Renegade Craft Fair 2008

Sean and I made it to the Renegade Craft Fair this Sunday (after the crazy rain shower). We were very pleasantly surprised to almost immediately run into our friend Sumana of Imaginary Friends, who had come from California for the show. We got to meet Nick - Sumana's brother and business partner - who is obviously a silk-screen expert (check out the color gradients on their cards and shirts)!



I was also very excited to meet Amber Zezeck of Brookadelphia - I love her acrylic word necklaces (and that tie necklace - yes, please!).



We saw a lot of plush toys at the show...our favorites were from Cherry Box (above) and Longoland (below). Cherry Box makes sad little plush trophies, and Longoland makes crazy monster plushies (high quality, with really amazing detail).



Longoland plushies.



Sycamore Street Press was new to RCF this year. I loved their stationary lines! A lot of Eva's work has a vintage feel to it, although my favorite cards were her more modern illustrations. Our pictures don't really do her work justice - check out Grace's post for far superior photo coverage!



Finally, we were excited to meet Shauna and Stephen of Something's Hiding In Here. These two pay attention to the details, and the quality of their work is just so great. I loved their stamps and the "love until it hurts" hearts.

So there you have it - Sub-Studio's favorite picks from this years RCF.

Sub-Studio NSS Booth

Whew! The NSS is finally over and I am home drinking peppermint tea and am ready to pass out...Overall it was a great experience and I met lots of really great people. It was exhausting and expensive, but well worth the effort. Just a few quick shots of our booth above - I am posing with the lovely ladies from JHillDesign, Ink & Wit, and RSVP Press, all of whom were great booth-mates. A contractor I've worked with previously built all of our wall panels and shelves - if you EVER need a contractor for a renovation you are doing in the NYC area, I highly, highly recommend him! Feel free to email me any time for his contact info!

By the way, a huge thank you to New York Magazine, Design*Sponge, Modish, and Design Milk for the write ups about our work, and to Venus Zine for the shout out to our little blog!

Regular posting will resume tomorrow...

Sub-Studio at the NSS

Phew...we're beat after spending all day yesterday and today setting up our booth for the NSS show. Sorry for not posting yesterday - setting up took a lot longer than expected! For the same reasons, there will most likely not be many posts until Thursday. Wish us luck at the NSS - it's our first time! If you're in NYC and are checking out the show, we're booth 2246 - come by and say hi!

Milan Design Week coverage

I apologize for the lack of posts - I haven't been feeling so well the last few days, and so haven't been able to put together much by way of what's happening at Milan Design Week. But you can check out Yatzer, Dezeen, Wallpaper*, and MoCo Loco for coverage of the event.

(The George3 console table above is by Gareth Neal.)

Milan Design Week 2008

Tomorrow kicks off Milan Design Week, and being that we are in New York and unable to cover the event live, we'll do our best to scour the internet and bring you the best of the blogs that are covering it. From Designboom (top row): Angle Chair by Julian Mayor and Clock by Christiaan Postma (the hour is spelled out by multiple clock hands!). From our inbox: new Union Bench designs by I Do Design.

Yuriko Takahashi

I love the coverage of the Stockholm Furniture Fair over at Designboom. Yuriko Takahashi's work caught my eye - she has some very nice bent wood furniture, and some amazing light fixtures. The lights have shades made of wood veneer and cloth which are connected with zippers.

Via Designboom. Photos via Designboom.

Artful Home show

Yesterday was a crazy day (thus the lack of posts), but I did make it to the Artful Home preview show at the Puck building (love that place!). The evening provided a great opportunity to meet artisans and to see new work in the glassware, ceramics, jewelry and textiles fields. Some of the highlights:

The glassware tended to be colorful - lots of bright pastels (is that an oxymoron?). The Spike Bowls by Hudson Beach Glass and Nicholas Kekic's collection of vases were gorgeous, and I loved their forms.



Ananda Khalsa had some jewelry in the show, and it is truly more beautiful in person than it is in photographs. Everything is so delicate and intricate. The Stacking Bowls are by Kaete Brittin Shaw.


I had the pleasure of meeting Laura Goldstein of Grotta & Co, who make very cool silk screened throw pillows. The designs tend to incorporate personal elements, such as handwritten letters from her grandma and old musical scores.

The Artful Home show is open to the public starting today through Sunday at the Puck building in Manhattan. There is unfortunately a cover charge - tickets are $12 in advance and $20 at the door (steep, in my opinion!). Check it out if you are in the area. Have a good weekend, all!

ICFF - Wrap Up

Finally, onon Surfaces displayed a series of interesting conceptual surfaces. Each piece is made of laser cut Mylar and is meant to be used as a divider or wall tapestry. The patterns made by the cut paper are beautiful and I would imagine they make great shadows, too.

That's it for ICFF! It was our first time attending, and while we thought there was a lot of good work (especially in regards to lighting), and a lot of great material exploration, we didn't see much exploration by way of new ideas or forms. We did, however, really appreciate the student work that was on display, and hope to see more of that next year.

Sean and I only briefly hit the National Stationary Show. You can find great coverage of it over at Design*Sponge.

Have a really great long weekend, you all!

ICFF - For Your Walls

There were lots of interesting wall coverings at ICFF this year. Words Spoken Quieter Than Actions by Rollout was a favorite - lots of thought bubbles that just ask for your intervention and collaboration...



Nama Rococo had some beautiful wallpaper - bright colors and lots of ornament (the photos don't do it justice).

I am bummed that I missed Flavor Paper's Scratch and Sniff wallpaper...sounds awesome!

Conscious Design

I love the Tio chair by Conscious Design. The Tio comes in a range of fantastic patterns and colors, all of which come as interchangeable covers that allow you to with change the lounge chair as you so desire.

ICFF - Amardian and EGG Designs

The beetle shelf system by Amaridianwas one of the coolest pieces at the show. Patterns are very big now and the beetle reinterpretation was a nice leap. Greg and Roché Dry, of EGG Designs, created the screen and do a bunch of other great work as well.

ICFF - Baco Stool by Yothaka

The Yothaka furniture line used a variety of different materials, and one of the most interesting was the line of Pineapple Paper pieces. The seat of the Baco Stool is loose sheets of dyed pinapple fiber paper.

ICFF - Shine by James Lear

Shine, by James Lear, is a great reinterpretation of the armchair. Re-inventing the ornate repeat by simplifying the pattern form and increasing ornament by using Swarovski crystals, the chair is both new and old at the same time. James is a RISD BFA Furniture '08.

view more of the RISD ICFF 2007 pieces here

ICFF - Palo Samko

Palo Samko's work was gorgeous in person. The pieces have playful details and are extremely well crafted.

ICFF - Toy Design

b O bles are a series of foam toys that are shaped to have multiple uses and act as toys of exploration and imagination.

A translation of the rocking horse. The Rockingsheep (right), may or may not be made of real sheep skin. Kind of creepy if it is! Desgined by Povl Kjaer.

ICFF - Anne Black

It was great to see Danish designer Anne Black's work at ICFF. Her porcelain pieces are so delicate and beautiful. By placing the graphic on the inside of the ceramic ware rather than on the exterior in her Black is Blue collection, she takes a modern spin on a traditional medium.

ICFF - Perch

The fixtures from Perch all have that handmade ceramic quality because they are indeed handmade and ceramic. Amy Adams designs and crafts all of the objects in the collection. I really like the muted colors and the deep glaze finish of the ceramic.

ICFF - Thout

Thout's work is full of clever surprises and solutions for compact living. The HoleySTUMP is a reclaimed cedar stump with holes bored into it, conveniently sized so as to store a beer or a soda can, if desired. Thout has also developed a series of UtiliTILES, a modular wall tile system that is programmed for specific functions - to hold a piece of fruit, a cup, a fork, etc.

ICFF - Lattice Platter and Pegster Poster

The Lattice Platter by Chris Metcalfe (left) and Pegster by Peter Collis (right) are two examples of positioning the user as the maker of the object. The platter comes flat-packed and laser-cut and is assembled by the end-user. And the pegboard poster re-forms itself based on the user input.

ICFF - Progetti

Clocks are another hard find for me...I really love Progetti's line of clocks - they are fun and playful without being cheesy like so many are. The first two were designed by Alberto Sala, and the right-most one by Ilya Titov.

UPDATE: I removed the remainder of the post because Anthropologie contacted us stating that we were misinformed by the Progetti representative at ICFF. We wrote to Progetti to get confirmation and heard back today, confirming that Anthropologie did indeed purchase the clocks rather than copy them. Our intention is certainly not to mislead our readers - because we were given this misinformation by a Progetti representative at ICFF, our assumption was that it was true. We apologize for the error.

ICFF - Artecnica

I'm a big fan of Tord Boontje and Artecnica, and was not disappointed by their booth at ICFF. I appreciate how they give discarded materials a new purpose, and make something super cool while they are at it.

ICFF - Lighting Finale

Finally, some old favorites (clockwise from top left): Holger Strøm's IQ light, Bocci, and dform.

ICFF - Tazana

Maybe I'm biased (I lived in Thailand for four years), but I really thought that the Thai companies produced some great work. My favorites include Tazana, who made the fixtures above. The ornate shades cast very beautiful shadows.

ICFF - Luzifer Lamps

Luzifer Lamps was one of my favorite booths at ICFF. Their fixtures are made with a wood veneer that is molded into gorgeous, sculptural forms. I love how the light shines through the wood to reveal its grain.

ICFF - La Murrina - Medusa Lamp

The Medusa by La Murrina, is a huge 55" diameter hanging fixture that really commands your attention in the room. Its waving glass tentacles reach out and illuminate the space from the suspended position. Given our liking of sea creatures, this fixture would be a perfect fit in our home, if it were only big enough to fit it.

ICFF - Le Klint - Under Cover

The Under Cover light from Le Klint is a great series of fixtures that lets you change the pattern of the interior shade whenever you want. The shell comes in acrylic or glass and the shade is made of plastic. There are 50+ shades available, even some from Marimekko. And the shades can overlap, layer on layer, to create new and more complex patterns. And I am sure you can print your own patterns at home. It is the ultimate home accent for those who have short design attention spans.

BKLYN DESIGNS - Round Up

Last but not least from our BKLYN DESIGNS faves, check out this beautiful desk by Elucidesign and some funky lights from SSD. I think the "Childhood Memories" fixtures would look great in a kid's room.

There were two other exhibitors that I loved, but my pictures just don't do their work justice, so I will point you towards other bloggers who covered them:

Platform via Design*Sponge.
Brave Space via Inhabitat.

BKLYN DESIGNS - Gabriel De La Vega

There weren't many jewelry designers that I was super excited about at BKLYN DESIGNS (there weren't many exhibiting to begin with), but I love these gorgeous pieces from Gabriel De La Vega. The textures and layers are fantastic, and the color combinations she makes with her stones (in pieces not pictured here) can be really stunning.

BKLYN DESIGNS - Desu Design

Love this spice rack from Desu Design. The wall connection is hidden from view, making the shelf float on the wall. I love how the olive oil bottle sits snug in the shelf. The spice rack comes with 15 spice bottles, but unfortunately doesn't come with the olive oil bottle. Being that it is built to spec, it would make sense to me to include a bottle with the rack which you can refill when empty.

The other object in Desu Design's display that I really liked was the Symbol Coat Rack, which you've probably seen before. It's as lovely in person as it is in photo.

BKLYN DESIGNS - Longoland

One of my favorite booths from BKLYN DESIGNS was Longoland. Longoland makes fantastical plush toys, each of which are individually handcrafted. Creepy and snuggly all at the same time.