Afternoon Light isn’t your typical design trade fair. The New York Design Week happening – on view through 19 May – is tightly curated and yet bypasses the usual pomp, circumstance and aggressive fluorescent lighting.
There’s no hierarchy between the 63 exhibitors or walls between their displays, plus it’s a lot less awkward to engage with an audience that's equal parts visiting trade and general public. ‘We believe strongly that the most interesting rooms hold both canonical brands and emerging studios democratically,’ says Deirdre Maloney, co-founder of Afternoon Light. ‘The tension between them is what makes each look better’.
Location is key. This year’s edition – the fair’s second – is taking place on the light-filled 5th and 6th floors of multifaceted Financial District office tower WSA. Sweeping views of the surrounding skyline, East River and Brooklyn Bridge make for a dramatic but also contextualising backdrop. The travertine stone and hardwood floors help too. Here, there’s room to meander, relax in one of the lounges, peruse a pop-up book store, play a game of ping-pong and grab a bite to eat.
‘We heard a lot of people wax poetic about how the fair last May just felt really good, like a relief or respite, and it's always our goal to create a space where people want to hang and where doing business is a pleasure,’ says Minya Quirk, fellow co-founder of Afternoon Light.
How the event facilitates that business also reflects this no-nonsense approach. Its cash-and-carry model is made explicit with a suggested shopping list published by design criticism Substack For Scale. Items – everything from chairs and lamps to tiles, speakers and hardware – range in price from $17 to $14,000. Here are a few highlights.
Rare Reissues
Rarify, a company that has taken American furniture design by storm, has mounted two activations at the fair. With likeminded platform IKONstudio – uncovering long overlooked design classics – it has mounted an immersive installation within WSA’s red velvet-laden entrance. On view is the ‘SOM79’ chair, originally designed by Charles Pfister for Halston's Olympic Tower studio, a space that had a similar look. With 3D-printing lighting brand Gantri, Rarify is launching emerging Brooklyn designer Christian Borger’s hyper-engineered ‘MLS-01’ kit-of-parts lamp.
Illuminating new lighting
There are several innovative lighting fixtures on offer. New Orleans-based Sara Schoenberger is unveiling her architectural ornament-inspired ‘Coronette’ collection. Stickbulb – often using oak wood trees felled across New York City – is introducing ‘Pleat’, pendants incorporating folded Japanese kozo paper. Detroit-based designers Ryan Kahen’s totemic ‘Ode to Pluto’ both references celestial bodies and the speakers that define the Midwest city’s still thriving electronic music scene.
Amped-up listening experiences
In a similar spirit of design facilitating listening experiences, sound-oriented furniture producer Symbol Audio is launching a bespoke speaker using Swiss modular storage unit brand USM’s Haller System. Staged as a listening room, the ‘Wall of Sound’ installation at Afternoon Light recalls the Grateful Dead’s 1972 Woodstock performance and Jamaican hi-fi culture.
Eye-catching hardware
Good sound systems require powerful hook-ups – why shouldn’t they also look good? Cue boutique Australian hardware manufacturer ZETR. Making its US debut at the fair with an interactive display imagined by Flack Studio and featuring lighting by Volker Haug, the brand is presenting both its fully concealed and metal finished flush-mount power point products. Taking a similar approach to re-assessing the oft-overlooked hardware typology is recently established brand Dimwit. Revealed at Afternoon Light, the ‘Anagrams’ collection comprises dimmers, switches and outlets cast in colourful hues of intricately flourished acrylic.
Tantalising tiles
There’s a good amount of innovative material solutions on offer. Take Dutch tile producer Palet, also making its US debut. Its favourable-price-point designs are graphical and visually playful, allowing designers and consumers to clad their bathrooms and kitchens in bold tromp l’oeil patterns.
Fresh furniture debuts
Los Angeles producer RAD Furniture has launched its collaboration with ever-experimental talent Sam Klemick. The ‘Post Collection’ translates Kelmick’s normally wood sculptural chair designs into the company’s proprietary powder-coated metal. Brooklyn’s Eric Weil is showcasing his new decidedly geometric, stepped-block ‘Carlo’ collection, while fellow Brooklyn studio Ollin presents squat cow-hide upholstered stools and footrests meant for lounging low to the ground.