ICFF: the fun, the whimsical and the wonderful.

The International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) wrapped up this week in New York City, and the general feeling about the show is that it was a lot more fun than in recent years. Here are a few of the colorful, organic, amusing, beautiful and "that's cool" highlights.

Acoustic wall panels that make me wish I lived in a louder house. These custom designs are by Anne Kyyrö Quinn.

Evoking the charm of a picket fence (in a good way), is the Se7e Chair by Rahyja Afrange. The young architect recently spent a year studying furniture design in Denmark before returning to São Paulo-Brazil and establishing her own multidisciplinary studio. Her philosophy is “Live well, in lovely ambiances.”

The Oo Desk Lamp by Sverre Uhnger was one of the prototypes displayed in "The Essence of Things: New Design From Norway." To select the 18 designers featured, Metropolis editorial director Paul Makovsky traveled across the country in search of under-the-radar talent at schools and studios.

Making weekend plans? Go to the DWR Outlet Sale!

Take an additional 20% off already drastically reduced prices on overstocked, returned and scratch-and-dent furniture at the DWR Outlet Sale. Prices are up to 75% off original retail. Worth noting: this writer waited years for a Saarinen dining table to appear at the Outlet. If I didn't already have mine, I'd be driving to New Jersey right now.

Can't make it to New Jersey? Shop our Online Outlet at dwr.com/ebay. Keep reading to see many more photos, taken today at the DWR Outlet.

The past, present and future of design at WantedDesign.

The Ø Chair designed by Asher Israelow.

At this year's WantedDesign, DWR launched the Helix Table by Chris Hardy alongside a showcase of seven designers who we feel represent the design industry’s future. While materials and methods differ, commonalities of smart design, solving old problems in new ways and being relevant to how we live ring true in their works.

Roulé Family designed by Pauline Deltour for Discipline.

Abstract Square and Textured Stripe Pillows designed by Tamasyn Gambell, coming to DWR this summer.

Wows, wants and oh-mys from WantedDesign.

WantedDesign is an international design event in New York City. Now in its third year, this strongly curated exhibition continues to build on its reputation for being a must-see during Design Week, or NYCxDESIGN. Here are some of the highlights from this year's show.

How do you like your eggs? Made by the French company Metylos, the Paul Table is a combination of beech wood and felt.

New Zealand designer David Trubridge presented The Elements, an installation that incorporated a Swarovski crystal light fixture suspended over the angular carpeted planes of New Zealand's volcano, Mount Ruapehu. "The basis of all life on Earth is the eternal cycle of water," says Trubridge. "Evaporated from the oceans by the fire of the Sun, carried in the air to the mountains where it falls on the Earth as rain, running back to the ocean in rivers."

Gold cards found at NYCxDESIGN.

For our customers who've been asking where they can get the gold playing cards shown in this photo of our Helix Table, I have good news. You can pick them up this weekend at the neo-utility Pop Up retail shop at 379 Broome Street in SoHo. As part of New York Design Week, or NYCxDESIGN, this Pop Up shop is part of INTRO NY, a satellite design event featuring an exclusive line-up of design brands, like Council, the company who brought us the 47 Table.

For those unable to get to SoHo, you can also buy the cards online. Enter NYPOPUP for free shipping, May 18-25.

Also! at NYCxDESIGN.

Using a digital microscope to reveal hidden design details invisible to the naked eye.

What does a chair sound like? What does it look like inside? Those are two of the five questions explored by the students of the MFA in Products of Design at the School of Visual Arts. This series of interactions and interventions that explore how we experience new design are being presented at WantedDesign in NYC, May 17-20. Learn more at alsoproject.com.

Students of the School of Visual Arts MFA in Products of Design program. 

A brainstorming board by the students, posted by Also! contributor Charlotta Hellichius.

Meet the Past, Present and Future Designers: Chris Hardy.

Meet Chris Hardy, one of the designers we'll be showcasing this week at WantedDesign.

Meet the Past, Present and Future Designers: Jonah Takagi.

Meet Jonah Takagi, one of the designers we'll be showcasing this week at WantedDesign.

Born in Tokyo and raised in New England, Jonah Takagi earned his bachelor’s degree from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2002. He’s spent the last decade designing furniture and playing bass guitar for indie rock bands. Regrettably, being on the road gave him little time to exhibit his furniture. To showcase his growing body of work, he founded Atelier Takagi in 2005. Takagi says of his design approach, “After you create something, you have little to no control over the emotional content that people will attribute to the object, so your best bet is to make it sturdy, make it last and, if you say it is going to do something, make sure it does it well.”

With a nod toward the Memphis movement, Takagi borrowed that American city’s nickname for his Bluff City Pendant. A mix of industrial and refined aesthetics, this pendant features a bulb that is enclosed in a metal cage on the top for ambient lighting and a solid metal shade on the bottom for concentrated downward lighting. Bluff City was nominated for a Dwell magazine Modern World Award in 2011.

Meet the Past, Present and Future Designers: Tamasyn Gambell.

Meet Tamasyn Gambell, one of the designers we'll be showcasing this week at WantedDesign.

“I use the most eco-friendly materials and processes,” says textile designer Tamasyn Gambell, “as I believe that designers have a responsibility to the environment and that being green does not have to compromise style or quality.”

After graduating from the Royal College of Art and Design in London, designer Tamasyn Gambell headed to Paris, where she mastered her trade at couture houses such as Sonia Rykiel and Louis Vuitton. In 2007 she relocated to Stockholm to explore the opposite end of the spectrum, as a print designer for H&M, launching her own company a year later. A true contemporary modernist, Gambell believes that good design and green design go hand in hand.

