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New York City is the gift that never stops giving. Its streetscapes and communities, shaped by the visions and labors of generations of New Yorkers, are the crucible of ideas that seek to change the world. So, it’s no surprise that during the global pandemic thousands of architects, designers, and other creatives who live and work here have drawn inspiration and energy from the city itself.
For each edition of NYCxDESIGN: The Magazine, designers show us the city through their eyes. This time, in partnership with LightFair which takes place October 25-29 at the Javits Center, NYCxDESIGN asked designers to capture one of the most ephemeral aspects of the New York experience—the city’s lights. The beautiful, funny, and poignant moments they found are gathered below, alongside snapshots of the city’s colors and a deeply personal collection of significant objects from designers’ lives.
For the second year, designers participated in NYCxDESIGN’s An Ode to NYC city-wide exhibition, this time imagining Our Future City. You can see their creations below and at sites throughout the city.
Welcome to the third online edition of NYCxDESIGN: The Magazine!
Significant Objects
City Lights
True Colors
An Ode to NYC
Breakout Grant
NYCxDESIGN Awards
In this multicultural, forward-looking city, no one is afraid to express themselves in color. The city is awash in hues and tones ranging from the somber to the exuberant. Dive into the many moods of New York, as seen in its colors.
START SLIDESHOW
What will Our Future City look like? In 19 posters, part of NYCxDESIGN’s second city-wide exhibition, designers imagine the New York they would like to live and create in.
SEE THE POSTERS
Meet the 2021 Recipients
Heer Mandalia | Graphic Design
Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
@heermandalia
New York browns are spread throughout the city, standing tall in between the shiny glass towers. The browns carry the history of the time people have lived and experienced and take it forward. These browns remind me of my roots and personal experiences, which made me what I am today. Brown grounds me amidst these rows and rows of tall buildings. This color makes me feel warm while walking in the streets of New York.
CLOSE SLIDESHOW
Of the many things we accumulate in our daily lives, there are a chosen few—tied to memories, experiences, aspirations, or people—that we carry through our lifetime. We asked the city’s creatives to tell us about one of their most treasured objects, and here’s what they shared.
The divers came first. I delicately untethered them from my mom’s old duffel bag, and she gave me a prompt lesson in sewing. From that point on, I harvested patches wherever I encountered them: gift shops, antique stores, and relatives’ attics. Friends even started giving them to me as secondhand souvenirs, and I secured each one with red veins of embroidery string. When I wear this jacket, I feel like my truest self. It’s a second skin. There’s something empowering about indiscriminately telling the world: this is where I’ve been, where I come from, where I’d like to go…this is the tapestry of my heart, do you like it?
Charlotte Zaininger | Freelancer
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
charlottezaininger.com
This family art, brought all the way from Egypt to be showcased in New York, emphasizes the important work that is done by an Egyptian painter and how relevant it is even though it was painted in the 1970s.
Walid Nagi | Founder and Managing Partner
Dress Art NYC
Murray Hill, Manhattan
@dressart_nyc
My Allyn wallpaper pattern is named after my late grandfather and naval architect, Robert C. Allyn. After his death, I discovered a massive collection of slides that he took on Ektachrome from the 1950s to the 1980s. Although he was accepted at Yale to studyFine Art in the 1920s, my great-grandfather steered him toward a professional career in naval architecture at MIT. It was the perfect marriage of his love of the sea and a profession. When his hands no longer worked how he wanted them to, he gave me his slide rule which he used throughout his 60-year career. My grandfather’s slide rule, paint palette, and boxes of slides are always within arm’s reach.
Sarah Von Dreele | Founder, Lead Designer
Sarah Von Dreele
Lenox Hill, Manhattan
@sarahvondreele
Wherever I go, I collect bowls. I use them on my desk, in the kitchen, for jewelry, everywhere. Each one has a story. Some are local student work. Some are by friends. Some I found on my travels. I love each and every one. I especially love how something so beautiful can be so functional.
