Discover New York Design Week 2021
New York Design Week 2021 highlights: our guide to the fairs, exhibitions and launches in the city during NYCxDesign, from ICFF to Salon Art + Design, and showings by independent brands and galleries
Like all other aspects of the city, New York’s annual design showcase NYCxDesign comes roaring back to life with several unprecedented moves since being derailed by the global pandemic. For starters, the design festival’s two stalwart fairs – the International Contemporary Furniture Fair and Wanted Design Manhattan – will come together for the first time to show under the sprawling roof of the Javits Center. Bringing the breadth of ICFF together with Wanted Design’s eye for emerging talent, and an expanded speaker programme, ICFF + Wanted Design Manhattan Talks, this co-location breathes new life into the cornerstones of NYCxDesign.
This year’s timing of the festival, which typically takes place in May, also coincides with Salon Art and Design, a show known for bringing together vintage, modern and contemporary design alongside 20th century art. With both entities exuding an international flavour, but armed with a strong local turnout, the overlapping of both events means galleries and design showrooms all over the city are putting their best foot forward this week.
NYCxDesign: New York Design Week highlights
ICFF + Wanted Design Manhattan
For the first time, ICFF and Wanted Design Manhattan join forces to show under the Javits Center’ newly expanded roof during NYCxDesign. At ICFF, one of the highlights comes from Bernhardt Design, which unveils three new collaborations, with Luca Nichetto, the Italian brand Plank, and the California-based designer Cory Grosser. At Wanted Design Manhattan, where a wide range of emerging talent has always held the spotlight, the Boston-based surface design studio Tomma Bloom has been jointly given the fair’s Best of Launch Pad 2021 accolade, alongside lighting designer Echo Zhan.
14 – 15 November 2021
Javits Center
429 11th Avenue
Salon Art + Design
There are highlights aplenty at this year’s Salon Art and Design fair. Spread out in the Park Avenue Armory, some of the gems to be found in 2021’s well-heeled presentation include new monolithic furniture by the Belgian designer Pieter Maes at Atelier Courbet, a fresh array of tactile sculptures by Ian Collings at The Future Perfect and Liam Lee’s psychedelic objects that draw from the natural and biological world, presented by Patrick Parrish Gallery.
11 – 15 November 2021
Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Ave
DeMuro Das x RISD design competition
During New York Design Week, international design firm DeMuro Das presents the fruits of a design competition that was organised in Spring 2021 with graduate students from the Department of Furniture Design at Rhode Island School of Design, who worked under the guidance of RISD Associate Professor Patricia Johnson and Jean Lin of Colony. Students were asked to design a pair of pieces: one to be fabricated in class by themselves and the second to be produced by DeMuro Das’ factory in New Delhi, India. Exhibited in the firm’s Manhattan showroom, the three winning designs, from Alexis Tingey, Virginia Gordon, and Maxwell Taylor-Milner, represent vigorous rounds of research and a comprehensive creative approach that mirrors DeMuro Das’ own global perspective.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
12 November – 1 January 2022
900 Broadway, Suite 1001
‘Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room’ at The Met
Installed within one of the museum’s storied period rooms from the 19th century, ‘Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room’ is a new long-term exhibition curated by production designer Hannah Beachler that brings together art and objects reflecting the African diaspora from within The Met’s collections to foreground generations of Black creativity. Inspired by the real-life story of Seneca Village, a vibrant Black community that flourished on New York’s Upper West Side from the 1820 to 1850s, and was destroyed by the City of New York to make way for Central Park, the exhibition poses the question – what if this community had been given the opportunity to thrive?
‘The Met’s distinguished collection of period rooms presents not only outstanding objects and displays, but also complex relationships towards history and authenticity that call for reinterpretation and intervention. As the first to present a constructed space of now and tomorrow rather than a filtered perspective on the past, the Afrofuturist Period Room offers an important opportunity to start new dialogues and illuminate stories that are yet to be told within our walls,’ says museum director Max Hollein.
From 5 November 2021
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue
Under/Over East by Marta in NYC
Building upon last year’s memorable survey of toilet roll holders at Marta, Los Angeles, ‘Under/Over’ makes its way to New York with a new selection of design-savvy receptacles. The exhibition’s latest iteration is curated by Emmanuel Olunkwa and produced in collaboration with the sustainable toilet paper company Plant Paper. It unveils new designs by Simone Bodmer-Turner, Minjae Kim, Nifemi Ogunro and Ellen Van Dusen, which are not only on display in the Lower East Side, but also installed within the bathrooms of cherished local haunts around New York City as an open invitation for design fans and passers-by to interact with the pieces.
13 November to 31 December 2021
106 Eldridge Street
Matter Made’s MMXXII collection
Matter has been flying the flag for New York design since it first opened its doors in 2003. It has matured into a design brand, gallery and platform with its own furniture label under its belt. The new Matter Made MMXXII collection features a new family of lighting from Jamie Wolfond, lighting and furniture from founder Jamie Gray and expanded collections from Faye Toogood and Ana Kraš. Matter’s longtime showroom space on Broome Street has also evolved to become Matter Projects, a venue solely for hosting exhibitions.
