The "Spar Floor Light" by Jamie McClellan. Photo by Alex Welsh

Moving clockwise around the room brought you to New Zealand-based design group Resident. I was making some major "things that look like other things" connections while spending some time with what the Kiwis had to offer. My favorite of the bunch: "Spar Floor Lamp"—the mod cousin of the iconic Pixar lamp with a taut, bright red cord. I don't know what it was about this design, but the clean line of the cord really drew me in. There wasn't any of that excess cordage we're so accustomed to hiding throwing off the whole aesthetic.

Photo by Alex Welsh

Other notables: a guillotine-esque light, "Foundry Floor Lamp," that gave off a contradictorily soft glow, as did a series of mouth-blown glass pendants, "Parison," made of black and clear glass. The result is a hue you can't quite put your finger on—purple-y, murky and completely mysterious.

The "Parison" pendant by Nat Chesire. Photo by Alex Welsh

The "Foundry Floor Lamp" by Nat Chesire // Photo by Alex Welsh

There's something about heavy-looking pendant lights that appeals to me. It could be their overt defiance for gravity, but it also falls under my appreciation for unexpected materials in traditional designs. Decode—a design collective from London—fueled my need for contradictory material/functions with their "Heavy" series, designed by Benjamin Hubert. The concrete shades anchored Decode's display both with their hanging version and desktop style. If you take a look inside each shade, there are tiny bubbles and veins leftover from the days-long drying process when the structure is left in the mold to solidify giving each design its own, personalized texture. Each shade also had at least one chip along its edge and instead of looking sloppy, it was a welcome hit to the smooth, concrete perfection of its exterior.

"Heavy" by Benjamin Hubert

"Wire" hanging pendants by Studio Trevelyan // (on table from left to right): "Heavy Desk Light" by Benjamin Hubert, "Halcyon" by Anthony Dickens and "Vessel P" by Samuel Wilkinson

The "Vessel F" by Samuel Wilkinson was another eye-catcher. Inspired by a ship in a bottle, the Edison style Filament bulb takes the hull in this design. This is a spin on Wilkinson's previous design "Vessel P" which comes off as an ode to the Plumen 001.

"Vessel F" by Samuel Wilkinson. Photo by Alex Welsh

INTRO/NY only housed a small selection of the the luminous options this year's Design Week had to offer, but if we're talking bang for your buck—taxi fare/subway pass money that is, considering entry to the space was free—it was the place to be. Make sure to keep an eye on Paul Valentine and his group at smallpond for any upcoming events.