New York’s Design Week Shows Prove This Millennial Trend Isn’t Going Anywhere

Domino’s editors pick their favorite pieces.
Photography by Sean Davidson

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It’s spring in New York, which for us means it’s time for NYCxDesign—the 10-day festival showcasing the latest and greatest in home decor. Gallery openings, cocktail parties, press previews, a massive trade show—you can always count on a new discovery just around the corner. 

But because there are so many happenings, our team had to divide and conquer. Here is each editor’s most memorable sighting, two of which happen to be a furniture trend we just can’t seem to get out of our system: the bar cart. And yet somehow they feel fresh as can be.  

Asking for a Friend, Sophie Lou Jacobsen 

Sophie Lou Jacobsen’s pieces are always recognizable for their fun colors and playful shapes, but this Design Week, her squiggles look a little different. On display at newly opened shop Assembly Line, the eight-piece collection of collector-worthy vases celebrates the imperfections of the glassblowing process in contrasting hues and scales. They’re striking enough to stand alone, but adding a sculptural branch or cut wildflowers would bring absolute perfection. —Naomi deMañana, style director

Shift, Sabine Marcelis 

Courtesy of Mortlach by Design

Mesmerizing doesn’t begin to describe the experience of interacting with design extraordinaire Sabine Marcelis’s latest masterpiece: an almost holographic double-layered glass bar cart titled Shift. As part of the Mortlach by Design program, the piece was inspired by the duality of transparency and opacity, as well as the deep golden hue of whiskey. Just when I thought the bar cart trend was feeling too millennial. —Kate Berry, chief content officer

Industrialism, Sized

Photography by Clemens Kois

I remember having so much FOMO when Sized, Los Angeles’s boundary-pushing gallery and curated platform, opened its first show a year ago. But lucky for us New Yorkers, founder Alexander May took things East for Design Week with the group show Industrialism in the West Village. An earthy composite table by Faye Toogood, a pair of lacquered wood and chain-link fence chairs by Paul Ludick, and even an entirely handmade vintage Lamborghini (courtesy of Morton St. Partners) are on display for art lovers to ogle (or purchase, if you’re lucky). —Julia Stevens, style editor 

Sight Unseen x Bestcase 

Photography by Sean Davidson

When I heard that Sight Unseen, the design magazine headed up by multi-hyphenates Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer, was unveiling its first line of furniture in collaboration with custom metal manufacturer Bestcase, I did not walk—I ran, in the rain, to see it in person. The duo commissioned four international designers to create five works in various metals, and the results will have you questioning why you didn’t already have a glossy metal mirror by Home Studios in your bedroom. Glass, milky resin, and inviting sheepskin also play a part in the Frame Tables by Thevoz-Choquet; Brut Bar Cart by Studio Anansi; and Magna Chair by Charles Constantine. Best of all? The entire collection is shoppable. —Samantha Weiss-Hills, deputy commerce editor

Danny Kaplan x In Common With

Courtesy of In Common With

As part of their ongoing collaboration, Brooklyn-based lighting masterminds Danny Kaplan and In Common With are showcasing ceramic lighting straight out of my future dream house. The minimalist yet warm collection introduces new earth-toned glazes (hello, lapis!), as well as the brand’s first-ever mirror. I think of these pieces more as functional sculptures than lamps. I mean—take a look at the contoured Luca Wall Sconce, made with relief-sculpting techniques that “spotlight the uniquely expressive tactility of clay.” —Linda Denaham, photo director

Melt, HNH Gallery x Adorno Studios

Photography by Aleko Syntelis

Weird and wonderful silhouettes are brought together into one aptly named exhibition, Melt—put on by HNH Gallery and Adorno Design—where the eye-catching designs feel very much like they’re, er, alive. Abstract and captivating interpretations of everyday objects line the room like a saw-toothed furniture system by Bjarke Ballisager and a two-headed lamp side table by Nicholas Devlin. And just when I thought I had enough vases in my arsenal, Genie, a mouth-blown vase by Studio Poa, called out to me as the show’s cherry on top.Collier Sutter, commerce editor

Black Folks in Design: Spotlight One

Kelly Marshall

Sometimes I work from the lobby at the Ace Hotel Brooklyn, and now I have some serious eye candy to accompany me thanks to Black Folks in Design: Spotlight One, an exhibition featuring the works of Garth Roberts, Kyle Scott Lee, Lisa Hunt, Luam Maleke, Studio Anansi, and Studio & Projects. My personal favorite is Little Wing Lee’s hanging tapestry emblazoned with what I thought were flowers but is actually a profile view of cut okra. You can check it out for yourself until June 29. —Julie Vadnal, deputy editor

Reclaim, Cheyenne Concepcion 

Anna Frumenti

If the Launch Pad at WantedDesign is ICFF’s debutante ball, Filipino American creative Cheyenne Concepcion is this year’s belle. Not only is her premiere Reclaim collection a visual delight, it brings forward a buried history of the iconic peacock chair (a romanticized design with roots in Bilibid prison work). The narrative is led by four elegantly handwoven rattan and bent-steel pieces, including a smoky bronze mirror framed by wisps of cane and a thronelike lounge chair with an hourglass shape. In both concept and appearance, Reclaim is a nod to femininity, strength, and unremembered history from a new designer I won’t soon forget. —Raven McMillan, assistant editor

Julia Stevens

Contributing Editor

Julia Stevens is a Domino contributing editor. Basically, she’s a professional online shopper. She started at Domino as an intern and spent almost seven years in the style department curating products for our gift guides, trend roundups, and product reviews and on set styling the beautiful homes we get to share. Off hours, you can find her scouting New York’s newest design shops and restyling her shelves