The building was built in 1910. "It’s a pretty raw space with rough exposed brick, barrel vaulted ceilings, original hardwoods, and exposed ducting," Greenawalt says. "We tried to use industrial materials—stainless steel, perforated steel, brick—in a more refined way for the kitchen."

Beneath a recycled-wood ceiling and centered by a Bokhara rug, the living area contains furniture of their own design.

Brandon and Amy set up different workstations in the living area.

This 19th-century New York factory houses the apartment of Brandon and Amy Phillips as well as the workshop for their company, Miles & May Furniture Works.

In the guest bedroom, a painting by Monique Crine hangs on the original brick wall above a Miles & May bed and side table. The rug is from ABC Carpet & Home.

Keeping the original mottled, worn-brick walls and outfitting the kitchen with their own custom cabinetry were among this couple’s cost-saving measures.

The bathroom evokes the building’s industrial bones. The pendant light is from Ikea, and the towel racks are repurposed train car luggage racks. The Carrara tiles are mismatched seconds. “It works if you let yourself not try to fix it,” says Brandon.

The dining area, with a table and hickory chairs from Miles & May, opens onto a kitchen the couple created as part of a DIY gut renovation. The result, says Amy, is an “intentional raw and polished combination.” The lamp is from M&M Electrical Surplus.

Former Factory “Radiotehnika” The architects and year built are unknown for this factor located at Kurzemes 3 in Rīga. Photo by Igors Nerušs, panoramio.com

This structure in Düesseldorf, Germany, is part home, part workshop, and part showroom for designer and resident Joachim Jasper. Located in a former factory, it features modern furnishings from the likes of Tom Dixon and Agape.

One of Shinola's 60 factory workers assembles a bicycle. Photo by: John Spinks

The Bocci 19 series is made with a sandcasting technique, which Arbel favors because it creates a unique product each time. “Our jobs as designers now is to build systems with enough looseness in them so that they result in different pieces” he explains. Here, Arbel checks the mold before the molten metal is brought in.

Design Prize Switzerland, which has a booth on the show floor, joins Dwell on Design for an onstage talk about how technology drives design innovation. Design Prize curator Michel Hueter and Swissnex’s Sophie Lamparter will moderate the conversation with Beat Karrer (FluidSolids), Lukas Scherrer, and Ahrens Ranae (eLumino “E-Broidery” by Création Baumann). Memory Rug for Ruckstuhl by Lukas Scherrer. Photo courtesy of Shibuleru.

The Fritz Hansen factory in Denmark.

Garnet dust is added to the water to yield finer results.

The company is best known for its amplifiers. They receive power via transformers, which are shown in various stages of assembly.

The magic starts in the artwork studio. Studio members, many of them trained as designers, interpret drawings from contributing designers and artists and convert them into patterns.

Philippe Starck’s eco-conscious faucet design for Axor took cues from nature for its organic form.

December 01: The Savvy Woolsy™ is an organic mattress topper filled with fluffy organic wool. The wool fill keeps the climate cool and dry and creates a uniquely comforting sleep surface.

Organic Bowl, Domingos Tórtora

“The dogtooth wall has a dynamic quality that a lot of people have a really wonderful reaction to,” notes architect and resident Giles Bruce.

Designers Maija Louekari's Lappuliisa fabric is cut and rolled into bolts. Follow us as we step inside Marimekko’s printing factory for a look at how its iconic textiles come to life.

Employees at the Herman Miller factory polish the molded plywood shells in the seventies.

I first discovered Giles Belley a few years back when he designed one of the most elegant energy-saving power adapters I've ever seen. Now the innovative French designer is passing back into our orbit with a new line of designs called The Organic Factory. The collection features household objects made with organic, biodegradable materials garnered from agricultural waste. The designs embrace the volatile nature of biodegradable materials, using partial decomposition to create a dynamic aspect to each design. The small "hill" contained within the Colline design is made with biodegradable sunflower hulls. Seeds are stored within it, activated as the pot is watered and the hill decomposes. As the seeds grow into a plant, the hard form of the hill slowly sinks into the soil.

When the copper-brass alloy is poured over the mold, the shape of the overspill is different each time.

One of the older machines on the factory floor.

If the fabric passes, it is cut and rolled into bolts, ready for displaying in stores or turning into garments, bags, cushions, tablecloths, and other Marimekko products.

Each color is printed through its own color-specific, stencil-like plate.

Completed units await boxing. Incandescent bulbs once produced the iconic blue glow. Now it comes courtesy of LEDs calibrated to the original hue. McIntosh will service any of its machines, no matter how old. Lightbulb replacement, of all things, is the most common repair.

Machines have streamlined some aspects of circuit board production, but the final soldering happens by hand.

An archival shot of the Tulip Chairs in production at the Knoll factory.

The prefabrication process cuts a typical 18-month build in half as Garrison prepares the modulars in the factory. Utilities like the plumbing and HVAC systems are also completed in the factory. Photo by Josef Samuel.

Circuit boards await the quality control department’s eagle eye. Every component undergoes rigorous testing before placement into a product.

The conveyor belt in the New United Resource Recovery Corporation recycling plant.