NYCxDesign 2023. EXIT Room 002 Dalmation Blue by Ceren Arslan – Courtesy of Tuleste Factory.
Design – NYCxDESIGN 2023, New York City’s annual celebration of design, takes over the Big Apple with exhibitions and installations across the metropolis’ five neighborhoods. We selected 16 must-visit exhibitions on show. Check them all out!
- RELATED STORIES: Read more about New York Design Week 2023 on Archipanic.
Give Me a Sign: The Language of Symbols at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Until September 3, 10.00-18.00 [Map].
Henry Dreyfuss Symbol Sourcebook 1972, 1971 – Photo by Matt Flynn, © Smithsonian Institution.
From the stop sign to the laugh-cry emoji, symbols play a critical and ubiquitous role in everyday life. The Give Me a Sign: The Language of Symbols exhibition at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum examines the fascinating histories behind many symbols that instruct, protect, entertain, empower, and connect people. The show narrates the history behind symbols, such as the raised, clenched fist and its use in movements, including the Black Lives Matter movement and more, the evolution of Olympic symbols to represent new sports, and the progression of the Accessible Icon. A highlight is the previously untold story of the making and impact of Henry Dreyfuss’ Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols, that l has elevated the importance of symbols since 1972.
Architecture Now: New York, New Public @ MoMA
May 18-July 29, 10.30-17.30 [Map].
Architecture Now. New York, New Publics @ MoMA Museum of Modern Art, New York – Photo by Robert Gerhardt, © 2023 The Museum of Modern Art.
Architecture can play a vital role in fostering participation and belonging in a city where many aspects of social life are shaped by real estate and economic forces. The New York, New Publics exhibition at MoMA – Museum of Modern Arts showcases 12 projects for public-facing spaces across New York City’s five boroughs. In contrast to the violent nature of urban renewal and other disruptive metropolitan initiatives of the past century, recent design approaches propose subtler, nimbler interventions. From waterfront parks, networks of public pools, and cultural spaces to local community gardens, subway stations, and virtual monuments for underrepresented populations, the exhibition features projects by Adjaye Associates, SO-IL, James Corner Field Operations, and more.
Don’t Ya Tell Henri, Ron Arad at Opera Gallery
May 17 – June 17, 11.00-16.00 [Map].
Big Easy crystalline black chair by Ron Arad – Photo by Enrique Palacio, courtesy of Opera Gallery.
Opera Gallery presents Ron Arad’s solo exhibition Don’t Ya Tell Henri exploring the duality between structure and absence within the material world. The British-Israeli designer uses bold color and fluid forms to capture the essence of movement and energy while conceptually exploring the marriage between beauty and utility while challenging traditional narratives about form and function.
COARSE, Samuel Ross x Friedman Benda
May 18-June 17, 10.00-18.00 [Map].
COARSE, Samuel Ross @ Friedman Benda – Photo by Timothy Doyon, courtesy of Friedman Benda and Samuel Ross.
Friedman Benda presents COARSE, the gallery’s second solo presentation of acclaimed British designer, artist, and creative director Samuel Ross. The works include benches and tables made in reinforced concrete, painted steel, aluminium, acrylic, and more. “Each object is somehow conflicted; imbued with memory, yet actively trying to remember its history.” Evolving from his ongoing interest in the historic visual languages of West African furniture, post-industrialized Western culture, modernism, and brutalism, the furniture designs point to the links between body, material, meaning, and memory.
Together over Time, Rafael Prieto at Emma Scully Gallery
Until June 3, 10.00-18.00 [Map].
Rafael Prieto solo exhibition at Emma Scully Gallery – Photo by Joe Kramm, courtesy of Emma Scully Gallery.
Emma Scully Gallery presents Together over Time, a debut solo exhibition at the intersection of emotion and perception from Mexican avant-garde designer Rafael Prieto – Founder and Creative Director of Savvy Studio. On show are nine furniture and lighting designs made from all-natural materials. Each piece speaks to the casualties of beauty through the lens of observation. “Going through each day, observantly and present in the natural world,” Prieto says, is the founding principle of this interconnected showcase.
