While the machine that is the design industry never seems to rest, it is safe to say that, during the spring, it fires on all cylinders. From April through June, international fairs, shows, events, and exhibitions flood cities from New York and Chicago to Milan and Copenhagen with droves of enthusiasts seeking high design (or the next cocktail party). Out of the thousands of creations that surface during this revelery, particular designs, and the people behind them, seem to make their way to the forefront of industry consciousness. Be it through repetitive successes, notable debuts, significant milestones, or engaging messaging, such was so in the case of these four studios.
Tatjana von Stein
Since founding interior architecture and design studio Sella Concept in 2016, Tatjana von Stein has garnered considerable experience in furniture and product design through her firm’s hyper-tailored and intricately formal, textural, and colorful approach. Nearly a decade of practice has culminated in the production of the Mise en Scène collection, the first of many to come for von Stein’s new eponymous brand. For this debut, the London-based designer is tapping into her French heritage to present eight original pieces, from seating and tables to a statement screen and bar cabinet. Each piece includes a unique juxtaposition of classic and modern materials that, as is standard of Sella Concept interiors, unites an unexpected palette into a sophisticated, harmonious whole.
In Common With | Nick Ozemba and Felicia Hung
On the heels of the brand’s fifth birthday, the buzz around Brooklyn-based lighting studio In Common With is palpable. Founded in 2017 out of a friendship forged between Nick Ozemba and Felicia Hung while students of furniture design at RISD, In Common With has expanded its Gowanus studio not one, but two times over the last year to keep up with demand for their simple yet striking fixtures. After smashingly successful collaborations with fellow young creatives like ceramicist Danny Kaplan and glass artist Sophie Lou Jacobsen, In Common With has been cropping up all over New York’s hottest hospitality settings. As temperatures rise and diners begin to spill out onto the streets and sidewalks, the brand will be releasing portable brass renditions of beloved designs from last year’s Flora Collection, suitable for both indoor and outdoor use.
Orior | Ciaran McGuigan
Last spring, Irish furnishings brand Orior made its U.S. presence known with the introduction of a 4,500-square-foot showroom just off the bustling intersection of Manhattan’s Mercer and Grand. The space dazzled in its personification of the unique and memorable Irish materials, details, and craftsmanship that have underpinned the family-operated brand since its founding in 1979. Under the helm of Creative Director Ciaran McGuigan, the momentum continued building with the release of a colorful, limited-edition capsule collaboration with fashion designer and fellow Savannah College of Art and Design graduate Christopher John Rogers. To keep the ball rolling, Orior debuted another, more permanent collection on the occasion of this year’s NYCxDesign. Consisting of a lounge chair and sofa, Néad, derived from the Irish term for “nestle,” employs deep seating and plush fabrics that hearken back to the company’s origins in upholstery.
APPARATUS | Gabriel Hendifar
New York–based interdisciplinary design studio APPARATUS has opened its first overseas gallery within a richly detailed 19th-century building in London’s Mayfair district. The two-story space was imagined by the company’s cofounder and artistic director, Gabriel Hendifar, as a full immersion into the world of APPARATUS. Drawing from his background in scenic design and fashion, Hendifar has cemented the brand’s striking furnishings and fixtures into the upper echelons of luxury design through carefully considered collections with dramatic, episodic rollouts. The new space will serve as the perfect backdrop to continue such productions with its choice contextual references (a sweeping burl-clad staircase is a nod to the modernism found at Eltham Palace in South London) and sensual materials—patinaed brass, Calacatta Classico marble, hand-troweled plaster, and textured suede, to name a few.