Nancy Thiel | Founding Principal
Thiel Architecture + Design
Weston, Connecticut
@thieldesign
Among my favorite things is this bronze “monster mask” of a demon chaser from the 19th century that I purchased when traveling in India a few years ago. He sits on a table by my bed keeping an eye on out for any demons lurking about.
Alan Tanksley | Founder, Lead Designer
Alan Tanksley Inc. Interiors and Design
Flatiron District, Manhattan
@alantanksleyinc
As a designer I treasure ideas, intuition, and the power of channeling both. A simple gadget such as a pocket sketchbook becomes a manifestation tool of those treasures, a witness of memories, vulnerability, emotions and projects, morning meditations, and grocery lists. For years I’ve been downloading my ideas, daily exercises of color, shapes, and text on top of their off-white pages, and it’s always pleasant to revisit those moments to see how far, steady, boring, or “impossible” those ideas have become. As intimate as underwear or a toothbrush, my sketchbooks are a first necessity item. Travel companions and friends, guardians of secrets and potential, fighters of a digital world. They tell my story; they are an extension of myself.
Rodolfo Agrella | Creative Director
Rodolfo Agrella Design Studio
Long Island City, New York
@rodolfoagrella
My dad taught me to play chess on this set when I was eight years old. While playing together, he imparted his life’s lessons to me, and reminisced on studying engineering in Peru and what it was like living in NYC in the ’70s. As the years passed—and as my chess game improved—my dad’s English got better, as did my Spanish. Today, whenever we play chess, I happen to be playing with my best friend.
Alan Calixto | Founder/Creative Director
Studio Munay
Upper East Side, Manhattan
@studio.munay
I’ve carried a Swiss Army knife since I was nine years old. They have always been a source of inspiration because you can do so many things with one adaptable object. The classic design has stayed the same since the 1890s, which is inspirational when we consider what goes into creating pieces that stand the test of time. That timelessness is something we try to work into every product we create. We aspire to the same instantly recognizable aesthetic and beautifully designed functionality in our furniture.
David Mawhinney | Founder and Designer
Franklin+Emily
Park Slope, Brooklyn
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The sixth annual NYCxDESIGN Awards were announced May 17-18 in virtual ceremonies hosted by Interior Design.
See the Winners
Initiatives
Hosted by Debbie Millman, The Mic is NYCxDESIGN's podcast that offers an inside look into New York City's most creative minds.
Returning for a special edition this November, NYCxDESIGN’s internationally renowned Annual Design Festival showcases the immense talent and diversity of the city’s designers, makers, and manufacturers through a series of events about design and innovation, creativity, culture, inclusivity, sustainability, and resiliency.
To promote entrepreneurship in design, NYCxDESIGN provides an annual grant for local independent talent and businesses to turn their next great idea into reality.
TUNE IN
LEARN MORE
LEARN MORE
NYCxDESIGN: The Magazine was produced by the NYCxDESIGN and Metropolis teams. All content was contributed by New York’s designers and creative professionals. Avinash Rajagopal, Lauren Volker, Sam Lubell, and Ethan Tucker, Metropolis, edited the content; Carlos Dominguez, SANDOW Design Group, and Travis Ward, Metropolis, were involved with the design; and NYCxDESIGN’s Elissa Black, Valerie Hoffman, and Maya Bayram were instrumental in the realization of this project.
The Mic
The Festival
The Breakout Grant
FALL 2021
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Elliot Salazar | Designer
East Village, Manhattan
@elliotsalazar
NYC is ever changing—literally. All this construction means that metal and concrete are a common sight in a New Yorker’s life. Whether it’s the red-orange light reflecting on a wire gate on the Williamsburg Bridge or some green fencing with silver barbed wire against a blue summer sky, these colors symbolize the construction of the city, which we are all a part of. What some might call utilitarian, these colors represent progress and that inspires me to think and move forward every day.
Felitasari Rekso | Designer and Illustrator
Financial District, Manhattan
@tatarekso
These warm colors create a sense of nostalgia and hope for the future. In addition, they bring inspiration by reminding us of education, university, and aspirations for the future—the start of a brand-new day.
