The “wow” of this year’s WantedDesign show was A Few Good Things: New Designs from Norway, curated by Metropolis magazine’s editorial director Paul Makovsky. This thoughtful presentation was framed by the idea that our lives are overcrowded with “things.” In place of meaningless clutter, Makovsky proposes that we need fewer but better objects in our daily lives. To give us an idea of what that life might feel like, he selected prototypes and products by 10 Norwegian design studios. A mix of emerging and established designers, all of them “place sustainability at the heart of their practice, creating long-lasting works with an emphasis on functionality and clean, simple lines,” says Makovsky.

Judging by the crowd of people around A Few Good Things, I think Makovsky is onto something.