@audocph - @kikigoti - Les Collection by @lisaluvsit
From May 15 to 21, New York City will once again become the stage for NYCxDESIGN, the city’s annual festival of design innovation. Stretching across all five boroughs, from Manhattan’s galleries to Brooklyn’s studios and Ridgewood’s creative hubs, the event celebrates a pluralistic vision of design rooted in identity, independence, and social engagement.
This year’s edition reveals a distinct shift in tone. Unlike the theatrical opulence seen in Milan, NYCxDESIGN 2025 centers emerging voices and independent studios, foregrounding design as both a functional discipline and a cultural message.
Shelter - Vol.1: Mart Nouveau
Les Collection - @lisaluvsit
@audocph
@atelier_ollin
A debut fair curated by Afternoon Light, Shelter gathers over 100 brands and studios. From names like Les Collection or Audo Copenhagen to Atelier Ollin, it creates a hybrid landscape where collectibility, market-readiness, and storytelling converge. A democratic showcase for design in the post-retail age.
Biome by Lichen Studio
@vyvoistudio
@weskn0ll for @malcolmransome
@yuxuan_huang__
In Ridgewood, design shop and studio Lichen curates a show shaped by ecological thinking. Biome explores the relationship between physical environment and creative identity, featuring work by artists such as Yuxuan Huang, Vy Voi, Malcom Ransome and Reginald Sylvester II. It’s a meditation on material memory and the porous boundary between past and present.
Outside/In - Lyle Gallery
@pauljmillerphoto for Monica Curiel
@kawabi
@soft.geometry
At Lyle Gallery on the Lower East Side, Outside/In draws inspiration from the Outsider Art movement. This multidisciplinary exhibition, led by queer and women founders Lin and Magdalena Tyrpien, amplifies experimental, self-determined voices such as Soft Geometry, Kawabi and Monica Curiel. The result is a community-rooted exploration of design as resistance and personal mythology.
Forced Perspective
@sahrajajarmikhayat - Ellen Pong
@kikigoti
@sahrajajarmikhayat - Office of Tangible Space
A timely, two-day exhibition, Forced Perspective examines how design responds to misinformation and fragmented narratives. Curated by NJ Roseti, Kiki Goti, Caleb Ferris, and The House Special Studio, the show presents collectible works by 15 New York-based talents, including Office of Tangible Space and Heechan Kim. Furniture and objects become vessels for political critique and collective memory.
ICFF x WANTED – Designing in Harmony
Daniel Gruetter
@ryin - Ah Um Design Studio
@juniperdesigngroup
At the Javits Center, the International Contemporary Furniture Fair returns with a renewed focus: sustainability, inclusivity, and emotional connectivity. Under the theme Designing in Harmony, the fair spotlights emerging voices through the WANTED platform, such as Ah Um Design Studio and Daniel Gruetter, while installations by Grohe and Juniper point toward a softer, sensory future of space-making.
THE CIC TAKE
NYCxDESIGN 2025 highlights a clear shift: design is becoming more intentional, contextual, and community-driven. For brands, this means moving beyond aesthetics to engage with creators who embody cultural relevance and ethical resonance. This design week offers not only a glimpse into tomorrow’s aesthetics, but into the ethics, values, and systems that will define the next decade of design.
For more cultural decoding and insights, check our other articles.