Rodolfo Agrella | Creative Director
Rodolfo Agrella Design Studio
Long Island City, New York
@rodolfoagrella
Born and raised Venezuelan, yellow hues were part of my daily routine—from the vibrancy of the sun tinting the sky to the rich depth of ripe mango flesh and arepas’ fillings. But most importantly, yellow is the color of the “oxalis corniculata,” a wildflower that covers hills with a delicate yet powerful color blanket, the same flower that gives my family its last name. When I moved to New York City, I found a new connection to that color. The vibrancy of the city was fueled by streams of yellow cabs, bagels with egg and cheese, coffee cups, light posts, and street signage.
Taylor Fleming | Interior Designer
Fogarty Finger
Tribeca, Manhattan
@fogartyfinger
Recently, I’ve been noticing tile “matching” repairs at different subway stops—they simultaneously make me laugh and provide unexpected tone-on-tone palette inspiration. I have been into more muted palettes lately with one ultra-saturated, tone-on-tone color accent. At my stop (the Nostrand Avenue A), a super bright yellow tile complements the faded neutral and pale, buttery-yellow hues.
Kathryn McElroy | Creative Director
argodesign
Austin, Texas
@argodesign
I find the colors in New York’s architecture and built environment invigorating and inspiring. The color that always stands out to me is the mottled green turquoise of patinated copper. It’s the color of the Statue of Liberty standing in the harbor, and the color of aged architectural details such as Gimbel’s Bridge in Herald Square. Patinas tell a story of time passing—of natural elements reacting to man-made materials to enrich and improve them. They even provide protection, a beautiful coat between material and weather, making these historic pieces more durable against long-term aging. Who could imagine the Statue of Liberty as a shiny copper color? The green of time makes her who she is. I admire this patina and hope that the work I design can weather as beautifully as these architectural wonders have.
Aimée Wilder | Founder and Creative Director Aimée Wilder
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
@aimeewilder
We get to enjoy a lot of great street art in Brooklyn, both near our studio on the East Williamsburg–Bushwick border, as well as near my apartment in Greenpoint. This piece in Greenpoint caught my eye due to its striking simplicity and the color contrast against the gray-blue evening sky, as well as the texture of the industrial building.
Anna Condo | Filmmaker and Photographer
Upper East Side, Manhattan
@anna.condo
I am constantly inspired by flowers—they embody life, grace, elegance, humility, and incredible strength. I look up to flowers, and I aspire to what they symbolize to our whole world, visible and invisible. They are timeless muses to me. These beautiful pink flowers were shot from my window on the Upper East Side where they immediately caught my eye. The beauty and liveliness of New York, even in the small details, are what makes this city so amazing.
Innovation drives New York City, and the best breakthroughs are the ones framed in inclusion and sustainability. NYCxDESIGN’s inaugural grant program financially supports designers and design businesses who reflect those commitments in their projects.
Beautiful Future
Amaurys Grullon of Bronx Native
CLOSE SLIDESHOW
Cosentino NYC Love
Sponsor Showroom collaboration with Cosentino
I Love NYF
Debbie Millman of SVA
A New City in the Sky
Elizabeth Von Lehe of HDR
(On behalf of the American Society of Interior Designers)
Black Power Kitchen
Ghetto Gastro with New Studio
Black Spaces Matter
Ifeoma Ebo; Principal of Creative Urban Alchemy and Founding member of the BlackSpace Urbanist Collective
The Future of New York is Made of Dreamers
Ignacio Serrano Perez of Milton Glaser Inc
Home
Julian Alexander of Slang Inc
(On behalf of AIGA NY)
Our NYC
Karim Rashid
Our NYC
Karim Rashid
Stitched Together
Liz Collins
It's Not Your Car... ...But it is your Boogie
Practice for Architecture and Urbanism
Without Traffic
Paula Scher of Pentagram
NY Forever
Rich Tu
The Future is Community
Sloan Leo of FLOX Studio Inc.