Funk you too! at MAD Museum of Arts and Design
Until August 27, h.10.00-18.00 [Map].
Funk You Too! Humor and Irreverence in Ceramic Sculpture at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York- Photo by Jenna Bascom, courtesy MAD.
The MAD – Museum of Arts and Design presents the first major survey of humor and irreverence in modern and contemporary clay sculpture. The exhibition Funk You Too! Humor and Irreverence in Ceramic Sculpture brings together 50 artworks from the 1960s to the present day in which clay is used as a tool for critique and satire. Pieces by artists of the originating Funk art generation dialogue with works by contemporary artists expanding on Funk’s legacy of humor, subversion, and expressive figuration.
Upon Further Reflection
May 20-25, 12.00-18.00 [Map].
Table lamp by Rosie Li for the Upon Further Reflection – Courtesy of Lora Appleton.
Upon Further Reflection features a dynamic group of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) female-identified designers and artists who were invited to participate to both challenge and address the ideas of reflection through surface exploration, materiality, and self-discovery. This charged concept of mirroring and reflection is of endless fascination, especially for the AAPI community, which has struggled to be seen within the historically white-centric United States of America. The result is an extraordinary multi-disciplinary exhibition featuring an array of never-before-seen pieces in diverse artistic mediums, including furniture, sculpture, installation, painting, and ceramic objects, that invites viewers to ponder and question their own reflections. The exhibition is co-curated by Lora Appleton of the Female Design Council and kinder MODERN design gallery and Andrea Hill of Tortuga Forma. Upon Further Reflection features works by Jean Lee of Ladies and Gentlemen, Moving Mountains, Rosie Li, Teruko Kushi, and more.
Harmonious Proportions @ Tuleste Factory
May 19-25, 11.00-18.00, [Map].
Bliss sofa by Mother – Courtesy of Tuleste Factory.
In Chelsea, Tuleste Factory presents the Harmonious Proportions exhibition showcasing a range of works exploring balance, symmetry, and form themes. 23 designers and artists explore the concept of harmony, drawing inspiration from various sources, including nature, architecture, design, and mathematics. Yonathan Moore presents a totemic lamp while Mother unveils the Bliss floating sofa for deep meditation. Inspired by Porsche’s signature Dalmatian blue and Dalmatian patterns, EXIT Room #002: Dalmatian Blue features a monochromatic setting by spatial designer and artist Ceren Arslan.
The Knockoff Show @ Colony
Through June 30, 10.00-18.00 [Map, second floor].
Chair by Studio Paolo Ferrari and Hiroko Takeda for The Knockoff Show at Colony – Courtesy of Colony.
Founded and curated by Jean Lin, Colony is a community of independent furniture, lighting, textiles, and objects designers living in New York. In Canal Street, for the Knockoff Show during NYCxDESIGN 2023, the platform invited 19 of its members to create a prototype on the theme of design-industry plagiarism and the possibilities for integrity. The exhibition is a direct response to a culmination of frustration by the independent design community towards having designs directly reproduced without sharing credits or profits.
Soft Opening: Under the Influence by Lindsey Adelman
May 19, 20, and 22-25, by appointment only, [Map].
Totem lamp by Lindsey Adelman – Courtesy of Lindsey Adelman.
“Creativity is not a learned skill but a state of mind,” believes Lindsey Adelman, who transforms her studio to showcase an exploration of the mysterious creative process itself. The installation comprises intimately scaled earthy Rock Lights, grandly scaled galactic Cage Lights and hanging forests of illuminated Mobiles shown alongside new works on paper, ritualistic alters, and a video work shot in the desert.
MUJI IS exhibition by Muji
May 18-25, 10.00-21.00 [Map].
MUJI IS exhibition – Image by Muji.
