Playing Favorites

Playing Favorites

The design cognoscenti have a full dance card in New York next month. From May 8 through 19, the city will be pulsing
with ШУУД ҮЗЭХ events, product

presentations, and parties—all part of the annual NYCxDESIGN celebration. One event has distinguished itself for its clean edit of the decorative landscape: the Collective Design fair, taking place May 13 through 17, presents a curated assemblage of 20th century and contemporary design, with a selective showcase of 29 international galleries featuring furniture, lighting, sculpture, decorative objects, jewelry, and glass.
 This May marks the third edition of the fair. Collective Design, which also encompasses a year-round program of lectures and events, was founded by Steven Learner. The architect, interior designer, and passionate New Yorker craved a high-caliber, contemporary design show befitting his creative metropolis.

“The intention was to create a fair I wanted to attend,” says Learner. “And I don’t stand alone in that vision. Collective is more than a name: The vision, the vetting, the introductions, and the growth of the fair have really come from working with the design community.”

Owing much to its multidisciplinary roots—with insight from curators, gallery owners, designers, dealers, and collectors—Collective Design presents a refined contemporary perspective, blending established and emerging galleries with 15 original installations, including an Italian design showcase curated by Stefano Tonchi, editor in chief of W magazine; and a special Collective Influence exhibit, highlighting the career and work of the German designer Ingo Maurer.

“We have vintage work and contemporary work from Cologne, Stockholm, Mexico City, and Oslo—all brought together in a considered way,” says Learner of the fair, which attracted more than 8,000 visitors last year. The array reflects the diverse participants: sexy, limited-edition furniture by Sacha Walckhoff, creative director of Christian Lacroix, will be shown by the first-time exhibitor Galerie Gosserez in Paris; while Joern Lohmann of J. Lohmann Gallery in New York returns for a third time, and will premiere porcelain work from the Norwegian artist Sidsel Hanum. “This is a great platform to introduce new artists,” says Lohmann of the reception from attendees. First-time exhibitors also include BAC, de Vera, Etage Projects, Galerie Negropontes, Garrido Gallery, Glass Past, LMD/studio, Memphis-Post Design Gallery and ProjectB.

With a venue change each time, this year’s fair will unfold in the 60,000-square-foot, ground-level space of Skylight Clarkson Sq in West Soho. “We seek out amazing industrial spaces that are in transition,” says Learner of the “muscular” environments that host Collective Design. “They provide a great counterpoint to finished material that galleries are presenting.”

Innovative furniture designs turn your bike into a show piece

Innovative furniture designs turn your bike into a show piece
Italian company Vado Libero recently launched a collection of innovative furniture pieces designed to 
compliment  ШУУД ҮЗЭХ a cycling


lifestyle. We checked out the collection during this year's Milan Design Week and it stood out by virtue of its practical design, craftsmanship and use of high quality materials. The collection includes three modules, which not only make storing a bike and its accessories easy, but also offer an aesthetic which transforms your bike into an interior show piece.  
 
"We wanted to combine the best craftsmanship with the ultimate design to broaden the cycling experience," says Vado Libero. "And then, we put in an obsessive amount of attention to detail and worked side by side with people who actually sew, cut, build, hack and hammer what we had originally conceived."

The Bike Shelf has been especially designed to transform one's bicycle into an indoor sculpture or feature piece. Built for the living room, the unique piece of furniture frames a bicycle in the center of a wooden cabinet and then bathes it with light. The modular structure is made from mulch-layered birch wood with oak veneer and comes flat packed in four pieces for relatively easy assembly. It features a universal stainless clamp which holds the bike's rear wheel in place and can be adjusted depending on the the size of the wheel.

The cabinet also comes equipped with an overhead stainless steel clothes rack with four leather hooks and a series of wooden poles, which can move around depending on the user's needs. It has been designed to accommodate all the accessories that go with a cycling lifestyle, including the helmet, jacket, water bottle, pad lock etc.

One down side to this product is its weight, which at 90 kg (198 lb) would make delivery outside of Italy very expensive.

 

The Bike Butler is a bike-holder in the form of a compact stand. The free-standing unit avoids the need to drill holes into the wall and allows the users to simply hook their bike onto the center. Made from mulch-layered birch with beech-wood veneer and a stainless steel tube-shaped base, the Bike Butler features an inbuilt shelf and drawer designed for storing and organizing bike accessories such as helmet, keys, lock etc.

The third unit in the collection, the Bike Butler +, is the luxury version of its counterpart and features dark hues, leather lined tray and a wheel clamp covered in dark-brown leather

 

Both units weigh 24 kg (53 lb) and can be easily moved around the home.

All Vado Libero products are designed and made in Italy and will be available for purchase in Europe later this year. Prices are yet to be released.

 

I.Q. April 2015

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