Resilient, Diverse, New York
Reddymade
Welcome Back NYC
Sponsor Showroom collaboration with The Shade Store
New Harlem 2050
Toni L. Griffin of Urban American City with Sienna Scarff
Future Memory
Triboro
I have a pair of marker drawings created by my two nieces who are six and two years old that I’ve framed and purposefully keep close to me in my home office area. There is something about being surrounded by artwork created by kids that I find inspiring and grounding. It’s something I want to continually work toward: not taking life too seriously and enjoying the process of creating.
Taylor Fleming | Interior Designer
Fogarty Finger
Tribeca, Manhattan
@fogartyfinger
After a very tumultuous year, a group of friends and I planned a weekend trip together to the Hamptons (during the offseason). While there, we made it our mission to have no plans at all—only to relax, unwind, and enjoy each other’s company away from the world. We did just that. These shells that I picked on the beach remind me of that special time we shared and the idea that despite how impossible or insignificant things can seem, they can create beautiful results that takes time to understand or see.
Elliot Salazar | Designer
East Village, Manhattan
@elliotsalazar
DIVE IN
In both iconic and subtle ways throughout New York City, lights create powerful visual moments and elicit emotions. Here are the ones that inspired designers this past year.
In partnership with
Significant Objects
Breakout Grant
NYCxDESIGN Awards
City Lights
True Colors
An Ode to NYC
SPONSORED
SPONSORED
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Both of these pictures were taken in industrial Queens during the 2020 lockdown. I’d remembered guidance from a photographer friend who said, “You’ll always have light.” Originally intended to inspire me when I wasn’t feeling great about living back in my hometown, it felt like appropriate advice during a time when people/strangers were off limits as subjects. I love the nuanced stories that can be told with light and shadow.
Chloe Taylor | Brand Manager
B-Reel
Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
@_chloelouisetaylor
It's impossible not to get inspired by the NYC skyline. When you are here you realize that ideas travel at the speed of light and never stop.
Diego Pinilla Amaya | Graphic Designer
East Harlem, Manhattan
@diego_pinilla_a
This photo represents lighting elements both old and new. The array of lamps evokes the multiple points of light in a classic candle-lit chandelier. But just visible in the photo is a system of modern fixtures hiding within, whose role is to fill in the grand architectural interior of the Grand Central concourse with soft, volumetric light. Old and new, working as one.
John Newman | Partner
Loop Lighting
Flatiron District, Manhattan
@looplighting
My favorite city lights—the handrail lights at the eastern entrance of the Cathedral Parkway/110th Street subway stop near my apartment—aren’t iconic or noteworthy, and probably aren’t particularly memorable to the average passerby. But I often find inspiration in the juxtaposition of old and new in the city, and this elegant slice of modern tech against the weathered stone wall along Central Park always catches my eye.
John Sheppard | Founder
John Sheppard Studio
Bronx, New York
@johnsheppardstudio
This photo of the New York City skyline was taken from the Pulaski Bridge overlooking Newtown Creek with Greenpoint and Long Island City on either side. The lights reflect a classically New York mix of industrial and residential sites that will continue mixing and evolving as development in the city progresses. We think it’s important to provide more planned spaces for pedestrian and bike pathways to increase the quality of life for New Yorkers and help us be less reliant on cars. This site is where we (Crème) envisioned the floating Timber Bridge project connecting Brooklyn and Queens.
Jun Aizaki | Owner and Principal
CRÈME
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
@creme.design
I think both images inspire me because they encapsulate, on opposite ends of the spectrum, that unique NYC attitude that can either surprise and delight you when you least expect it, or remind you—in its own, sometimes not so subtle ways—why you choose to live in the greatest city in the world!
Elliot Salazar | Designer
East Village, Manhattan
@elliotsalazar
For two years my daughter danced with the New York City Ballet on stage at the David H. Koch Theater, which features custom lighting evocative of jewelry set with diamonds.
