Everything Our Editor-in-Chief Liked at Brooklyn’s NYCxDesign Shows

When a group of design shops in the Boerum Hill section of Brooklyn announced that they would be holding simultaneous openings during NYCxDesign, it was another welcome step in turning what was once an insular and industry-focused design week into a city-wide civic happening. So, photographer Levi Mandel and I decided to take a stroll down Atlantic Avenue and stop into spaces showing new homewares in my home borough last weekend.

But, I’ll confess, we decided to kick off our Brooklyn rounds in Manhattan at The Lamp Show. 

I love The Lamp Show. If you’re not familiar, every year, Head Hi, the architecture bookshop and café located across from the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the many studios it houses, puts out an open call for lamp designs. They get hundreds of submissions—work by everyone from ambitious amateurs to household name designers—and then choose the most interesting to put up for sale. The lighting on offer stretches the idea of what can or should be considered a lamp in the best possible way, with riffs on the form ranging from the truly brilliant to the delightfully dumb. Last year, the line to get into the opening wrapped around the block, and so for this edition, Alexandra Hodkowski and Alvaro Alcocer, the duo behind Head Hi decided to find a larger space in Manhattan, but for the purposes of this roundup, we’re grouping them with their peers across the river.

Up a classically creaky steep staircase in TriBeCa, they installed work by 54 designers in a busy, but much less chaotic setting. Even on opening night, timed entry slots kept the crowds under control.

The absolute best in show was a table lamp by Studio Atomic. The designers named the piece "Kanna" in a tribute to "the talented Japanese hairstylist who meticulously fashioned its cut in our cozy studio." I insist that this proves hairy lighting is a trend.  

Brooklyn designer Matthew Lew’s ceramic discs were also one of my favorites.

Providence woodworker Jason Connell’s lamp paired perfectly with its crate.

Next up, we finally headed to Brooklyn to do the rounds on Atlantic Avenue. Our first stop was at Porta where the roving design exhibition Object & Thing had a small pop up on one of the shelves. It featured wooden coasters by Teague Costello and candleholders by Sophie Lou Jacobsen, among other works.

I love kitchen things that serve one, very specific purpose and these silver utensils by metalworker Heath Wagoner were some of the most fun things I’ve seen all week. One that looks like a small rake is designed for pulling tinned fish out of their containers.

This is a spoon for olives. Nothing else. 

Next we went to Picture Room to see work by Analuisa Corrigan, an LA designer whose exhibition mixed furniture with family mementos in an homage to her father.

She makes many of her works out of vintage textiles, including several haunting lamps with shades made from a vintage wedding dress on top of a ceramic base.

Down the street at Assembly Line, highlights from a presentation called Time + Materials included a chair made from a single tree stump by Pat Kim.

A hefty new ceramic lamp by Danny Kaplan commanded one corner…

…and ceramic light fixtures by Christopher Merchant dotted the room. Their brushy glazes make them look as good off as they do illuminated.

Next, we went across the street to Primary Essentials to check out a spread of new tabletop objects.

My big discovery there was these bowls by Marisha Jalkovich.

Finally, we ended the day at the Brooklyn Ace Hotel for the unveiling of a work by Minjae Kim who had just finished an artist residency there. The piece "Arbiter’s Corner" includes a mobile and a riff on a chess set displayed on new wooden tables by Fort Makers.

 And that’s a wrap from Brooklyn! 

Related Reading:

Everything Dwell’s Style Editor Saw in an Afternoon of NYCxDesign