At Hudson Yards, Japanese global brand MUJI invites guests to take “a walk in the forest of verbs with MUJI IS,”’ inspired by the brand’s book under the same name. Muji means no brand in Japanese. From here, visitors are invited on a journey through the company’s design ethos and product archives from the last four decades in a forest-like experiential installation. Product archives are displayed according to the motives behind each product’s development, which are categorized by 15 key verbs, displayed along with their verb categories like Totonoeru (organize) and Ikasu (utilize). Founded in 1980, MUJI’s origin was a thorough rationalization of the manufacturing process with an eye to creating simple, low-cost, good-quality products.
PUBLIC ACCESS by Furnishing Utopia
May 18, June 3 – Open 24h [Multiple locations].
Bee home by Space 10 @ the PUBLIC ACCESS installation – Photo by Brendan Austin, courtesy of Furnishing Utopia.
In Brooklyn, Head Hi and Furnishing Utopia returns to NYCxDesign to pose a foundational question to the design world: How can we expand our creative practices through acts of care and empathy? The PUBLIC ACCESS installation features the work of 39 international designers from 19 cities and 12 countries “exploring ways in which design can inspire communal acts of sharing.” The creatives lineup includes American studios Ladies & Gentleman and Studio Gorm, Vera & Kyte from Norway, Space10 x Tanita Klein from Denmark, Jorge Diego Etienne from Mexico, and more.
Radiator show: Catered Comfort
May 20-25 @ Refinery Hotel, 12.00-19.00 [Map].
Wooden Dish by Andrew Jacob – Courtesy of Radiator show.
Radiator returns to NYCxDESIGN with an exhibition on ‘comfort’ featuring eight innovative craft-focused designers and artists whose work encompasses furniture, lighting, and objects. The display, curated by Andrew Algier and Sara Schoenberger, presents pieces that challenge or question how comfort can be interpreted in contemporary interiors. Vignettes from each designer nest a variety of home objects, ranging from prose-inscribed stone coffee tables to barbell-pierced metal mirrors.
Galerie Philia’s Spring exhibition
May 18-July 31, by appointment only, [Map].
Antigone lamp by Elsa Foulon – Courtesy of Galerie Philia.
In Chelsea, Galerie Philia presents its Spring exhibition featuring sculptural collectible furniture pieces by emerging and established designers from around the world. Elsa Foulon has created a brass and ceramic lamp, Faina crafted quirky vases with organic shapes inspired by Ukrainian folklore, and Rick Owens presents a minimalistic brass chair and a stool with moose antlers.
Unbroken by Arielle Assouline-Lichten
May 17-27, 11.00-18.00 [Map].
Unbroken by SlashObjects – Courtesy of Arielle Assouline-Lichten.
In SoHo, Award-winning artist and designer Arielle Assouline-Lichten, founder of Slash Objects, presents the Unbroken solo design exhibition that centers around transience, ephemerality, and the celebration of imperfection. “In Unbroken, I transform fractured marble and onyx into furniture and lighting that play on the dichotomy between chaos and order.” Says the designer who used found pieces of stone slabs, devising a system to design around each of the materials’ constraints. “In refusing to erase broken edges, the work maintains a trace of its past and reminds the viewer that materials transcend time and experiences.”
Crafted by Nature by Radnor
May 18-25, 10.00-18.00 by appointment [Map].
Crafted by Nature exhibition by Radnor – Courtesy of Radnor.
New York-based purveyor-gallery-manufacturer hybrid Radno̲r debuts Crafted by Nature, an exhibition curated by founder Susan Clark. Crafted by Nature seeks that radiant balance when a work of design feels effortless and natural but is, in fact, incredibly complex to conceive and execute. The exhibition features works from artist Abigail Booth and Japanese Master Toshio Tokunaga, both exclusively represented by Radno̲r in the US, along with new works from Bunn Studio, Adam Rogers, Fong Brothers Company, Karl Zahn, and Radno̲r’s own Susan Clark.
