L&G Studio NYC Design Week Shows 2023

D E S I G N E D I N D I A L O G U E

 After 3 years of reflective hiatus, we return to NYC x Design Week with a new sense of awareness around the roles designers can play in today's world. 

For us, NYCxDesign has always represented an opportunity to celebrate the spirit of new ideas and exploration. This year, we're curating and taking part in exhibitions that prompt a discourse about the potential for design to expand and evolve. 

Join us in exploring: 

What does it means to be a designer in America today?
How design can be practiced with greater care for our communities?
The roles our individual experiences play in the greater design world context?

Our three NYCxdesign exhibitions speak to these ideas and more through new work and meaningful conversations.  

We hope to see you in NYC!   

---

L&G STUDIO EXHIBITIONS INFO

---

May 21-23

AT THE CROSSROADS OF AMERICAN DESIGN: Celebrating the Established and the Emerging 

We are excited to be participating in "The Crossroads", an immersive installation bringing together more than a dozen designers to offer a snapshot of American design in its many shapes and forms.

ICFF + WDM @ Javits Center
429 11th Ave, NYC 10001

SEE EVENT INFO HERE
SIGN UP FOR APPOINTMENTS HERE 

---

May 18 - June  3
PUBLIC ACCESS @ HEAD HI  & @NAVEL CEMETERY LANDSCAPE 

This debut installment of "PUBLIC ACCESS" curated by Jean Lee of L&G Studio, featuring works by 37 designers across 12 countries, poses a foundational question to the design world: How can we expand our creative practices through acts of care and empathy? 

Head Hi: 140 Flushing Ave. Brooklyn, NY (indoor location)
Naval Cemetery Landscape: 63 Williamsburg St W. Brooklyn, NY (outdoor location) 

SEE EVENT INFO HERE 

---

May 20 - 25
UPON FURTHER REFLECTION

In partnership with AAPIDA and the FDC, co-curators Andrea Hill and Lora Appleton Hill, has put together a dynamic mix of female-identified creatives within the AAPI community to both investigate and respond to the core idea of "Reflection" and how this charged concept of mirroring and self reflection continues to shape our perceptions of identity within a historically white-centric USA. 

3.1 Philip Lim Flagship Store
48 Great Jones St, NY 10012

SEE EVENT INFO HERE 

---

L&G Recommendation Series No. 10: Natural Engagement

Seed Library by L&G Studio. Photo by David Brandon Geeting for MOLD Magazine

During a year+ in quarantine, we gained a new appreciation for spending time in nature. From simply taking the time to experience Spring blossom and rejuvenate the landscape to noticing migration patterns of birds passing by, these moments in nature helped balance our temporary unease towards what the future held.

As everyone begins to re-emerge and the floodgates of social interactions spill open, we think now is the perfect moment to share the past year's activities we most enjoyed with a wider group of friends and family.

To continue these daily rituals started in isolation, is something we can all do to feel more connected. Whether it be a daily walk around the neighborhood to observe the trees or a taking off our headphones and listening to the birds on the way to the train station, when we share that experience with others around us, we believe it helps foster a stronger, caring, and invested community as we all learn to become more present together.

We hope this curated list of recommendations will provide inspiration for you and your loved ones to go out and engage with the world in meaningful ways.

---

L&G RECOMMENDATIONS SERIES NO. 10:

NATURAL ENGAGEMENT

---

Photo by David Brandon Geeting for MOLD Magazine

L&G RELATED
SEED LIBRARY FOR MOLD MAGAZINE

As part of their most recent issue, MOLD invited us to create a seed library for their latest issue focused on the theme of Seeds. Our piece (pictured above) was conceived as a mini architectural shrine to the wonder of seeds and envisioning a more abundant community.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
READ OUR ARTIST STATEMENT HERE

---

READ
MOLD MAGAZINE ISSUE 5: SEEDS

This issue features compelling articles exploring the magic and the value of seeds and what plant intelligence can teach us about creating a deeper connection with the natural world and cultivating for the future.

GET THE LATEST ISSUE HERE

---

WATCH
BIRDERS: The Central Park Effect

A delightful and poetic documentary about the fabulous assemblage of birds that come through Central Park during their migration north as well as those who make the Ramble their home. Next time you go out, grab a pair of binoculars and explore which birds are in your region!

WATCH DOCUMENTARY HERE

---

DO
GUIDE BOOK FOR NATURE

Spotter's guides of Trees, Birds, Flowers, Shells, The Night Sky and many more. Each book's beautifully-produced guides with colorful illustrations helps you keep track of your sightings. Something about the analog experience of these makes getting out and exploring so enticing.

PURCHASE THE BOOKS HERE

---

Courtesy of FOGO Podcast

LISTEN
FEAR OF GOING OUTSIDE

Hosted by avid indoors-woman Ivy Le, FOGO is a nature podcast that is determined to ensure its listeners are prepped and ready to camp no matter what their actual experience is with the great outdoors. Start here if you are unsure exactly what you should bring on your next adventure and what to do when you get there and most importantly, what to type into google to get the right gear.

LISTEN PODCAST HERE

---

"Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else."

- Leonardo DaVinci

Sign up to L&G Studio tours (Virtual & In-person) MAY 13-18

This year from MAY 13-18th, we are excited to share that L&G Studio will be hosting an event as part of @NYCxDESIGN’s #DesignDays where’ll open up our studio to host virtual and in-person tours so you can see our space, work and some behind the scene processes. As our city continues to heal, rebuild and re-emerge, Design Days will provide an opportunity for NYC’s design community to once again celebrate accomplishments, share new ideas, and find inspiration.

Please see below for sign up dates & details.

VIRTUAL STUDIO TOURS / MAY 13-18 / 11am-12pm

This is a 45min virtual tour event via zoom. You'll get to see inside L&G Studio's working and showroom space. Viewers will get to see some finished and behind the scene work.

SIGN UP FOR VIRTUAL TOUR HERE

IN-PERSON STUDIO TOURS / MAY 14-16 / 4pm-5pm

This is an in-person studio tour to visit and meet the team behind Ladies & Gentlemen Studio. We'll take you through our studio showroom and workspace, and show some behind the scene processes. Light refreshments and snacks will be provided.

Max 10 people per studio tour. We ask everyone wear their masks and continue to practice safe social distancing during the event.

SIGN UP FOR in-PERSON TOUR HERE

Design Fundraiser - #DesignForATL

C O M M U N I T Y I N I T I A T I V E

D E S I G N F U N D R A I S E R

We are heartbroken by the recent tragedy that took place in Atlanta. It's not new news that there has been a gross increase in hate crime incidents against Asians since the onset of Covid 19. In just one year alone, there have been nearly 2,800 cases in which Asian people and elders have been verbally and physically assaulted and even killed. While each and every one of these unprovoked incidents have been extremely hurtful to the AAPI community, the heinous hate crime that took place in Atlanta is the straw that broke the camel's back.