13 November – 23 December 2021
405 Broome Street
Atelier de Troupe x CC Tapis
Cultures collide beautifully in this joint effort between the LA-based furniture label Atelier de Troupe and the Milanese rug brand CC-Tapis. Inspired by both companies’ cultural origins and the aesthetic of Berber carpets, Le Tapis Nomade is a global pastiche – designed in California and Italy, made in Nepal and presented in New York. The modernist rug design comes in three colours: wheat, forest and sand. It will be on view at Atelier de Troupe’s Soho showroom alongside its other furniture pieces, and with new moody images of the rug installed at the iconic midcentury Milan residence Casa a Tre Cilindri, designed by Angelo Mangiarotti and Bruno Morassutti in 1959.
11 – 18 November 2021
19 Mercer Street
William Gray for Stellarworks and Calico Wallpaper
The veteran design studio Meyer Davis unveils two collaborations with Stellar Works and Calico Wallpaper this week. Launched together under Meyer Davis’ product label William Gray, the new offerings include a pair of bespoke wallcoverings – the botanically inspired ‘Wilds’ design and the more collage-driven ‘Ephemera’ pattern – that are displayed alongside pieces from the brand’s existing furniture collection with Stellar Works. Transforming Stellar Works’ New York showroom into an evocative living room setting, the warm and eclectic display is hospitality at its best.
11 November – 31 December2021
57 Lispenard Street
‘Join’ at Colony showroom
Colony brings 12 American designers together to explore the meaning and complexity of togetherness after such a prolonged period of being apart. Amongst the new work being presented in the show ‘Join’ is a mother-son collaboration from Bec Brittain, realised in lighting form; an occasional chair from Studio Paolo Ferrari that was designed transatlantically; and a series of vessels from Grain, created in honour of a family member lost during the pandemic. ‘We are all trying to find our footing in this new reality,’ says Colony founder Jean Lin. ‘We’ve never been more acutely aware of the importance of community and collaboration, and chose this theme to honour this inherent need to come together.’
11 November – 10 December 2021
324 Canal Street, 2nd Floor
INFORMATION
NYCXDesign runs from 11 – 18 November 2021 across the city
nycxdesign.com
Pei-Ru Keh is a former US Editor at Wallpaper*. Born and raised in Singapore, she has been a New Yorker since 2013. Pei-Ru held various titles at Wallpaper* between 2007 and 2023. She reports on design, tech, art, architecture, fashion, beauty and lifestyle happenings in the United States, both in print and digitally. Pei-Ru took a key role in championing diversity and representation within Wallpaper's content pillars, actively seeking out stories that reflect a wide range of perspectives. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children, and is currently learning how to drive.
-
Bringing BRAT to life: we meet the designers behind Charli XCX's victory-lap tour
An exclusive interview with Cour Design's Jonny Kingsbury, the stage and lighting designer behind Charli XCX's new BRAT tour
By Smilian Cibic Published
-
Apple’s new Mac mini is a pocket-sized powerhouse thanks to the M4 processor
With the new Mac mini, Apple has squeezed its M4 and M4 Pro processors into the smallest conceivable footprint, physically and environmentally. Apple insiders tell us how
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
One to Watch: EJM Studio’s stool is inspired by the humble church pew
EJM Studio’s ‘Pew’ stool reimagines the traditional British church seating with a modern, eco-conscious twist
By Smilian Cibic Published
-
Design Miami 2024 is alive with possibility: here are 14 things to see
Design Miami 2024 opens 4-8 December – let Wallpaper* guide you to the highlights, from dazzling installations to plump sofas and anthropomorphic sculptures
By Ali Morris Published
-
Nendo’s collaborations with Kyoto artisans go on view in New York
‘Nendo sees Kyoto’ is on view at Friedman Benda (until 15 October 2022), showcasing the design studio's collaboration with six artisans specialised in ancient Japanese crafts
By Pei-Ru Keh Last updated
-
Italian craftsmanship comes to Los Angeles in this eclectic Venice Canals apartment
Boffi Los Angeles celebrates a juxtaposition of texture throughout a waterside bolthole
By Hannah Silver Last updated
-
Design Miami/Basel 2022 explores the Golden Age
Design Miami/Basel 2022, led by curatorial director Maria Cristina Didero, offers a positive spin after the unprecedented times of the pandemic, and looks at the history and spirit of design
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
Kvadrat’s flagship New York showrooms encompass colourful design codes
Industrial designer Jonathan Olivares and architect Vincent Van Duysen have worked with Danish textile brand Kvadrat on the vast new space, also featuring furniture by Moroso
By Hannah Silver Last updated
-
What to see at New York Design Week 2022
Discover Wallpaper’s highlights from New York Design Week 2022 (10 – 20 May 2022): the fairs, exhibitions and design openings to discover
By Pei-Ru Keh Last updated
-
Colour defines LA ceramics studio and showroom of Bari Ziperstein
Step inside the multifunctional ceramics studio, office and showroom of designer and artist Bari Ziperstein, designed by local firm Foss Hildreth
By Pei-Ru Keh Last updated
-
Design for Ukraine: Bocci and Design Miami join forces to raise funds
The online sale of iconic Bocci pieces will benefit GlobalGiving’s Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund, providing urgently needed humanitarian aid
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated