Connecting Parts by WantedDesign

After a very brief moment of shock and inertia, when Covid hit and lockdowns descended in early 2020, WantedDesign, the New York-based platform for emerging and future design, rallied and embraced the many opportunities available virtually to the young dynamic community it nurtures. With its trade show arm, WantedDesign Manhattan, recently acquired by Emerald, it had planned for the first time to co-locate its May 2020 show, with ICFF, also owned by Emerald, in the Javits building. Now,18 months after the world was banned from meeting in person, WantedDesign Manhattan will take up its place for the first time under the same roof as ICFF for two days in November.

WantedDesign is an ever-evolving beast devised to support the US and international creative communities in all kinds of ways. Founded by French-born Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat in 2011, its activities, which include events, conversations, education, workshops and awards programs, are year-round. In lockdown, WantedDesign Online emerged, a series of digital exhibitions from both emerging to established design around the world and Close Up, a TV show format set up for product launches, trend forecasts, and virtual networking experiences.

Now the WantedDesign Manhattan trade show is back with all its parts – Look Book, a platform nurturing business opportunities for a select few high-end designers, makers and studios from the US and Canada. Fostering connections between them and their customisable products and the Architectural and Design community working in residential and hospitality design, Look Book 2021 includes Nina Cho, Simon Johns, Bowen Liu, Ian Love Design Indo-, and Lorekform.

Launch Pad, meanwhile, is a program sponsored by American Standard, that sees international emerging designers introducing new concepts and prototypes of furniture, accessories and lighting. The Best of Launch Pad winners have been chosen from a strong group of participants, by a jury headed up by Jaime Derringer of Design Milk. They are Echo Zhan, in the lighting category, for her colour-changing wall light, Revolve and Tomma Bloom for Tomma Bloom for her textile collection ‘Sonia and Rene’, that reinterprets Art Deco themes for a contemporary audience. Both will show in-person at the Javits Center.

For its supporting talks programme, WantedDesign has joined forces with ICFF. They have designed the ideal environment in which the speakers will take the stand – in collaboration with Turf Design, whose materials and customised designs provide acoustic solutions to architects and Be Original Americas who have furnished it with a stage and seating.

The talks roster includes industry aristocracy speaking on subjects such as the ‘Hospitality Reach' and the blurring boundaries between commercial, residential, wellness, and more, and ‘Wellness and Health Materials’. An ‘Emerging Designers Showcase’, moderated by Amy Devers, links to Launch Pad, allowing its young designers to present their projects and themselves to the industry.

‘We’re excited to co-locate our show with ICFF, embark on the next chapter for WantedDesign Manhattan and bring the fair experience to a new level,’ said WantedDesign co-founders Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat. ‘We look forward to reuniting with the exhibitors and attendees.’

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