BKLYN Designs: Smaller Scale But Higher Quality

This past weekend, the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn once again hosted BKLYN Designs. The show is a juried exhibition of contemporary furnishings that are made in Brooklyn. The seventh annual show was smaller than last year but reflected a higher level of quality than we’ve seen in the past. Surprisingly, there were a number of new companies that exhibited that have only been in business a year or two. While the show emphasized sustainability, most of the items shown were at the premium end of affordability.

Speaking with many of the designers, the topic of the economy was quick to come up. Scott Behr of TMRNYC who along with Matthew Warren debuted the ‘Side Wired Desk’ said that remaining positive and looking for new ideas was keeping them going. The Side Wired Desk drew a lot of attention at the show for it’s functionality and simple design and Scott said several big name retailers have expressed interest in the design.

Jason Horvath, co-owner of Uhuru said that staying small has allowed the company to carry on fairly untouched by the recession. Besides continuing to produce low volume sustainable furniture, they have also recently provided fabrication services to an artist undertaking a large installation.  Jason thinks there is potential for Uhuru to do more work like this and thinks working with artists brings new knowledge that could translate to Uhuru’s furniture.

Below is a collection of images of work that caught our eye at the show. Here’s a summary:

Palo Samko showed a collection of finely crafted wood furniture including a table, bench, chair, and cabinets. The style was very unique, somewhere between Danish and steampunk. The detailing was incredible. Small sculptural disks and stamped leather were integrated into a wood slab bench with toothpick thin legs.

Bear and Lion is a new Brooklyn based company making premium modern sustainable furniture. Think of these as investment pieces. The table and metal stools shown have clean lines and are deceptively simple.

We liked the apartment block cabinets that Takeshi Miyakawa had at the show last year. This time he installed a spiraling two story tall cabinet system made of plywood. While almost site specific looking, the piece goes to show that cabinets don’t have to be boring rectangles.

A few more images from the show are here on flickr.