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The Best of WantedDesign 2017

By Core Jr - May 26, 2017

WantedDesign Brooklyn WantedDesign Brooklyn began with a nice spring opening party in the courtyard of their headquarters in Industry City. Core77 1 of 50

WantedDesign Brooklyn WantedDesign Brooklyn began with a nice spring opening party in the courtyard of their headquarters in Industry City. Core77 2 of 50

WantedDesign Brooklyn SVA's MA Design Research Program manned a booth that visualized topics discussed in their recent thesis presentations. These Monopoly game pieces on display are part of graduate student Alexander Bevier's research on the history of game design and how the objects and images them gain cultural relevance. Core77 3 of 50

WantedDesign Brooklyn For her thesis work, SVA MA Design Research grad Emma Ng's looked at "food startups Blue Apron and Soylent, examining how their visions for food systems change filter down into the products, experiences, and social lives they design for their customers." In conjunction with her research regarding food, her visual display at Wanted envisioned how a sort of apocalyptic survival cookbook of the future might read. Core77 4 of 50

WantedDesign Brooklyn The welcoming "Honey bar" run by Green Island at the entrance of the Wanted Brooklyn space was a hit. The booth offered tasting of local honey served in a variety of innovative ways (they had all kinds of interesting honey variations, including a sour flavor). Core77 5 of 50

WantedDesign Brooklyn The University of Oregon's new Sports Product Design Master's degree program just launched last year and debuted some of their final projects from the first year at Wanted (more details from this exhibit in a later post!). Core77 6 of 50

WantedDesign Brooklyn Outside the Box 6.0 was an exhibit at the Industry City space showcasing groupings of objects made by designers from specific geographic areas with prominent design communities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, New York and Montreal. Core77 7 of 50

WantedDesign Brooklyn SVA's Products of Design Program curated a speculative exhibition called "Coincident Times", creating a number of conceptual products "for the present day that become catalysts towards their imagined futures." More on what exactly they designed in a follow-up post. Core77 9 of 50

WantedDesign Brooklyn The SVA students created a fake news-esque newspaper brochure including future-gazing essays and images of their individual product designs. Core77 10 of 50

WantedDesign Brooklyn ENSCI's 3rd installment of "Diplorama", which is a small exhibition of works by 27 graduates in the Industrial and Textile Design programs that borrows from performative and theater arts. Core77 12 of 50

WantedDesign Brooklyn True to the Brooklyn spirit of the fair, a booth run by sustainable DIY mushroom-centric company Ecovative demonstrated how their mycelium growth kit can be used to create a number of beautiful, textural products such as this lampshade on display Core77 14 of 50

WantedDesign Brooklyn Hor Pistes' booth at Wanted. Hor Pistes is a collaborative residency program that matches designers with artisans around the world. The group was invited as part of the Oui Design program, created by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy to foster creative exchange in design between France and the US. The tables featured were designed by Micael Filipe and constructed by palm weavers in Burkina Faso. Core77 15 of 50

WantedDesign Brooklyn More products in the Hor Pistes booth—these bags designed by French designer Sarah Vigeur are made in Burkina Faso artisans who weave together textiles using cotton and plastic bags. Core77 16 of 50

WantedDesign Brooklyn A series of aluminum trays by Valentine Dubois in the Hor Pistes Booth, which are created by aluminum casters in Burkina Faso. Core77 17 of 50

WantedDesign Brooklyn Another installation organized by Oui Design was the Transatlantic Creative Exchange, which paired European manufacturers with New York design studios to create a collaborative piece for the fair. These glass works were made by French designer Pauline Deltour, who was inspired by the cane working glass blowing technique displayed at the Corning Museum of Glass in New York. Core77 18 of 50