Michael Suomi | President
Suomi Design Works
Union Square, Manhattan
@suomidesignworks
There is no better place than NYC to observe the magic of lights. Whether it’s the Empire State Building or the skyline itself, the illumination is unavoidable. I find inspiration in the lights that I pass by daily in the classic Soho lofts that surround our showroom on Crosby Street. When the sun sets and city lights begin to shine, there is a dramatic mood shift, and you begin to see the city in a different light
Rodolfo Agrella | Creative Director
Juniper
Soho, Manhattan
@rodolfoagrella
Creatives observe the magic of light across the city.
When I first saw this grand floor lamp at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it immediately caught my eye and attention. To me the floor lamp feels as if it should be lining the streets and canals of a great European city or adorning the entrance of a grand ballroom. In fact, these Torchieres welcomed guests at the entrance of the Met for 68 years (from 1902 to 1970), where, over time they aged naturally to the beautiful rich patina we see today. The presence exuded by this opulent streetlight made me want to bring something like it back into the modern world. I am in the process of designing a pared-down, more contemporary version of this floor lamp as part of my new Muscari Lighting Collection (including the Muscari Floor Lamp and Muscari Chandelier) which uses the subtle yet striking curves reminiscent of the art nouveau period.
Lorin Silverman | Owner/Artist/Designer
Eidos Glass
West Harlem, Manhattan
@eidosglass
The bright, dynamic, and vibrant lights of the billboards in Times Square symbolize the diversity, creativity, and energy of New York City. In a city paused by coronavirus in 2020, the lights also represent strength and resilience.
Mona Monahan | Student
East Village, Manhattan
@monamonahanart
The nightscape of New York City comes alive in another dimension through the water. The reflection of the city lights in the surrounding rivers and through the veil of rain reveal heightened emotional aspects by creating a layer of dynamic play with light. City lights and rushing headlights enhance the visual experience of the weight of the water around us. The unpredictability and flowing current of water inspire us to work with nature and appreciate how the elements make the city more alive.
Sanghamitra Mallick | Lighting Designer
Cooley Monato Studio
Midtown, Manhattan
@cooleymonatostudio
The bright, dynamic, and vibrant lights of the billboards in Times Square symbolize the diversity, creativity, and energy of New York City. In a city paused by coronavirus in 2020, the lights also represent strength and resilience.
Noel Calingasan | Digital Creator
Washington Heights
@nyclovesnyc
When I visited the Metropolitan Opera House for the first time, the first objects I laid my eyes on were the gorgeous chandeliers. They light up the building and give the opera house a sense of prestige and artistry that you can sense and see from all around Lincoln Center.
Mona Monahan | Student
East Village, Manhattan
@monamonahanart
An elevated walk ‘into’ the city, through nature and stars with firefly-like appeal—inspires you to fight for and achieve your dreams!
Thomas Mnich | Sales Supervisor
Lutron
Brooklyn
@thomas_mnich
In partnership with
See this section of The Magazine come to life with a panel discussion about lighting, design, and New York City at LightFair on October 28 at 11:45 a.m. RSVP by registering as an attendee for free here and use registration code L21SP9.
Significant Objects
Breakout Grant
NYCxDESIGN Awards
City Lights
True Colors
An Ode to NYC
Significant Objects
Breakout Grant
NYCxDESIGN Awards
City Lights
True Colors
An Ode to NYC
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A new NYCxDESIGN program demonstrates the range of design ecosystems that New York generates and supports.
Based in Brooklyn, Modos Furniture is focused on developing products with a positive societal and ecological impact. An intuitive, tool-free system of reclaimed plastic connectors and boards made of FSC-certified wood yields elegant furniture that is easily disassembled and reconfigured to suit ever-changing spatial needs. These some-assembly-required, modular pieces are adapted to the lives of New Yorkers who live in small apartments and move frequently. But Modos also sees much potential in this low-cost, high-value solution for addressing the needs of those with limited resources, those affected by natural disasters, or micro-businesses in need of adaptable furnishings. The grant funding will help the Modos team partner with material supplier OceanWorks to source plastic that has been collected and cleaned from the ocean, as well as secure a design patent, scale up, and support an ongoing partnership with the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the Department of Education to show students opportunities in design and manufacturing.