As we're navigating through our emotions, we've found solace in solidarity with our Asian friends & colleagues in the design community. Together with our non-Asian allies, we decided to stepped up and do something to help turn feeling of despair and hopelessness into something positive and constructive.

We're incredibly proud and grateful to be a part of @DesignForATL, an Instagram-based fundraising program spearheaded by Jenny Nguyen of @hellohuman.us , Arati Rao of @tantuvi and Jean Lee of @ladiesandgentlemenstudio, three AAPI business founders in the design space.

Community is one of the most important aspects of our studio's practice. For us, it's humbling to be part of a community as means of creating a deeper sense of connection to a collective consciousness that's way bigger than ourselves.

@DesignForATL, is a proud example of this - a together of 90+ designers & makers to raise funds directed to the Atlanta victim’s families and children via the non-profit organization @advancing_justice_atl We are humbled by the love and solidarity of the independent design community and hope you'll join us in your support.

For the @DesignForATL giveaway, we're donating one of our Lightscape Candle Light.

We chose this particular piece to help bring a glimmer of light and hope in these dark times. This piece focuses on one of the most elemental of human-made illuminations: the flame. While mundane and familiar, the candle occupies a special place in the human psyche and we set out to better understand why and how its qualities can create engaging intimate experiences of presence.

1. Follow @DesignForATL to see participating designers and giveaway products.

2. Read the caption on each product post for detailed instructions on entry prices and info. Each giveaway entry prices ranges from $5-$20/entry with no limit to number of entries.

3. To enter the giveaways, go to Advancing Justice Atlanta to make your donation. You MUST enter in the notes field: #DesignForATL [ enter STUDIO NAME you like to enter for]

4. Fundraiser will END ON 3/28 SUNDAY, midnight EST

5. Winners will be announced on 3/30 TUESDAY

IMPORTANT NOTE:

• Please remember to enter the giveaway info specified in step 3. If you do not add the special note when you donate, your donation cannot be counted as an entry.

• You can donate as many times you want if you’d like to enter multiple giveaways.

• All giveaways ships to US domestic locations only.

---

@DesignForATL now have 100+ participants from all over the US who generously donated their work to help with this cause. There's a wide selection of products from incredible AAPI & non-AAPI designers, makers, and stores from small things like jewelry, bags, artwork, accessories, to even bigger items like furniture, lighting and design services. This is a way to donate for a good cause and get a chance to win some incredible things for yourself and your loved ones. Good luck!

List of some contributors: Herman Miller, Noguchi Museum, The Future Perfect, Dims, Coming Soon, Alex Proba Pat Kim, Kaarem, Karl Zahn, Building BLock, Object Totem, Juju Made, Sophie Lou Jacobsen, Eny Lee Parker, Rosie Li Studio, Egg Collective, Chiaozza, Kaarem, Chen & Kai, Aja & Blanc, Fort Standard and MANY MORE!

---

ABOUT THE ORGANIZER
JEAN LEE of L&G STUDIO

Jean Lee is one half of Ladies & Gentlemen who's born in in Taiwan and moved to the US at the age of 8 without knowing a word of English. She learned to adapt and pave her own path in pursuing her passion for design and working collaboratively with the design community and beyond.
@ladiesandgentlemenstudio

---

ABOUT THE ORGANIZER
JENNY NGUYEN of HELLO HUMAN PR

Jenny Nguyen is the founder of Hello Human PR. A new PR collective she formed since COVID of last year. As an Vietnamese immigrant growing up in Australia and now lives in NYC, she believes that representations matters, and devotes her practice in amplifying the AAPI and BIPOC creative communities.
@hellohuman.us

---

ABOUT THE ORGANIZER
ARATI RAO of TANTUVI

Arati Rao, the founder of Tantuvi is a South Asian American who was born in Brooklyn NY. As an Indian descent, she founded Tantuvi as a way to further embrace and reconnect with her own culture by working directly with artisans in India to elevate and amplify her heritage in the design industry.
@Tantuvi

---

"To be hybrid anticipates the future. This is America, the nation of all nationalities. For us to fall into the Fascist line of race bigotry is to defeat our unique personality and strength."

- Isamu Noguchi

Design Anthology / Jan / 2021

Design Anthology / Day in the Life Feature

L&G Recommendation series No. 7 : In Light of Hope

Like so many creative business owners, 2020 has ushered in an opportunity to look both inward and outward to re-rethink how we, as a small, but impassioned studio can contribute towards greater social impact - to be part of building a brighter, more evolved future.

It's been a year of reckoning and realization that we can all do more for our neighbors, community, society, and the environment. It's become clear that by shifting our focus to care for others and things outside of our bubbles, we'll intrinsically begin to do better for ourselves.

In this spirit, L&G spent the past 6 months getting involved volunteering, fundraising, donating, and doing pro-bono design work for local non-profit organizations (see list below). All were deeply rewarding and only the beginning of what will be a regular part of our studio's evolving practice.

These experiences have also prompted a deeper introspection upon the implications of the objects we create. If objects are the facilitators between our intentions and actions - we must increasingly ensure that our intentions are thoughtfully and holistically eliciting greater presence and care for the physical world. Above all, we're committed to earnestly diving deeper into this idea as a means to deploy design as a catalyst for change.

We believe this design effort should start with the basic and elemental of what we know and practice - beginning with the idea of light. To start, we've focused on one of the most elemental of human-made illuminations: the flame. While mundane and familiar, the candle occupies a special place in the human psyche and we set out to better understand why and how its qualities can create engaging spatial experiences while celebrating elemental properties and forms.

We began with a reexamination of the humble flame's inherent qualities - gaining new appreciation for its warm visual temperature, dynamic movement, and dramatic castings of glow and shadow on its surroundings. Inspired by the principles of Moholy-Nagy's "Light Modulators" we conceived of an intersecting composition of perforated and polished metal shapes which house a simple candle. The assembly's surfaces reflect, refract, and obscure the subtly flickering candlelight to create a complex interplay of highlights and shadows which cast onto nearby architecture to create a rich, dynamic spatial experience.

Produced as a limited edition series, Lightscape Candle Holder is offered by L&G directly with 50% of proceeds donated to Soul Fire Farm, an organization committed to addressing the generational racism embedded in US agricultural practices. Their mission aligns with L&G’s belief that the world can be made better through an elemental engagement with the physical world. Like a flame, food represents hope and vitality simply and honestly - representing a beacon of light for a more connected way of living.