WantedDesign Brooklyn This installation, a collaboration between Fort Makers and magnetic wallpaper company Visual Magnetics was called "Rockland BBQ". Taking inspiration by stage sets made by artists over the past century like Pablo Picasso, the installation acts as arts as well as performance—"actors" routinely moved pieces around the set, resulting in an experimental performative installation. Core77 20 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan Wandering through the many hallways of WantedDesign Manhattan. Core77 21 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan Rubber chairs by Ara Levon Thorose we couldn't stop staring at (and touching!). Core77 22 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan Luis Lim of makingworks' touch reactive seating. Core77 23 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan Beautiful Reflected Sequence lighting by Frederike Top Design. Core77 24 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan Food x design can never go wrong... especially if it actually tastes good! Chef and designer Jasper Udink ten Cate (aka Creative Chef) created a colorful snack for each of his visitors. Once they were finished eating, the used tableware designed by Creative Chef was placed back on the table, eventually creating one giant work of art. Core77 25 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan Creative Chef used colorful foods to stand out against the white, including beets, tomatoes and edible dyes. Core77 26 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan A close-up of Nynke Koster's moulded rubber stools. The designer uses architectural elements around her to mold furniture that reminds her of a certain place and time. Core77 27 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan Jacob Antoni demonstrating his mesmerizing transforming wooden chandelier. Core77 28 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan 3D printed rugs? You read that right—Studio Plott creates 3D printed patterns then covers them in a velvety texture to make them soft to the touch. Core77 29 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan Ceramics by immerLit. Core77 30 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan Martins & Visser's HOLON is always a crowd pleaser. Set center stage in Ventura Project's room, the spinning orbs delighted and inspired passerby. Core77 31 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan Martins & Visser's HOLON is always a crowd pleaser. Set center stage in Ventura Project's room, the spinning orbs delighted and inspired passerby. Core77 32 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan Harry's and Good Thing's A Brush With Designchallenged a variety of designers to redesign the classic shaving brush. Core77 33 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan Floor Nijdeken's Crossover Collective brought a fun collective embroidery demo to the mix. Core77 34 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan This year, Oregon-based Studio Gorm was presented with this year's American Design Honors, an award presented by WantedDesign and Bernhardt Design. The American Design Honors was created for WantedDesign in 2010 to "recognize up-and-coming American designers who embody excellence in creative design and superior entrepreneurial ability". Their booth was filled with recently designed objects and furniture projects that embody their studio's design ethos. WantedDesign 35 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan A beauty of a chair designed by ZihanBoom Lab. Core77 36 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan Aliki van der Kruijs' Made By Rain series reflects the beauty of patterns that can be found in nature. The designer covered textiles in ink then left them outside in the rain—the water droplets created unique patterns on each piece that reflect the severity of each storm. Core77 37 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan Wilcoxon Brooklyn Ceramics' display. Core77 39 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan When you wave your hand in front of alissanienke's movement reactive mirror, the panels mimic your motion. The design duo also creates intricate laser cut porcelain lamps that can be seen on their website. Core77 40 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan Transforming tables by Studio Lani. Core77 41 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan The tabletops can be removed and used as serving trays! Core77 42 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan A close up of cork and rubber vases designed by Renate Vos. Core77 43 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan envisions, a Dutch collective focused on process, not the end product, created a mini world of playful textures for WANTED Design Manhattan. Core77 44 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan Crystalized and naturally dyed forms by Isaac Monté. Core77 45 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan PVC pipe vases by Studio Jeroen Wand. A clever contradiction. Core77 46 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan PVC pipe vases by Studio Jeroen Wand. A clever contradiction. Core77 47 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan Oddly pleasing chairs by Kin & Company. Core77 48 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan Dimitri Kruithof's twisted stool is a curious form that was challenging not to go plop down on. Core77 49 of 50

WantedDesign Manhattan Lighting with a presence by Paul Reamey. Core77 50 of 50

On an all-inclusive note that considers makers from all of New York City's boroughs, WantedDesign continues to give design lovers not one, but two locales and experiences to visit during the NYCxDesign festivities. Each event in turn brings its own special flavor to the fair and exhibition mix. One fair, taking place in Wanted Design's lovely headquarters in Industry City, focuses on the future and community: how has the current economic and political situation we live in shifted our perspective as designers? In what ways can designers around the world collaborate and communicate in order to create a better world? The Brooklyn respite included works from innovative students from around the globe as well as exhibitions organized by Oui Design, an organization dedicated to fostering great design between creatives in the US and France. The Brooklyn space also took some playful turns, even offering some delicious and unusual honey tastings.

On the other side of the bridge was Wanted's Manhattan space, which honed in on the here and now by displaying beautiful renditions of form and function by working designers—the Manhattan fair offered up selections from small local furniture studios, a number of pieces featured in Salone's Ventura Lambrate exhibit in Milan, as well as several interactive stations ruminating on topics such as immigration, news echo chambers, each one thought up by students in the SVA Products of Design Program.