Daily Tech Find: Mantis Desk.

We love Apartment Therapy, especially when they covet one of our products. Today's Daily Tech Find by Gregory Han features the new Mantis Desk. Han praises the "exemplary storage options built into the desk" and the "beautiful ash top fit for a fine kitchen." We couldn't have said it better ourselves. Thanks AT!

Mixing it up in Cambridge.

The DWR Cambridge Studio hosted Forrest Butler of Royal Rose Syrups, who showed the crowd how to make sophisticated original cocktails. Seeing a rise in high-end, handcrafted spirits – but a void in similarly crafted syrups – Forrest and his wife started Royal Rose in Brooklyn in 2010. In 2011 they sold their first batch of syrups and by ’12 had outgrown their Brooklyn digs and relocated to Portland, Maine. Certified 100% organic, Royal Rose Syrups now come in six amazing flavors, including three-chili, saffron and Tamarind.

The May catalog is here (and it includes a very special Eames chair).

The May catalog is now available online and in Studios.

Dear Readers,

Spring is here and we couldn’t be more excited. This is a time of birth and rebirth, and this month’s catalog represents both. Proving that the Eameses were 63 years ahead of their time, we are honored to be launching their Molded Wood Chair, never in production until now. Inside you’ll also find a table from Tolix® and a task chair from Cherner, the latter produced from sketches discovered by Norman Cherner’s son Ben. We bring you one of my favorite chairs of all time in Alexander Begge’s Casalino, a chair I have lived with for almost 20 years. This month, we also celebrate the arrival of Helix tables by Chris Hardy, who is one of our favorite new designers and someone we are championing.

As seen in today's New York Times.

 

Introducing the Helix Table by Chris Hardy. Celebrated in today's New York Times, we're very excited to be adding this collection to our assortment. Helix is available now at DWR Studios and dwr.com, and will be featured at Wanted Design later this month. From producing licensed works by midcentury masters to launching the pieces of today’s brightest stars to helping develop career paths for promising future designers, we are passionate about design – from the past, present and future. You can preview the products we'll be showing during New York Design Week by going to our Facebook Page. Vote for your favorite and you could win it!

Does this look familiar?

These clever Virginia Tech furniture design students were inspired by an iconic photograph. Can you name it?

The reason for their centerfold pose is an upcoming event at the DWR Georgetown Studio. Starting on May 10, we'll be hosting a nine-day exhibition of their work, interspersed throughout the store alongside the best in modern design. Join us at 6pm on May 10, for the opening reception. RSVP to jmannelli@dwr.com.

Happy Record Store Day.

Lap Shelving System

Since 2007, the third Saturday in April has been internationally celebrated as Record Store Day, or RSD, as the cool kids call it. The day's festivities include exclusive vinyl and CD releases, live performances and special appearances at independent record stores. On this day we also remember Storm Thorgerson, the graphic designer who created many of the album covers we continue to covet.

Here's a list of DWR staffers' fave places to score vinyl:

TEXAS

Good Records – Dallas
Cactus Music – Houston

ILLINOIS

Gramaphone Records – Chicago
Permanent Records – Chicago
Logan Hardware – Chicago
Reckless Records – Chicago

Craving culture? Exhibitions to see now.

At MAD in NYC: Grapes by Ai Weiwei. Photo: Bill Orcutt

NEW YORK

Museum of Arts and Design
Against the Grain: Wood in Contemporary Art, Craft and Design

David Zwirner Art Gallery
Richard Serra: Early Work

MASSACHUSETTS

MIT Museum
Hidden Heroes: The Genius of Everyday Things

DWR iPad App nominated for a Webby.

The DWR iPad App is a Webby Awards Nominee for best mobile shopping app. If you enjoy our iPad app and think we deserve a Webby, please vote for us here.

 

Highlights from Milan.

Here are a few of our favorite products, exhibitions and displays from this year's Salone del Mobile in Milan.

DWR CEO John Edelman at the Danish Chromatism exhibition.

DANISH CHROMATISM was an exhibition of traditional and modern design from 30 Danish companies, showcased in a colorful collage that challenged the standard (read, static) furniture display. Held at the Triennale di Milano, this impressive show was the work of Signe Byrdal Terenziani and GamFratesi. The participating companies included Carl Hansen & Søn, Fritz Hansen, Gubi, Kvadrat, LEGO, Libratone, Louis Poulsen and others.

The Shell Chair by Hans Wegner for Carl Hansen & Son

Hi ho Hotel Valley Ho!

If you’re going to be anywhere near Arizona, you must soak in the midcentury charm of the Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale. This is the place to recharge your love of all things modern and well designed. The pool, spa and swinging lounge beckon to those on vacation, while the comfortable rooms with large work area and plentiful outlets make the business traveler feel at home … or at work … maybe a bit of both.

Built in 1956, the Hotel Valley Ho is one of the few midcentury hotels still standing in Scottsdale. It rose from the desert just five years after Scottsdale was incorporated as a city and it still has the optimistic spirit of a young city of 2,000 residents on the verge of a boom.

Archival photo of the Hotel Valley Ho lobby.

55 years of the brick.

To honor the 55th anniversary of the Lego brick, the Montreal ad agency Brad created a campaign of 55 graphic riddles. Here are a few of our favorites. Can you solve them?