Photos by Charlie Schuck

As seen in recent features in: NYT / Sight Unseen / Design Milk

---

LIST OF ORGANIZATIONS L&G HAVE BEEN INVOLVED WITH:

Learn more & support these wonderful organizations.

---

Courtesy of Vogue

Food Justice
SOUL FIRE FARM

Soul Fire Farm is a BIPOC*-centered community farm committed to ending racism and injustice in the food system. We feel deeply aligned with their mission of empowering one another by gaining a deeper appreciation and understanding of the world through physical engagement and community.

LEARN MORE HERE AND SUPPORT 

---

Courtesy of Design Advocates

Safe Shelters
DESIGN ADVOCATES

Design Advocates is a platform for architects and designers to share resources and collaborate on efforts to serve the public good through pro-bono projects, research, and advocacy. L&G Studio teamed up with NY-based architects to design a framework for homeless shelters to offer a safe and welcoming space for the community.
SEE PROJECT HERE

---

Courtesy of Heart of Dinner

Food Access
HEART OF DINNER

Since Covid, this grass-roots organization has been providing weekly meals to thousands of Asian elders throughout Lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens who have been suffering from food isolation, Covid health risks, and xenophobic racial threats. L&G has been helping deliver meals and handwritten notes. As the winter season approaches, they need even more support.
LEARN MORE HERE & SUPPORT

---

Voting Rights
FLORIDA RIGHTS RESTORATION COALITION
Back in October, we participated in a collective fundraising effort to #freethevote for Floridians, which raised $731,372 to help pay the fees for formerly convicted citizens to regain their rights to vote after serving their time. You can continue to support the end of this discrimination and promote a more regenerative prison reentry system.
LEARN MORE HERE AND SUPPORT

---

"Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, Do better."

-Maya Angelou

The Cedars

Photography: Charlie Schuck Lighting: Shape-Up by L&G Studio

At this time of uncertainty and anxiety, we've all had to look inward at ourselves and our surroundings to create new forms of balance and harmony in a chaotic world.  This symbiosis of people and space has always been a core value for us.  In this spirit, we'd like to share some of our favorite projects in which we've contributed to creating a powerful sense of place.


Originally built in 1883, The Cedars sits between the bay and the sound, at the entrance to the quiet town of Orient, New York. A few years ago a young couple began to envision the house as a place that would not only pay homage to the history of the place, but also fit their personalities. They wanted something design-forward, light, bright, and full of art and design. They then teamed up with Michael Yarinsky Studio to breathe life into their vision for the interiors and detailing.

Photography: Charlie Schuck Lighting: Myrna by L&G Studio

As the house overlooks the Long Island sound, the scenery is ever-changing - with each unique sunset bathing the home in color. The interior references the moment when the ocean meets the sky. The color selection consists of muted blues and greens, contrasting with white-washed floors. The wallpaper captures ethereal mood and movements of the water. The lighting is playful and simultaneously brings together and elevates the use of organic materials in the home. The space is kept open with many moments of congregation with the intention of welcoming family and friends, over communal meals, shared stories, and intimate conversations.  This communal spirit in mind, it was important to Office of Tangible Space and the clients to work with emerging designers as well as locals from the North Fork community. 

Photography: Charlie Schuck Lighting: Maru by L&G Studio

"We love working with Ladies & Gentlemen Studio for so many reasons. Their practice is rooted in craft, community, and process in a way that few studios these days actually are - and it is so needed.

The empathic approach L&G takes to a rigorous traditional design process yields incredible humanistic design. Their studio also has a focus on community building and digging into design history which are parts of the design world often overlooked."

-Michael Yarinsky, Principal
Office of Tangible Space

Photography: Charlie Schuck Lighting Clockwise: Shape-Up Pendant & Spun Pendant by L&G Studio

Maru by L&G StudioHere at L&G, nothing makes us feel more fulfilled than seeing our products so thoughtfully integrated into their surrounds.  When carefully considered in conjunction with space, we believe objects have the power to bring functional and emotive cohesion to everyday life.  The Cedars is such a prime example of this potential.  

Office of Tangible Space has been a valued collaborator of ours for many years, over which we've built a relationship of mutual admiration and creative synergy that yields better and better results over time.  This is the type of alignment we aspire to in all of our relationships.  

In this spirit, our studio remains open (remotely), ready to discuss ways to make your spaces harmonious and meaningful.

L&G Recommendation series No. 6: Learning to (Un)Learn

---

R E A D

---

The Color of Law

by Richard Rothstein

Owning property is a way in which families acquire and build intergenerational wealth. In Rothstein's book, he aims to highlight how a specific generation of African Americans were robbed of an opportunity to create and pass down such wealth by their own government. The New Deal, beginning in 1933, promised to raise an entire country devastated by the Great Depression. Rothstein shows us how the local, state, and federal housing policies introduced in the New Deal actively perpetuated segregation in America, and hurt black families’ access to economic progress.. Through policies like "redlining", the Federal Housing Administration directly furthered segregation efforts by refusing to insure mortgages in African American communities, while, simultaneously, subsidizing mass housing projects for Whites with the special requirement that none of these houses be sold to Black people. These policies ensured that African Americans and other POC were left out of suburban developments and pushed into urban housing projects. The link takes you to a NPR interview with the author, Richard Rothstein, a must listen!

The Purpose of Power - How We Come Together When We Fall Apart

by Alicia Garza

From the co-creator of Black Lives Matter and one of the country's leading organizers, The Purpose of Power encompasses over two decades of lessons Alicia Garza has had to learn and unlearn regarding organizing, especially focusing on how we can make room for those who are still awakening within the woke and how that effort can lead to even more inspiration and activism that can create a better world for all.

Race-ing Art History

by Kimberly N Pinder

Who gets to define art? What is art? What is low art and what is high art? Composed of 22 essays, divided into four parts, this book aims to retell art history through the lenses of race, gender, otherness, and blackness, highlighting the ways in which race has been acknowledged or ignored in art history. From essays like "Making a Man of Him": Masculinity and the Black Body in Mid-Nineteenth-Century American Sculpture,” by Michael Hatt, to “The Other Immigrant: The Experiences and Achievements of Afro-Asian Artists in the Metropolis,” by Rasheed Araeen, this book provides a framework for an interdisciplinary approach to analyzing and discussing race within art and our culture, introducing fascinating and useful new perspectives from which to decode cultural issues.

What Does It Mean to Decolonize Design?

by Anoushka Khandwala

Decolonization vs. Diversity: Two terms we increasingly seen today in ways that are often used interchangeably, but are they interchangeable? Khandwala argues that, though the terms are linked, they are not the same. This must-read article provides a clear framework around what it means to decolonize design and design history, as well as offering a long list of resources on Further Research and (un)Learning Resources. He distinguishes these useful terms brilliantly, identifying decolonization as the process of changing one’s way of thinking, and diversity as the natural result of opening one’s thinking to that which is new and different.

---

W A T C H

---

The Black Power Mixtape (1967-1975)

A documentary film directed by Göran Olsson,

Featuring found footage shot by Swedish journalists in American between '67 through '75, the documentary investigates the evolution of the Black Power movement in America through interviews and commentaries from leading African-Americans including Dr. Martin Luther King, Angela Davis, Louis Farrakhan, Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Huey P. Newton, and many other artists, activists, and scholars of the time. Cut into nine chronologically presented sections, the film touches on topics from the Black Panther Party to the Vietnam War and the War on Drugs.Did I mention it also features additional voices from contemporaries such as Erykah Badu, Questlove, Harry Belafonte and many more? A must watch!

Teach Us All

A Film by Sonia Lowman

Teach Us All is a documentary and social justice campaign on educational inequality set against the backdrop of the 1957 Little Rock school crisis. Sixty years after the Little Rock Nine faced violent resistance when desegregating Central High in Arkansas, America’s schools continue to represent the key battleground of the Civil Rights Movement. Teach Us All demonstrates powerful lessons from history within a timely context, emphasizing the need for unity and collective action to rectify the disparities among America’s children. The Teach Us All social justice campaign seeks to build the capacity of students and educators to take leadership in carrying forth the legacy of the Little Rock Nine while activating broader community engagement in today’s urgent need for educational equity. Teach Us All is written and directed by Sonia Lowman.

13th

A documentary film directed by Ava DuVernay

In this critically acclaimed documentary, DuVernay contends that the criminalization of behavioral issues continues to enable police to arrest disproportionately large numbers of poor Black people. Those imprisoned often work long, hard hours for incredibly low wages. Their labor benefits the state and private contractors immensely. To DuVernay, this practice replicates some of the worst abuses of slavery. re. This economic injustice, coupled with the war on drugs and many other targeted policies which heavily affect minorities, leads to the extremely high numbers of people of color imprisoned today. 13th offers viewers a thorough education on the prison-industrial complex and how private corporations benefit from such incarcerations. A solid case study on why the privatizing of prisons should not be seriously re-evaluated. Further reading: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander.

The Central Park Five

Documentary by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David McMahon

Documentary follows the five boys who were wrongfully convicted of raping a jogger in Central Park in 1989. The five young men spent6 to 13 years in prison, until a serial rapist confessed to the crime. At the time of the crime, Donald J Trump took out an entire page in the newspaper urging the boys receive the death penalty. The troubling documentary shows the sequence of spectacularly serious errors in policing and prosecuting, and urges its viewers to consider the terrible wrongs such errors can cause.

---

L I S T E N

---

Still Processing -

A New York Times podcast with hosts Jenna Wortham & Wesley Morris. This incredibly thoughtful culture podcast offers fascinating discussions on books, TV, movies, current events and history. A perfect mix of education, pop culture, and intriguing topics and guests..

The Michelle Obama Podcast

Hosted by Michelle Obama herself, the series bring listeners the former First Lady's most candid and personal conversations, showing us what's possible when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable, to open up, and to focus on what matters most.

The podcast centers on the relationships that shape us, from siblings and close friends to partners, parents, and mentors to our relationship with ourselves and our health.

Code Switch Podcast

The podcast explores how race impacts society from politics and pop culture to history, sports and everything in between.

Episode Recommendation: Unmasking the “Outside Agitator”

1619 Podcast

.Part of a larger ongoing New York Times Magazine project called the “1619 Project”, the audio series from The NY Times observing the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. The project as a whole aims to re-contextualize and reframe American history through slavery and the contributions of African Americans.

---

D O

---

The Great Unlearn curated by Rachel Cargle

Sign up For Rachel Cargle's THE GREAT UNLEARN via Patreon. The Great Unlearn is a self-paced, self-priced learning collective. The membership program provides monthly syllabi, reading lists, and lectures on history of Race, eco-feminism. etc. to continue learning beyond school and have critical discourse with a diverse community.

Photo: Courtesy of Rachel Cargle’s Instagram

Read the Guide to Allyship

An open source starter guide on how to be a more thoughtful ally.

Support Black-Owned Book Stores: Here is a list provided by Well-Read Black Girl

Photo: Courtesy of Well-Read Black Girl: sign up for their newsletter to receive monthly book club reads!

Join the Colloqate Design Network

Colloqate Design multidisciplinary Architecture + Design Justice practice focused on expanding community access to, and building power through the design of social, civic, and cultural spaces.

Thoughts on New Materialism

On May 14th, we were invited to be part of a new design lecture series called People In Places to speak and write about our design approach in response to the concept of intimacy. As design explorers, we hold a core belief that objects are key to creating harmony between people, rituals, and space. Here, we’d like to share an in-depth essay expressing our contemplative process for and evolving process for discovering an object or material’s physical and implied meaning as a way to create deep meaningful relationships with the things we live with and make.

To the sand at Beach 92nd St, Rockaway Beach

As I sit with you, around you, and on you, I feel immersed and I begin to discover your complexities.  You hug my feet, you sit on my lap clinging to me.  You also run away, chased by the wind.  You are indeed a collective in a phenomenon, but on close observation, each grain of you is incredibly unique - each with your own color, shape, size, and, I presume, origin story.  But as a whole, you’re giant - quiet and tolerant, yet abrasive, persistent, and adaptive.  You seem to be a constant but you vary greatly over time, the extent to which I really have no notion of beyond the last 30 days I’ve spent observing you as a newcomer to this beach.  In that time, however, your character seems to shift greatly from day to day and I think that’s why I find you to be intriguing in a “more than meets the eye” kind of way.  Perhaps you can tell me how far you’ve traveled and from how many places your tiny grains are from?  Are there stories of the great boulders you used to be part of?  And really, how many years ago was that?  How did you get here? By way of some epic storm, a long arduous odyssey, or more mundane means?  

It’s my presumption that your path from a grand boulder to a million granules leads to some conflicts from a self-identity standpoint that you have had to come to terms with.  Just because you’ve broken into pieces doesn’t necessarily mean you’re any less of a thing -  you’ve simply divided in a way that feels more like an expansive multiplication.  As you’ve grown smaller, lighter, more nimble, and ephemeral, you’ve become sand.  At some point in your adolescence, you could probably be defined as just a singular rock, but by and by you graduated to gravel, and then to the fine granules you are now - Sand!  You’re no longer singular, but collectively an expansive ubiquitous noun and quite literally, by extension, the earth itself.  Have you entertained the possibility that you and the grain next to you were once the same rock?  Could it, therefore, stand to reason that you and I can somehow trace our roots back to some distant form of existence as simple matter?  If so, it’s great to connect again after all of these years!     

