Under Present Conditions – All photos by Izzy Leung, courtesy of Friedman Benda Gallery.

Design–Friedman Benda Gallery in New York City presents the Under Present Conditions exhibition featuring eclectic furniture designs that poetically respond to our time’s urgencies. The design pieces highlight the pressing concerns of overconsumption, resource overexploitation, and the search for sustainability.

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“Collectively, these practices represent the field’s panoply of reflections on the circumstances we all share.” Explain at Friedman Benda. “By seeing how leading designers, consciously or not, approach these themes, we see how material itself tells the story of its own surroundings.” Under Present Conditions is on display at the Friedman Benda Gallery, 515 West 26th Street [Map], until June 15.

Brasilian Estúdio Campana transformed and recontextualised the materials of their surroundings through craftsmanship, keeping simplicity in mind. One chair is made from polycarbonate and stainless steel, another seat combines stainless steel and cotton rope. Hamed Ouattara, from Burkina Faso, repurposed discarded oil drums and metal sheets to craft a statement cabinet which addresses the sociopolitical realities of unidirectional global consumption.

Mexican designer Fernando Laposse interrogates the complicated history of the avocado industry and its social and environmental ramifications by reusing a material that would otherwise be considered waste. British designer Max Lamb presents a chair made entirely out of recycled cardboard from his studio. The seat “embodies new histories of craft by pushing the material’s structural capabilities and giving value to what is often seen as secondary,” explains the designer.

Studio Raw Material’s Khokhar Seat is made of dune yellow marble. It represents an ongoing exploration of geology in the desert plains of western India and responds to various local materials, such as salt, marble, clay, and plant-based resins.

Technology as a medium for smart innovation is a key concept in several design projects. Chilean studio gt2P presents seats made from stone and volcanic lava, synthesising a parametric methodology with a sensibility rooted in the Chilean landscape and its materials. Dutch designer Joris Laarman traverses the boundaries of design and science by using computational techniques to make forms inspired by nature. Anthracite and Polystyrene by British designer Paul Cocksedge question our relationship with and dependence on fossil fuels.

Some designers harnessed Nature’s processes for unconventional furniture-making techniques. The Goodall Chair by Full Grown employs photosynthesis as a main process. Instead of being manufactured, it is organically grown, achieving a novel hybrid of design and horticulture. Israeli designer Erez Nevi Pana presents seats made from salt from the Dead Sea, a testament to devastating environmental imbalances caused by industrialisation and mineral extraction.

Dutch designer Christien Meindertsma delves into the life cycles of the raw materials she employs. By exploring agricultural landscapes in the Netherlands, she challenges the commodification of flax and creates pieces that mirror the topography of the fields where the material originates.

Employing natural and often overlooked materials, such as silkworm cocoon fibres and honeybee bio resin, French-born Marlène Huissoud creates quasi-functional pieces that also raise an ethical challenge: Should humans not be designed for all life on earth rather than just ourselves?

Under Present Conditions: All photos are by courtesy of Friedman Benda.