables by Art Resources mark a significant moment in time for accessibility to historical styles like Thai Art Deco.
ICFF WANTED
The sculptural furniture studio and its eponymous designer, Lauren Goodman, works with discarded objects and renewable materials to fashion unique collectible designs. For Fresh Catch, she utilizes derelict, lost, and otherwise abandoned crustacean traps that plague New England’s Coast. Making a small dent in the some 3 million lobster traps in Maine’s waters, Goodman proves the near limitless potential for upcycled material language.
Material-maker and intuitive designer Ian Love’s practice is an amalgam of mysticism, meditation, and sustainability. Utilizing, nay celebrating, the rawness of aging and diseased wood, the self-taught artisan creates furniture, lighting fixtures, and artwork with an undeniable soul that connects with viewers on a primordial level.
LAUNCH PAD
The Córdoba-based studio Black Oveja believes that the needs for modern manufacturing, demand for material goods, and industrial growth can be met without detriment to nature. Practicing what they preach, the company approaches sustainable production of their textiles using 100% organic wool instead of recycling PET. Of note is their UCO Wall Art inspired by the natural fractal system and soils from Valle de Uco in Argentina.
A collaborative effort between Fisch Inc. and ditto, the Camada daybed is changing perceptions on the transformative capacity of waste. The base of this furnishing is made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic with manufacturing in both Australia and the United States. Multiple production facilities allow the company to avoid international shipping and utilize locally sourced materials.
Aijing Tang of Toughcookie Studio pays homage to the Memphis movement with a contemporized geometric language and saccharine hues. She subverts a traditionally masculine shape and presents a variety of new ways to structure and colorize seating tempered by a feminine design sensibility.
Furniture Designer Yining Ge explores the temporal nature of design, materiality, and graphic silhouettes. The Void Bench and Ground Cabinet echo elements from powerful structural systems of ancient stone monuments. And to tackle longevity and sustainability, each poplar piece is preserved through charring, a traditional burning technique to finish surfaces.