Did you know that some of you were once put in plastic bags and shipped to me in Paris where you temporarily led a completely different existence as an “immersive interior installation”?  I pretended I knew you there, guessing what you wanted to do, could do, should do, and what you mean.  My friends and I made up a narrative about your beauty, mystery, and lore.  It was a naive, but referential moment musing of mirages we hadn’t seen and attempting to recreate them in a place where you normally wouldn’t belong.  

At this moment here at the beach, I feel I am understanding you and appreciating you much more than before.  Here and now I feel embedded in your natural habitat although I can’t be 100% sure if this is the case.  What actually did plant you here to Rockaway Beach?  Was it random acts of nature or a result of some planned human intention.  Regardless you seem free to be yourself here and I admire that.  You also seem appreciated by humans to some degree here - a rarity for us when it comes to natural resources.  

I’m not sure you realize this, but you’re delivering memories to us by sensations we don’t normally feel.   When it’s sunny and hot, we come to visit you and you get in our food and eyes and ears causing all sorts of mild discomfort yet your presence represents a freeness that exists only on the shore and further romanticized in our memories.  In this way, you offer a special value proposition.  We at once take you for granted and deeply appreciate you for being you.  

I also wonder about your future.  Are you destined to be dust?  Or concrete?  Or glass?  Or a beach for eternity?  Not many of us on the beach here think of you being the workhorse you are.  Without you, where would we be sans concrete, glass providing structure, protection, and light?  With humanity’s forceful hand, your millennia of transformation from boulder to grain is trivialized by heat and chemistry.  Pulverized and molten, you take the forms we dictate.  You’re an abiding servant - modern man’s best friend.  What’s your feeling on this?  You seem so easygoing, but how would you embrace becoming “useful” in human terms?  I can only hope as I get to know you that we grow to appreciate you for who you are - in the many forms that you come.

Sincerely,  Your secret admirer

---

New Materialism

At their basic level, the objects in our lives serve as mediators between thought and behavior in space and time.  We believe that objects have the power to affect this behavior and this is why we feel the topic of human-object harmony is of critical concern in an effort to shape a better future.

Our relationship to objects is a lot like our relationship with each other.  One cannot argue with the notion that surrounding yourself with positive, productive, inspiring, helpful, charismatic people will make you happier and more fulfilled.  Because objects are an intermediary between these relationships, we believe we should look for much the same in a chair as we do in a friend.

As a foundation, a useful object inspires a strong relationship.  Like a helpful friend with a pickup truck on moving day, a useful object will elicit appreciation, encourage productivity, and continuous use if it’s well-fitting of its function.  It’s a very baseline thing, yet most people can attest to the fact that few daily objects actually do this.  We’re in fact surrounded by many more “bad friend” objects than good ones.  It’s important to ask ourselves why this is and how long we can continue unhappily in such toxic relationships.  

Alongside utility sits the more complicated emotive side to an object place in the world.  With this comes the potential of an object that taps into one’s psyche in a way that creates an emotional bond between people, the ritual, and the object.  This puts an even greater responsibility and opportunity on the designer’s doorstep because anything and everything can provoke an emotional response.  It just becomes a question of what type of emotion.  The industry knows this and subverts it with consumption-driven objects sold on emotion rather than functionality.  However, just because this is the case doesn’t mean there aren’t other models design can follow.  We believe emotion and utility can align to inspire more enlightened relationships between thoughts and their behaviors - this is where a new type of materialism can emerge.

Projecting truth 

Honest intentions and thoughtfulness from the creator is something that is irrevocably embedded in the character of an object.  We believe that this is the calling of the designer to imbue an object with a positive thoughtful spirit that they would want more of in the world.  From there, in small ways, that intention inspires similar feelings in others - slowly and surely we can take greater control over what we use and why.

Observation is an honest designer’s best tool.  Before jumping to a solution, it’s imperative that we first cast aside our intentions to strip away preconceived perceptions and open ourselves to the realm of possibility.  This not only means listening to what people have bought, say they want, or are willing to buy, it means absorbing your surroundings from a point of curiosity and wonderment.  It means engaging all your senses.  It means being patient, open, flexible.  It means looking between gaps to a negative space between thinking and actions.  In that space, there are often “solutions” or clues waiting to be revealed. 

From there, it’s connecting dots.  It’s a process of framing the truth that’s been felt through metaphor, allegory, and relationships to establish meaning.  While this is the designer’s viewpoint and expression, because it comes from a place of honest observation outside of themselves, the work is a by-product of curiosity and empathy.  It’s from this point that we believe a higher level of harmony can come into being.  It’s a point at which the questions of how an object is made, what it's made out of, what it’s for, and why it’s great all have transparent answers.  While the resolution is subjective, the statement is backed not by ego, but by a desire to share in a collective experience of ritual and balance.  

Upon Observation

An object has two facets:  

1. It’s physicality - The attributes about the object that gives it material presence.  This materiality already has embedded truths about how it was made, what it used to be, and what it will become.  

2. It’s implied meaning - this is everything we ascribe to the object’s function and value.  Everything about meaning is implied by human perception - including the physical form it has been given by its builder.  

We believe that in order for there to be honesty in an object, it’s physicality must be in harmony with it’s implied meaning.  To facilitate this, a designer should seek to fully comprehend the material’s truth before ascribing its meaning.  This requires a curious investigation.  

Planes of potential

Any horizontal surface - the ground, a floor, a table, an empty shelf represents a state of silence or emptiness and horizontal plane upon which anything can be placed and any activity can play out.  

Our studio’s focus is on the furniture scale.  At this level, a horizontal surface represents a place to rest, work, socialize, observe.  While the table and chair are objects of glory, they represent a relatively finite set of possible actions:  A chair is to rest our bodies and a table is a host to our actions.  Shelving, on the other hand, has a more amorphous meaning.  On the surface, a shelf is a storage on which we archive things we aren’t presently using.  In contrast to a closet or cabinet however, the role of open shelving is invariably emotive.  An open shelf is a curio of objects that have enough value to display regardless of utility - this fact reveals a huge emotive facet to shelving’s identity in a domestic landscape.   

