What’s new in design? ICFF and WantedDesign Manhattan 2023 adopt a shared vision

Next month ICFF and WantedDesign Manhattan, New York’s concurrent design fairs that form the backbone of the NYCxDESIGN Festival, come together under the same leadership for the first time. Already under the same roof – that of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center – since 2021, ICFF, the long-standing platform for established American design and its international peers, and WantedDesign Manhattan, the platform for independent and emerging talent at home and abroad, are now co-ordinated by WantedDesign’s founders, Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat. Integrating agendas and taking the fairs in a new interactive direction, they are looking to unify the vision while retaining the essence and purpose of each.

A more visitor-facing approach will be apparent across the platforms with increased space for public mingling in the form of lounges and a new restaurant area. The layout of the fairs, meanwhile, has a more edited, curated feel, with furniture, lighting, kitchen and bath, textiles, seating, flooring, accessories and materials organised by themes and categories. As Hainaut and Pijoulat put it, the goal is ‘a strong focus on sharing best practices, educating the community and the next wave of designers, enhancing the role of design for the future and creating an incredible experience for our attendees.’ And while the home-grown design community is central to proceedings, those attendees include a 300-strong crowd of international participators from over 20 countries, and a number of country-specific pavilions including Morocco (for the first time), Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Norway, Romania, Portugal and the U.K. are on the floorplan.

As the vision of the two fairs starts to align, designer Rodolfo Agrella is providing some of the glue that brings them together aesthetically. He has been charged with the look of the WantedDesign Manhattan environment, including the Lounge furnished by Ligne Roset and David Weeks Studio and the Cafe x Caesarstone, with lighting by Tala, and also ICFF’s Oasis x Material Bank space, furnished by Normann Copenhagen, FilzFelt and Kasthall, and new restaurant area.

Innovation and indigenous talent will drive a brand new feature, The Crossroads, located at the junction of the two fairs. An immersive space, conceived in collaboration with Rockwell Group and co-curator Pei-Ru Keh, it celebrates 17 established and upcoming design studios from across the USA. It sees, for example, the long cherished talent of Fort Standard, in the form of a supersized version of its striped dining table, rub along with that of students aged 7-14 from the Lumber Club Marfa woodworking club for girls, a collection of whose stools feature with the table in the communal part of the exhibition. 

Across a number of adjacent spaces, work from BZIPPY, Superflower Studio, Bower, Coil + Drift, Drop It Modern, Ladies & Gentlemen Studio, Alexis Tingey, Bradley L. Bowers, David Weeks Studio, Grain, Liam Lee, Nifemi Ogunro, Norman Teague Design Studio, Sophie Lou Jacobsen and Sunshine Thacker-Love House is exhibited. ‘We wanted to explore the notion of duality and contradiction in American design – the strengths that are inherent in the established and the emerging; the merging of technology with hand-craftsmanship; the need for practicality to go hand-in-hand with fantasy,’ says David Rockwell, Creative Director and Founder and President, Rockwell Group, who has steered the space. ‘I think American designers are constantly trying to meld those worlds.’

Regular features include the ICFF Editors Awards, the category winners of which will be finalists in the Best in Show, and the much-anticipated Talks programme, taking place across the ICFF + WantedDesign Manhattan Talks stage, styled by Turf and Natuzzi, and the Oasis x Material Bank space. The Talks programme includes thought-provoking discussions led by global experts and stars of their field on themes such as sustainability (Eco Solidarity); originality (Inspiring Innovation: Can Original Design be Taught?), emerging trends (WGSN’s Global Trend Forecast; Reshaping Design: Tracking the Trends Influencing Kitchen and Bath; and Color Trends & The Impact of Light on Materials & Finishes), mentorship (All Together Now: Designing for (and With!) The Next Generation) and local design identity (Capturing the Spirit of American Design), as well as intimate, in-depth conversations with designers like Norwegian visionary studio, Snøhetta and the newly awarded 2023 Designer of the Year.

WantedDesign Manhattan will host its Schools Exhibit (presenting the work of students from international Design Schools and setting the scene for productive networking); Launch Pad (where 68 emerging designers from 23 countries showcase new concepts and prototypes which are reviewed by a jury of distinguished international industry members for The Best of Launch Pad accolade); and Look Book, an area dedicated to the works of top North American designers, makers and studios. This year the likes of Concrete Poetics, NJ Roseti and Ayumiya return while newcomers include Elizabeth Lyons Glass, Forces at Play and Natan Moss Design.

Get ready to immerse, it’s going to be a busy three days.

Trade professionals can register here through Architonic and use the custom code ARCH23 for complimentary access.

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