These New York Design Week Debuts Were So Good, We’ve Made a List of Superlatives
Above: The exhibition "Time & Materials" at Assembly Line.
Every spring sees a new edition of NYCxDesign, hot on the Sbagliato-soaked heels of Milan Design Week and the Venice Biennale. In between hosting panels and feting Athena Calderone for Beni Rugs at the designer's own TriBeCa home, ELLE DECOR editors found time to explore the city’s various showrooms, storefronts, and streets to uncover what’s new and noteworthy. Read on for our by no means exhaustive (but still comprehensive) design week superlatives!
Most Scenic Wallpapers
Backdrop partnered with Xavier Donnelly, creative director for Ash—the hospitality brand behind Jennifer Coolidge’s favorite hotel—on a series of four scenic wallpapers (pictured) drawn from Donnelly’s original fresco-style paintings, while Calico Wallpaper worked with Jean Pelle on a dreamy new range titled Memoir, based on her father’s old photograph of the South Korean countryside and developed from Pelle’s oil pastel drawings.
Best Hardware Launches
Australian hardware design company Bankston Architectural partnered with Nicko Elliott and Ksenia Kagner of the architecture and design firm Civilian on the 10-piece Hemispheres collection (pictured). Monica Khemsurov, cofounder of Sight Unseen, launched Petra, a platform for artistic hardware by some of the most exciting names working in design today. And young designer Mike Ruiz Serra, whose covetable Quad table has appeared in multiple ELLE DECOR projects, launched Serra Hardware, a line of cast-iron hardware and lighting.
Best Downtown-to-Uptown Pipeline
Sahco creative director Bengt Thornefors popped into stylist Beverly Nguyen’s Lower East Side shop to promote Magniberg, the bedding and sleepwear brand he founded, and its recent launch of pajamas, towels, and blankets (pictured). Thornefors was also uptown at the Kvadrat showroom on Park Avenue for the U.S. debut of Sahco’s 2024 collection, Wild Bouquet, featuring sleek e15 chairs and sofas upholstered in the brand’ graphic new fabrics.
Best Mixed Media
The young design studio Sunfish ventured into ceramic production for its new collection, which featured a table of Japanese-shino glazed tiles mounted on a cerused white oak base and oil-painted room dividers (pictured). Assembly Line mounted a group show, Time & Materials, featuring exploratory work by Steven Bukowski, Bowen Liu, and their own in-house line, General Assembly.
Most Iconic Drag Numbers
Quarters, the new retail space and interiors shop from the team behind lighting brand In Common With, celebrated its grand opening with an indulgent evening punctuated by performances from some of the city’s most legendary young drag queens. The category is design, honey!
Best Dinner Conversation
Superhouse gallery hosted a one-night-only exhibition of plates by more than 50 artists, “Let Them Eat off the Plate,” cocurated by Caleb Engstrom and featuring new table linens from Tortuga Forma (pictured). Jacqueline Sullivan Gallery kicked off the week with an elegant dinner hosted at the home of chef Chris Kronner and brand consultant Ashley Hildreth. Last, but not least, Trame founder Ismail Tazi hosted an intimate dinner at Frenchette to celebrate its first ICFF and partnership with Art Blocks, a generative-A.I. company.
You Might Also Like