An object on a shelf is a performer on a stage.  When placed alone, it gives a monologue.  On a shelf, we can interview it.  There’s a reason something is put on a shelf for the first time that may be mundane, but in many cases, it’s not.  There’s some connection to that object that warrants keeping it out in view on display.  As designers we want to know why we feel compelled to archive the objects we do - so we listen to them when they’re on stage.  As we become acquainted with each other, we realize we have common interests and values and we notice things that were previously perhaps subconscious:  how an object’s smooth edges invite a touch, how sharp edges catch the light, and how a scratch or dent can be an endearing mark of character.

With several objects on a shelf, we become composers and matchmakers.  Using what we’ve learned about the objects, we create stage sets, construct characters, plots - combinations of materials and forms in search of a meaningful storyline.  We create these based on curiosity, imagination, and hypotheses alike.  There is a directness and an informality to creating on a shelf.  The shelf is a neutral ground not just formed by a horizontal plane, but a vertical backdrop that frames the objects in space and minds isolated from location, context, and function.  On a shelf, a material is allowed to have its own signature voice and we are there to receive it.  We listen, we feel, we mix, we turn, we modify, we have a dialog. 

This dialog gives way to become new things by and by.  The material combinations in the chorus eventually hit moments of harmony and resonance with us.  At this moment, our voices sync and the material is ready to become a designed object.  In the adoption of it, we volunteer to share its voice in a new light and new truth in hopes that others will hear it.  

Our goal is that our creations can become part of new human-object harmonies that give these materials an elevated place, purpose, and meaning bolstered by function and thoughtfulness.   We strive not to stifle the voice that originally spoke to us but to broadcast it over new stages - to inspire a chain of wonderment and connection.  Ears, eyes, and hands who will hopefully grow to reconsider how their thoughts and actions relate to their environment at large.

---

Watch the recorded lecture of People in Places 003: On Intimacy

with Chiaozza and Ladies & Gentlemen Studio

---

INSPIRATIONAL REFERENCES

---

THE UNKNOWN CRAFTSMAN: A Japanese Insight into Beauty

by Soetsu Yanagi, 1972

Soetsu Yanagi 1889–1961: was a philosopher, art historian, aesthete and poet (also father of Sori Yanagi). Yanagi took noticed of the beauty in works of unknown craftsmen and became the founding father of the Japanese and Korean folk crafts movement called the Minge (民芸)Movement to protect the art from from disappearing during the Modern Industrialization era.

READ CHAPTER: Towards a Standard of Beauty

“I would like to believe that beauty is of deep importance to our modern age. Without Question, the intention of morality, philosophy, and religious belief is to bring hope, joy, peace, and freedom to mankind. But in our time religion has lost its grip. Intellectualism has undermined spiritual aspiration in most people. At this juncture, I would put the question, might not beauty, and the love of the beautiful perhaps bring peace and harmony? Could it not carry us forward to new concepts of life’s meaning? Would it not establish a fresh concept of culture? Would it not be a dove of peace between the various cultures of mankind?”

-Soetsu Yanagi

---

LISTENING TO STONE: THE ART AND LIFE OF ISAMU NOGUCHI

By Hayden Herrera, 2015

This biography of Isamu Noguchi, who is known as the 'sculpturing of space’ sheds an introspective perspective of his life and his philosophy in his work and view of the world as he searches his own 'essence of sculpture'

PREVIEW BOOK HERE

“If sculpture is the rock, it is also the space between rocks and between the rock and a man, and the communication and contemplation between.”

-Isamu Noguchi

---

STUFF MATTERS: Exploring the Marvelous Materials that Shapes Our Man-Made World

By Mark Miodownik, 2014

This book dives deep into looking into 10 different types of ubiquitous materials commonly found in everyday objects we all use. Miodownik dissects each material by looking at their chemical properties, historical origin and context and how each material become what we see and use today.

READ CHAPTER: INVISIBLE (Glass)

---

THE MISSING PIECE MEETS THE BIG O

by Shel Silverstein 1981

This is a classic children’s book and the sequel to the first book “The Missing Piece” where the missing piece embarks on a transformative journey discovering the world and itself.

READ FULL PDF VERSION

---

EMERGENCE MAGAZINE

A quarterly magazine and podcast that focuses on ecology, culture, and spirituality and shares a mix of introspective essays, stories, poems and practices relating to those topics.

READ PRACTICE BOOKLET Vol. 01

---

EVERYTHING IS ALIVE PODCAST

by Ian Chillag for Radiotopia

This is a delightfully humorous yet poetic podcast where the host, Ian Chillag interviews supposed “inanimate” objects of all sorts asking them intimate questions in regards to their existence and purpose.

Episode 7: Grain of Sand (LISTEN)

Episode 17: Plane of Glass (LISTEN)

---

L&G Recommendation series No. 3 : Rediscover

Inside L&G Studio space, shelving system from Vitsoe / Photography: Charlie Schuck

As society's dialog begins to recenter around "rebuilding", we continue to reflect on how the elemental values of design can help foster meaning, intentionality, and help in people's lives going forward.  This is in mind, we're reminded of one of our favorite design heroes:  Dieter Rams.

During the intense rebuilding process following World War II, Dieter presented a novel new vision of clarity through his mantra of "Less but More".  This notion has always rung true to us - a timeless beacon encouraging design to distill the essentials of function and experience in ways that allow people to feel present and free in their lives.  The "more" is significant because it implies a value that's human-centric not object-centric.  With all the complexities of life today -  this mantra is ever resonating:  How can our surroundings bring us peace and focus on the truly important things in life?  

As we spend more time reflecting on everything, we are reminded of the value to continue to rediscover the things that have inspired us and still continues to do so. Ever since we were students studying design years ago, Dieter's ethos has formed the core of what we believe as designers and try to instill in our everyday practice.  In honor of that, we'd like to share our genuine admiration for Dieter Rams and what makes him so inspiring.

---

L&G RECOMMENDATIONS SERIES NO.3: REDISCOVER

Studio
OBJECT SHRINE

Dieter's 606 Universal shelving system installed in our Red Hook studio serves as a 3D inspiration board that holds our experiments, books, and collections from friends and travels.  It's our shrine and a daily reminder to always stay curious and explorative.  See how L&G arranges things  HERE!

---

Courtesy of Vitsoe

Book
THE POWER OF GOOD DESIGN

We love this perfect pocket-size book from Vitsoe that shares Dieter Rams'  10 Principles of Design.  It's still just as relevant today as it was 60 years ago.  Read or print the digital version HERE!  

---

Courtesy of Gary Hustwit

Watch
RAMS: A FILM ABOUT DIETER RAMS

Starting this week, Film director, Gary Hustwit is streaming Rams film about Dieter Rams for FREE!  It's a beautifully shot film that highlights his philosophy and reminds us how we always learn and strive to better as designers. Watch the whole film for free HERE.  (until April 21st)

---

Courtesy of Vitsoe

Discover
VITSOE SHELVING

VItsoe is the company that has been producing Dieter Ram's shelving and furniture design since 1960.  Still to this day the design has stayed true to its original vision since day one....60 years ago!  It's no mistake why the system is named 606 Universal Shelving.   See this incredible universal system HERE. 