One of NYCxDESIGN’s first initiatives as a nonprofit organization was to establish its Breakout Grant program. The Grant provides funding to help designers implement a product or project that is in pre-market, late-stage development and that reinforces design in service of broader social good. Selected by a jury of distinguished designers with New York ties, the three winners will be able to pursue the next steps of their projects and give back in more ways than one.
Artisan Alliance, a new firm by designer and interiors entrepreneur Danielle Arps, launched this summer with the aim of shaking up the real estate and design industries. By offering brokerage, design, project management, and furniture in a one-stop-shop, Arps hopes to make high quality design available to smaller companies. Artisan Alliance will use its grant funds to build out a mentorship program for students of color who wish to gain experience in design and real estate, where diversity is sorely lacking.
Modos Furniture Connector allows its modular furnishings to be easily disassembled and reconfigured
Inspired by their belief that “home is a human right,” sisters Gisue and Mojgan Hariri, the architects behind Hariri & Hariri Architecture, seek to transform housing for the most vulnerable around the world. Tens of millions of people live in refugee camps, having been displaced by war, natural disaster, famine, and other calamities. However, the technology to house them—fabric tents—has hardly changed in two centuries. The Folding Pod presents an alternative emergency shelter. Inspired by origami, the modest dwelling is made of lightweight panels, is easily shipped, and unfolds with the push of a button. Funding from the Breakout Grant will support further prototyping and material development of the Folding Pod.
RECLAIMED PLASTIC FURNITURE CONNECTOR
ARTISAN MENTORED
DISASTER RELIEF – FOLDING POD
Photos Courtesy Matt Tyson
By Matt Tyson
Modos Furniture
$15,000 Recipient
By Danielle Arps
Artisan Alliance
$5,000 Recipient
By Gisue Hariri and Mojgan Hariri Hariri & Hariri Architecture D.P.C.$5,000 Recipient
Finalists
Furniture Collection
By Kouros Maghsoudi
A carbon-neutral, sustainable, postmodern furniture collection inspired by Iranian and Middle Eastern motifs, traditions, and culture.
Clean AIR 1
By Code Lumen
Clean AIR 1 directs UVC light upward to disinfect the upper portion of a room, while avoiding human contact with potentially harmful UV radiation.
RECIPE
By Franklin & Emily
Through RECIPE (Restaurant Employees Collaborating In Part-Time Employment) Franklin & Emily hires laid-off NYC hospitality workers as furniture makers.
Afri-Culture Design-Culture Student Summer Workshop
By Jack Travis
The Afri-Culture Design-Culture Student Summer Workshop brings together students of color to study “Afri-centricity” as it relates to architecture, design, and planning.
Mobile Barriers
By Design Advocates
To protect New York City’s Open Streets, the Mobile Barrier restricts traffic to emergency vehicles, deliveries, pickups for the disabled community, and local traffic.
2100: A Dystopian Utopia
By StudioTEKA
An open world, massive multiplayer, virtual reality
game that allows players to become immersed in the
future cities of StudioTEKA’s book by the same name.
Significant Objects
Breakout Grant
NYCxDESIGN Awards
City Lights
True Colors
An Ode to NYC
Photos Courtesy Danielle Arps
Photos Courtesy Hariri Hariri
Industrial Manufacturing Research-Creation Project by Naomi Frangos
An exploration of tools, molds, and techniques for economic, efficient and effective design and production in glass and plaster manufacturing.
Arps has extensive experience designing homes for startup companies. Her collaboratively designed workplaces for clients such as SeatGeek and Daily Harvest have won wide acclaim for avoiding cookie-cutter cliché while helping small brands form an aesthetic identity.
Inspired by their belief that “home is a human right,” sisters Gisue and Mojgan Hariri, the architects behind Hariri & Hariri Architecture, seek to transform housing for the most vulnerable around the world with their Disaster Relief Folding Pod.
Significant Objects
Breakout Grant
NYCxDESIGN Awards
City Lights
True Colors
An Ode to NYC