Defined by an ever-thriving community of independent talent and studios that arguably first emerged during the Great Recession of 2008, New York’s design industry is undeniably resourceful and inventive. Responding to limited resources and exorbitant rents, many independent practices come together to share space, organize group exhibitions during and outside the annual NYCxDesign festivals, and are increasingly collaborating on fresh designs. Unlike Europe, where it’s slightly easier for independent talent to work with established manufacturers, self-production and self-promotion is the name of the game here. There is, at times, help from the gathering of galleries and ideal retail spaces such as Assembly Line.
It comes from the highly successful practice in the interior General meetingthis hybrid platform has become an essential resource, providing various furnishing and finishing solutions to fellow professionals and individual customers. In recent years, it has also hosted several solo exhibitions debuting new collections from New York’s flock of young designers.
With its start Cowboy and Christopher Merchant’s Amica lighting collection during this year New York Design WeekAssembly Line positions itself as a patron gallery: a gallery that not only showcases new designs but also helps produce them, creating critical connections between talent and makers while connecting talent with other talent.
As seen in this cleverly imagined offering of pendant, table and wall lighting, the results of the latter arrangement are often greater than the sum of their parts. There is a pairing, matching, and ultimately amalgamation of expertise: distinctive design vocabularies that complement each other. In this case, it’s Merchant’s enchanting extruded ceramic process and the traditional frame-making and papermaking techniques of Kawabi—Aaron and Irisa Na-Chan Kawabi—that they interpret masterfully.
Both have primarily applied their proprietary expertise to lighting design, but this collaboration takes this newly cohesive savoir-faire to new heights. Merchant’s terracotta vessels, identified by their idiosyncratic molded striations, serve as the basis for Kawabi’s blackened geometric and amorphous illuminated structures.
The paired studios repeated this counterweight in an impressive range: wood-jointed and paper-wrapped sconces anchored by embossed, only slightly distorted ceramic surfaces. a large free-floating pendant held by a small, equally finished ceramic weight. The possibilities of this partnership seem endless.
In the past, the two had operated Brooklyn studios within walking distance of each other, but hadn’t realized it until recently. However, in response to the exorbitant rents mentioned earlier, Merchant recently moved to Minneapolis, where he can work in a larger, much less expensive workspace.
Photo by Ben DeHaan.