---

Hands to Work

Photography: Charlie Schuck Lighting: Shape-Up by L&G Studio

'Hands To Work, Hearts to God', was a key tenet of the American Shakers:  a mantra centered on the idea that something as simple as putting your hands to good use - be it cleaning, cooking, or making beautiful objects and tools - can lead to a higher spiritual state of mind.  

Now, during this time of distress, we've found the Shaker ideals resonating with us even more especially at a time when there’s so much to ponder as the world reconsiders everything from social and economic order to the small simple everyday things and to rethinking our personal and collective values.

Product: Sound Brush / Photography: Charlie Schuck

What used to seem unimportant, trivial, mundane or even optional is now a necessity and disposable objects that weren't given a second thought to a month ago are now precious rare commodities. In a matter of weeks the whole world seems to have shifted into a new frame of time, new mindset, new rituals, and new values.

The pace of the pandemic is unprecedented, however, things like cleanliness, caring for others, persistence, and resiliency have always been important virtues for society.  As designers, objects, rituals, and meanings are something we think about often - perhaps just under different lenses in better times.  With all the changes in the world, we’re reminded that the mundane isn’t something to overlook - which is why we want to take this moment to look back and share one of our favorite Furnishing Utopia exhibitions Hands To Work back in 2018.

Collection from Furnishing Utopia / Photography: Charlie Schuck

'Hands to Work' is the third in a series of group shows responding to the study of the American Shakers.  Organized by Furnishing Utopia, and sponsored by Design Within Reach, this show prompted 25+ international designers to reconsider the rituals behind simple everyday chores from cleaning to organizational work.  The Shakers were the starting point as they believed that a day’s work on earth put one closer to heaven.  Designers were asked to consider this while creating objects that speak to a modern chore and the ritual behind it.  The resulting exhibition, curated and creative directed by L&G, debuted in May 2018's NYCxDesign to a delightfully receptive public.

Product: Waste-Not Soap and Bottle Holder / Photography: Charlie Schuck

In celebrating the simple act of doing chores, L&G created a series of brushes titled, 'Sound Brushes' with the help of a Swedish brush-making brand, Iris Hantverk.   The simple cleaning brushes embellish the rhythmic action of brushing - giving haptic feedback to the motion through internal beads that act like sound instruments - bringing more sensory awareness to the act of cleaning.  

We also created a series of small objects around the idea of frugality and not taking resources for granted.  The 'Waste-Not' soap encourages people to take the last little bit of the previous bar of soap and join it to the new soap bar.  The 'Waste-Not' bottle holder is a sculptural base to hold shampoo and or self-care products in bottles upside to get out every last drop.  While these practices seem trivial - the habit of not wasting things can easily translate to many parts of our lives.  We embrace the idea that small things can add up to mind shifts that create big change collectively.

Creative Direction: L&G Studio /  Videography: Charlie Schuck 

For the exhibit, we created a short video embracing the pleasing sensorial sounds of doing everyday rituals.
By taking a moment to reflect on what may seem like 'nothing', one can find a greater sense of calmness in small things and more joy in everyday existence.  

May this short 3-minute Hands To Work video bring you a sense of calmness and peace during these tough times.

L&G Recommendation series No. 2 : Light & Darkness

(Photo Collaboration with Robin Stein for Vignette Jewelry collection)

We'd like to continue to share some recommendations on building resiliency mentally, physically, and creatively in these uncertain times.  

It's an understatement to say there's a lot of darkness in our world right now. It is feeling like an all-encompassing cloud.  However, with any darkness, there's a counterforce of lightness.  However dim it may seem now, it's important to recognize these two things always exist in tandem and essential in bringing true harmony physically or mentally.  

This week, we dive into the duality of opposites as a means to understand our current position and our future.

---

L&G RECOMMENDATIONS SERIES NO.2: LIGHT & DARKNESS

Photo by Robin Stein, a collaboration with Giancarlo Valle

Product
NEGATIVE  SPACE

There is a powerful force at work in negative space, it's the space we exist in with our rituals, actions, and thoughts.  Our Myrna wall mount light operates in concert with the space around it - creating an inviting intimate canopy to exist under.  

---

Book
IN PRAISE OF SHADOWS

In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki, is an essay where Tanizaki shares his philosophy and perspectives on the value of finding harmony by embracing the contrast between light and darkness. 

---

Courtesy of Noguchi Museum

Podcast
FINDING BEAUTY THROUGH DARKNESS

This 99% Invisible's Play Mountain episode focuses on Isamu Noguchi's life-long endeavor to create open sculptural playgrounds and not giving up on his vision to bring beauty through adversity and hardship.

---

Talk
ON BEING ALONE

People In Places, a new lecture series about the interconnectedness between people and spaces. Organized by our close-collaborators from Office of Tangible Space, join this week's online discussion on what it means to be alone.

Watch the recorded session HERE and also extra recommended reading materials related to that topic.

---

L&G Recommendation series No. 1 : Keeping Calm

First and foremost, we hope you're staying safe and healthy during these hard times.  

As such, L&G is working remotely - tending to whatever matters we can and help each other whenever possible.  Standing orders are being fulfilled as well as conditions enable us to.  Should you have any questions or need any help, we're here for you.

With everything that's been going on, we'd like to share some creative ways we believe can build resilience mentally, physically, and creatively while staying at home.  All three realms are so important for coping in times good and bad, so we hope you find them helpful now and we'd love to hear what you're doing to stay healthy and resilient as well.

---

L&G RECOMMENDATION SERIES NO.2: Calmness

Photo by Charlie Schuck

Video
NOTHINGNESS

Back in 2018, for Furnishing Utopia, we made a video about embracing everyday rituals.
By taking a moment to reflect on what may seem like 'nothing', one can find a greater sense of calmness in small things. 

---

Courtesy of Yong Pueblo

Book
LOOK INWARD

Inward, by Yung Pueblo, is a collection of short poems that inspires one to look inward through an introspective perspective.

---

Courtesy of TED Radio Hour

Podcast
SLOW DOWN

This Ted Radio Hour episode about slowing down was released back in 2016.  It resonated with us then and is even more relevant today.

---

Courtesy of Té Company

Health
STAY WARM

Tea offers can help strengthen one's immune system and provide a sense of comfort. Our favorite Taiwanese tea shop, Té Company has a wonderful selection of tea in their online shop!

