design odyssey beyond 2010

[by Katerina Kyselica] Last weekend BKLYN DESIGNS 2010 showcased new work from 45 Brooklyn designers who are in no case short on inspiration. They were bursting with ideas and they love to share their stories. If you missed it this year, here is the ‘crème de la crème’ of BKLYN DESIGNS 2010.

This was the eighth year for BKLYN DESIGNS 2010. A first time visitor could run through the whole floor in 20 minutes and see it all. No panel discussions, no academic talks, not much high-tech interaction. No one re-invents the world here. Hold on, should they? The world is spinning fast, so why should we try to spin our lives just as fast and run with it? There are places that offer retreat, places where time slows down and makes us linger a little longer. BKLYN DESIGNS does exactly that: it nurtures its community by providing this venue where people who seek beauty in everyday objects meet with the creators of these objects. And there they talk and learn and plan to meet again, hopefully next year.

This year’s exhibition offered visitors a chance to see and test new collections from all of the Brooklyn stars, such as Uhuru Design, City Joinery, Palo Samko, Katie Deedy, Daniel Moyer and Francois Chambard. They all came back, confident and bursting with ideas. The new additions to the Brooklyn team of designers, Colleen&Eric or Rockpaperrobot, brought a fresh look at what furniture could be or do – they entered the Brooklyn design scene with innovative products. All that topped with great products by industrial design students from Pratt Institute – the Brooklyn design incubator that experimented with materials and forms.

Masters of Brooklyn design tell stories

With the ‘old guard’ of Brooklyn designers, those who have been consistently designing and making, experimenting and showing for years, it’s like this: they love design and every step of the process. They feel an urge to put their hands to work, and they tend to make their own designs, turning them into stunning objects of exceptional quality. They are picky about what material they use and how they use it. But there is more behind their work. They are dreamers and story tellers. Designers Bill Hilgendorf and Jason Horwath of Uhuru Design stumbled upon an old section of Coney Island’s Riegelmann Boardwalk. For the undulating Cyclone Lounger, they recycled weatherworn ipe-wood planks and laid them over jagged laser-cut metal. As Wendy Goodman notes in the May issue of New York Magazine: “It’s so familiar you can almost hear the screams”.

Palo Samko’s wood furniture is known for flawless execution and unexpected details that always make for conversation. When sitting at his elegant walnut round table you feel like opening dinner with a chat on sailing, navigation, or the old world. There is an antique compass inserted in the center of the table, and  parts from old watches create letters E, S and W for East, South and West at the edges of desk. An arrow marks the North. “I always try to add something extra to the function of each piece, something that can make a conversation at dinner”, says Palo about his signature details.

Daniel Moyer got the best spot for the installation of his sculptural furniture – right under one of the St. Anne’s Warehouse skylights. His DPTable made of recycled pine beams packs and ships flat. Oh, and Daniel doesn’t use any metal in his work. Francois Chambard’s work is, on the other hand, more industrial. As you remember from our interview with Francois, he works with composite materials such as fiberglass or carbon fiber. For BKLYN DESIGNS, he created table SMPL with a corian top and powder-coated aluminum legs with a sleek yet elegant detail at the joint. A funky and playful addition to his line is a bench/side table U.M.O. made of solid cork with a powder-coated aluminum insert.

A beautiful product that tells a long forgotten story is hand-printed wallpaper by illustrator and designer Katie Deedy from Grow House Grow studio. For this year’s Naturalist Collection, Katie found long forgotten stories about female scientists who were passionate about carnivorous botanicals, microscopy or sea creatures. The chic patterns Katie created embody the 19^th century stories allowing them to connect with 21^st century viewers. Katie’s wallpaper is hand silk screened with care on clay or vinyl coated paper, and it’s classified as a ‘class A interior finish’, thus suitable for use in both residential and light commercial applications.

Newcomers innovate and surprise

Studio Colleen & Eric, a humble but passionate couple showcased with great success their poetic approach to design. The wooden, round table “Northstar” features small metal circles as inlays on the top. They represent stars – a constellation with one of the stars, the Northstar, being a hidden button that opens a small, secret drawer. The beauty of this product is that the constellation can be customized and selected for a particular day important to the customer, a birthday or a wedding day. I should also mention the wooden book shelf “Hold On Tight” with a metal, built-in, adjustable book-end the color of which  can be customized. It’s smart, and it definitely has potential.

Something else to look at is a ceiling light fixture by designers Jessica Banks and Andrew Laska from Rockpaperrobot studio who use their passion for robotics in the design of objects. The light with six metal arms uses mechanics to open and close the arms and thus manipulate the amount of light in a space.

The biggest supplier of Brooklyn designers is without any doubt the Pratt Institute. The students of industrial design who participated in BKLYN DESIGNS 2010 showed once again that they are equals to the professional designers. The smart use of EVA foam by Amyel Oliveros called “Clutch” shows that a shelf doesn’t need right angles or to be made of wood. The chair “Schair” by Charlotte Kreitmann is also smart and funky. It should find its place in crowded public spaces. When two people need to share one seat, this chair’s seat made of reclaimed cedar wood can be swung open. Well, those two people would have to be…small. But kudos for the idea.

So what is BKLYN DESIGNS ultimately about? Quality, craftsmanship, and great attention to detail. It’s about people, designers, visitors, and their stories. It’s about slowing down while the world is spinning around you and learning about how they do design in Brooklyn.

Filed under: Design, New York City Tagged: | Brooklyn, Design, Furniture, New York City, Product Design, Students