Highlights From New York Design Week 2018 – ICFF + Sight Unseen Offsite

New York Design Week in an annual celebration that invites designers, creatives and enthusiasts around the world to participate in a marathon of exciting shows and design-oriented exhibitions in the NYC-area. This post highlights our time at two important design shows—ICFF 2018 and Site Unseen Offsite 2018.

ICFF

At ICFF, we noticed a creative shift towards experience-oriented designs. Molo, a manufacturer of space partitions, paid homage to Richard Serra’s large-scale immersive sculptures. Visitors could walk inside the gargantuan structure of sound-minimizing paper-based dividers, and be visually and audially immersed. The convention also featured an array of unique light fixtures from established and up-and-coming designer brands, which illuminated the convention floor in unique orientations and shapes.

We saw a proliferation of wellness and environmental designs. Recyclable materials, living walls and plant life, air filtration and noise management technologies were seen throughout the convention. This demonstrated an increasing trend towards health and wellness in both commercial and residential spaces.

Like ICFF 2017, resimercial designs dominated the convention with comfortable chairs and inviting lounge pieces that would not look out of place in someone’s home. In ICFF Talks panels, important subjects were also tackled—from sustainability, utilizing technology, manufacturing local, to marketing. In a panel about the future of design, a panelist stated that furniture and spaces directly affect how people feel—even from how a space smells. He said it is important for furniture designers to “exceed people’s expectations” and find creative solutions that amaze them.

Sight Unseen Offsite

Sight Unseen Offsite was an outstanding show that featured interesting pieces from smaller design companies and independent makers. It was clear, walking by or within the series of inviting displays, that designers today are carefully observing how we interact with our environment through materials, noise and highly curated environments. From large-scale walk-in displays, to small individual pieces—every object explored a different aspect of the senses.

We saw many interesting chair displays, wall partitions and small ceramic pieces—not to mention creative pieces like a pink piano and vases. From texture and color, to the shape and feel of objects—design impacts the relationship we have with the spaces we inhabit. It was interesting and exciting to see these fundamental principles in action at this show.