Design Anthology UK / Mar / 2020

Design Anthology UK / Featured Work: ISO Wall Sconce

On Materiality

Photo: Charlie Schuck for L&G

Everyday we walk into our studio surrounded by a rich mosaic of bits and bobs loosely composed on open shelves - objects that have caught our eyes by speaking to our souls: 

a weather-worn brick found on a Brooklyn street.
a finely machined piece of solid metal.
a shiny piece of handmade art glass.
an elegantly-shaped tree bough found in the woods.
etc.

At once mundane and magical, such matters are the building blocks of our products and a core part of our design approach.  Our practice is built on a commitment to elevating the elemental beauty of materials independent of their perceived values.  For this reason, our eclectic shelves are a critical instigator of our creative process.

Photo: L&G Studio

While our shelves are often the starting point, the real magical moment is when a material's voice collides with ours.  When pondering what made it 'speak' to us in the first place, we often find ourselves with more questions:

Where did it come from?
How was it made?
What makes it special? 

This inquiry begins to reveal clues on how we might be able to amplify, celebrate, or give function to the materials' inherent quality.  The inevitable question:

How can this magical material become a magical object?

Photo: L&G Studio for Triode Gallery

One recent exploration has delved into the simple but poetic possibilities of thin sheet materials.  Working from flat elemental shapes in metal and glass, we experimented with subtle manipulations that add structure and dimensionality to once 2D shapes.  Our Myrna shade was born from this process wherein an ellipse is given form by a single broad bend along a diagonal axis.  The result is a strikingly elegant gesture that defines space through form and light.

Furthering this exploration, the Moire Mobile takes a similar formal approach with perforated aluminum to reveal the simple magic of the perforation's semi-transparent characteristics.  

Another moment all together, we created an entire immersive material garden for Muji - an experience that allowed us to share the beauty of raw materials with the general public.

Photo: Charlie Schuck for L&G x Muji

There's a story to every product and project we make - and we could go on and on.  However, we believe that such stories are best experienced in the process and outcome themselves, so we invite you to browse our collections while taking an extra minute to reflect on how material richness can enhance your particular space or life.  We're always happy to help advise on how best to optimize our products for your project's unique character.

Equalizer

Photo by Jonathan Hokklo, Installation by L&G Studio for Henrybuilt, 2019.

We believe in the power of lighting to work with the whole of a room's architecture to create quietly enriching spaces to spend time in. 
In this spirit, we asked how lighting might be used to delineate space instead of walls or structure.  With contemporary spaces becoming more open and free-flowing, there is still a need to define zones visually and functionally.  With this need in mind, we imagined an expandable illuminated framework to respond to different interior conditions.  Equalizer was born here as a series of illuminated shapes connected by a lightweight vertical structure.

Photo by Brooke Holm, Space designed by L&G Studio for SP01, 2016.

photo by Lauren Colman, Interior Designer Michael Yarinsky, 2015.

Comprised of a system of versatile modular fittings, we're able to create an expansive array of configurations from simple pendants to custom screens that undulate through spaces like room dividers.  This flexibility enables a high degree of spatial integration created in collaboration with our clients.  The results yield beautiful decorative lighting that is carefully tailored to fit the space's character and functional needs - able to fall anywhere on the spectrum from an immersive asymmetrical sculpture to a symmetrical repeating pattern.  

photo by Lauren Colman, Installation at The Future Perfect in 2016

The Equalizer collection is crafted from finely machined anodized aluminum fittings and paired with handblown glass globes by our close collaborator John Hogan, based in Seattle.  The glass is given a satin luster that emits a soft velvety glow when illuminated.  

Additionally, this collection exclusively offers the Chameleon color way, a special glass effect developed by Hogan.  The subtle gradient creates a mysterious yet magical color changing effect that shifts from sky blue to sunset pinks depending on surrounding light and viewing angle.  It's a very special option that speaks to our obsession with material wonderment and the beauty of glass in general.  

View fullsize

View fullsize

photo by Lauren Colman (left), photo by L&G Studio (right)

The Equalizer series is designed with versatility in mind, so it can be easily customized and configured in infinite ways based on the context and needs. So check out below to get a glimpse of what is possible!  

Wallpaper / Jan / 2020

Wallpaper / Featured Work: Composed Vanity Desk for Dims

Milk Decoration / Dec / 2019

Milk Decoration France / Featured Work: Moire Mobile

Krane / A collaborative collection

photo by Roll & Hill

One of the amazing things about working in New York City is the incredible ways in which the world intersects here.  As cliche as it is, the melting pot effect is real and an important ingredient of the creative vitality that manifests in magical, dynamic, and unexpected moments large and small.  We find this so inspiring and why we were thrilled when one such moment crossed our paths shortly after landing here.

In 2016, our good friends at the Norwegian Consulate and Sight Unseen came with a casual invitation:  collaborate with Norwegian Designers to create an object that represents the overlap of culture and the exchange of ideas.  Always up for a collaborative opportunity, we jumped at the chance and were promptly connected with Vera & Kyte of Bergen, Norway. 

Working over long distance via email and phone conference, we came to discover our Pacific Northwest roots are closely entangled with Nordic influences.  Our conversations flowed and enlightened in unexpected ways considering we'd never met each other before.  Our group discussions touched on culture and values and were inevitably framed by the idea of light.  We learned Norway has a special intimate relationship with light due to their dark winters and long summers.  We also discussed the way design is valued differently in Scandinavia, where appreciation is much broader, ubiquitous, and accessible than in the US.  As we started to ideate, our concepts galvanized around the idea of creating a lamp that reflects this in an elegant and interactive way.

Through iterative sketches, we honed a collective design that became Krane.

photo by Roll & Hill

photo by Roll & Hill

The essential idea behind Krane is to create an intersection between a permanent, decorative light and a functional, portable lamp meant to adapt to spaces and needs.  Instead of an expressive chandelier that sits in one position like a sculpture, we pared down a lamp into essential elements that illicit an interaction between the user and the light.   

Krane's cord, armature, and light source all work together to create a simple expressive composition while providing users with the ability to move the light source closer or farther away with a single motion.  One Krane can go from illuminating a dining table to an intimate reading lamp simply by changing its height.  Its simple form can be installed in a variety of spaces without too much visual noise or expression.

Krane is available as a plug-in ceiling mounted fixture in two armature sizes (large and small) as well as a hardwired wall-mounted sconce version. 

Krane is manufactured by Roll & Hill, who provide an amazing level of craft, finish, and technical refinement to the series alongside its illustrious collection of contemporary lighting.

AD Pro / Nov / 2019

AD Pro / Featured Work: Composed Vanity for Dim’s