#37: W.C. Rueck - "Daily Trophies" / #24: Ladies and Gentlemen Studio - "Mirage Shelving" / #36: Todd Isaacs (SPACECRAFT) - "Fir Horns" / #8: Christopher Specce - "Decoy" / #6: Brendan Mullins - "Princess Cut Diamonds" / #2: Andrew Sack - "Skate Wax Candles" / #9: Colleen & Eric - "Bonus Table (Podium Edition)"

For NY Design Week this year, our friends at the American Design Club presented their ninth group showcase, Trophy: Awards We Live With. Per the brief: "A trophy is a memento, token, or symbol, used to commemorate an achievement or victory. Whether they are awarded, stolen, or created, trophy objects can come in many forms." As with Noho Next (which included several of the same exhibitors), the exhibition occupied a basement café/bar space; unlike Noho Next, in which the work was distributed throughout the space, the trophies were cordoned off on a makeshift stage area—an oversized display case, if you will—framed by a kitschy slatwall backdrop.

#11: Craighton Berman - "Daily Aspirations" / #34: Taylor Mckenzie-Veal - "War Trophy" / #30: Muzz Design - "Ring of Approval" / #27: Made in Chinatown - "Stanrey Cup" / #5: Artin Yip + Chris Beatty - "Gnome" / #29: Misha Kahn - "Coatrack" / #35: The Office of Brothers - "Victory Shims" / #13: Egg Collective - "Badges"

#17: Grain - "Grail" / #23: KNS Collective - "Accumulated Elegance" / #14: Elisa Werbler - "What's Yours Is Mine" / #28: Martin Flores - "Urnt"

The brief turned out to be quite open to interpretation: a fair number of the 37 works on view were existing designs, executed in different materials or colors to varying degrees of success, while others came out of left field. (It just occurred to me that our friends at Rich Brilliant Willing could have submitted the Core77 Design Awards trophy, which we're actually producing and distributing for the third year...)

#32: Savarin & Charton - "Flag of the United States of America" / #7: Brian Farrell - "Champions Lift" / #18: Hangar Design: "Sullied Shell" / #16: Garrett Brooks - "Swallowtail" / #31: Pat Kim - "Gold Rocket" / #25: Louie Rigano - "Glittering Urn" / #3: Anelise Schroeder - "Victory Sticks" / #22: Kate Horsfield - "Heart of Gold" / #26: M. Callahan Studio - "Post Candlesticks" / #4: Aria McManus: "Sparkler Incense (Celebrate/Meditate)" / #10: Conor Klein: "Untitled (#1, #2 and #3)" / #20: Ian Stell - "Telecandela" / #12: Daniel Michalik: "Podium Stools"

#21: Karl Zahn - "Best Use of Materials"

If the breadth of the work raised the question of how and why we ascribe meaning to objects, so too were many of the pieces thought-provoking in themselves—for better or for worse, the legend at stage left provided only names and titles with nary an explanation of the work. Some pieces, such as Karl Zahn's table-ified pre-fab trophies (a personal favorite), were self-explanatory, while others remained somewhat opaque. We expect that more information may surface within the next few days, as AmDC has recently posted studio photos of each piece on their Facebook page.

#1: Andrew Mau - "Mano Lei Necklace" / #19: Hello. We Are ____. - "NYC Merit Badges" / #33: Scot Bailey - "Big Game"

#15: Evan Clabots & Steph Mantis - "This Means"