ZSUZSANNA HORVATH, YURI HIMURO, SUSANNE ROSER, MARTINA STAUB, EWA BOCHEN, MACIEJ JELSKI, ALBERTO BELLAMOLI,LUCE COUILLET, KIM MARKEL, CHRISTIAN LO, DAVID RYAN, OLIVIA LEE, SAMY RIO, ASSAF ISRAEL, DENI CORREA,URANI CORREA, ZZABI OLARIA AGIS, TOSHIYA HAYASHI, HOKUTO ANDO, EMILIANO MOLINA, LANI ADEOYE, MARYAM TURKEY,ANIA WOLOWSKA, DAISUKE KITAGAWA, SINA SOHRAB, JOSEPH GUERRA, AGATA NOWAK, NKULI MLANGENI

Modern World

Zsuzsanna
Horvath’s birch
plywood coasters
come in an assortment of geometricpatterns. The
emerging Helsinki
designer was
inspired in part bycityscapes.

In our annual roundup of exciting talents in the designindustry, we present a roster of up-and-comers making waves on the
global stage. This year we collaborated with Odile Hainaut andClaire Pijoulat, co-creators of WantedDesign, an increasingly important
platform for designers and artisans.
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spotlight

YURI
HIMUR oLO CATIO NTokyo
E D U CATIO N

Tama Art University& Aalto University

DI I ISLO CAT IO NBasel
E D U CAT I O NRoser: Lucerne University of Applied
Sciences and Arts Staub: The
University of Applied Sciences andArts Northwestern Switzerland

ZSUZSA N N A
H 0 R VAT H
LO CAT IO N

Helsinki
E D UCAT IO N

Budapest University of Technology
and Economics & Aalto University
School of Arts, Design andArchitecture

Zsuzsanna Horvath’s architectural
background shines through in the
meticulous compositions of her products (previous page). Originally from
Budapest, the recent grad of Helsinki’s
Aalto University turned heads earlier
this year at the Stockholm Furnitureand Light Fair with her experiments
using a laser cutter to create 3D
objects from 2D sheets, with gravity
acting on thin birch plywood to giveit its sculptural form. —TIFFANY ORVET

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IN DUSTRYFELLOWSHIP
Helping hands are
essential for ayoung designer’s
career. A coalitionof establishedbrands pitches in.

create the double-layered
fabric, Himuro had todevelop a new jacquard
weaving technique. She
hopes her innovation will
help people “cultivate asense of emotional attachment to their belongings.”—JOANNE FURIOBe Original Americas,
a nonprofit committed
to educating andinfluencing designers,
businesses, and thegreater public on thevalue of authentic
design, kicked off
a fellowship programin 2016 to award
young designers in the
United States witha chance to meet withand learn from top
companies. The program is a seven-weekjourney through thedesign industry, hosted
by various membersof Be Original, suchas Herman Miller,
Bernhardt Design,
Maya Romanoff, andEmeco. This year,
the project culminatedin a presentation by
fellowship winners
Tom Groom and Irene
Lee. Applications for2018 are now open.

ILLUSTRATION: CHRISTOPHER THEED

Susanne Roser and Martina Staub
debuted as Diiis Designstudio in 2015,
and in the scant years since haveintroduced a slew of clever, sophisticated pieces for the home—from Sedo,
a combination hand mirror, container
and jewelry box, to Glaubi, a coathanger that offers much more than aplace to hang a hat (think mirrors androtating surfaces for keys). Working
with quality organic materials, the pair
are winning accolades, including a
recent nomination for the 2018 German
Design Awards. —MEGHAN DWYER

Yuri Himuro left her job
at a major necktie brand to
start her own cutting-edge
textile firm. Launched thisyear at the prestigious Milan
furniture fair, her Snip Snap
Series allows users to customize their own fabric by
cutting away at five different
scenes, revealing hidden
motifs. In a pattern depicting
a mountain village, the greenof a cypress forest can besnipped away to expose blue
waters. Cut away at a sceneof people digging for dinosaur bones, and other archeological finds appear. To

beoriginalamericas.com

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KO S MOSP R 0J E C T
LO CAT IO N

Warsaw
E D UCAT IO N

Bochen & Jelski: Warsaw
Academy of Fine Arts Bochen:
University of Technology in
Milan Jelski: Academy of Art& Design in Stuttgart

Designers Ewa Bochen andMaciej Jelski are behind Kosmos
Project, which could, at firstglance, be taken as a cheerfully
on-trend mash-up of tribal
motifs and Memphis elements.
But there’s something deeper
going on, a greater cohesion.
Take the Transition chair: The
shape of the backrest echoes
the shield of an ancient warrior
and the seat is painted ina shade called “holy green.”It’s clear the duo hopes to connect with and revive humanspirituality. —TO

A LBE RTO BE L L A M 0 LI
LO CATI O N

E DU CATION

Kolding, Denmark& Stallavena, Italy

Design School Kolding& Polytechnic University of Milan

Industrial designer Alberto Bellamoli is having a busy year. His creations have appearedin multiple curated shows, including the Pure Talents exhibition in Cologne, Germany, andGreenhouse at the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair in Sweden. One of his mostrecent pieces, the Làsta table, is made of pink marble harvested from the hills of Verona.
In collaboration with Jonathan Hotz, Bellamoli shaped the piece using a CNC machine. —MD

LU C EC0U ILLE T
LO CATIO N

Aubervilliers, France
E D U CATIO N

Luce Couillet is as much an
inventor as a designer, using
artisanal weaving processes tocreate new textiles. At her R&D
studio Matières Ouvertes, she’sbuilt a library of new materials
for high fashion, sports, medicine, and interior design. Her
dramatic Julio hanging mobiles,
which double as room dividers,
are laser-cut wood or paper
pieces that are hand-woven
together in works of architectural proportions, creating ahypnotic game of shadows. —TO

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PHOTO: STEFANO BELLAMOLI (ALBERTO BALLAMOLI)

Reims School of Art and
Design & National School ofIndustrial Design in Parismodern world
spotlight

KI M
MAR KE L

AN0N YLO CAT I O N

LO CATIO N

E D U CATIO N

Beacon, New York

Toronto

Lo: OCAD University Ryan: Humber Collegeof Applied Arts and Technology

E DUCAT I O NCarnegie Mellon University

With a mother who was an artist and amaster-craftsman father who she says
could “build anything and turn it to gold,”
it’s no surprise that Kim Markel becamea designer, albeit after an eight-year detour
working in public policy. “I missed making
things,” she says. She describes her translucent Glow chairs as a passion projectthat took off, noting that they have the qualities of childhood objects: “Their scale,
unexpected color, and handmade texture
all create a sense of unbridled reality andstrange magic.” An environmentalist, sheworks in recycled plastic, using only discarded or waste materials. —ARLENE HIRST

Christian Lo and David Ryan met while working for a large
design office where they both did freelance lighting projects
without receiving any design credit. Two years ago they wentout on their own, naming their company Anony. They began
creating lighting installations for designers and architects, butlast year they produced a residential line that won a Best
Collection award at IDS, Canada’s major interior design show.
“We design with the life cycle of the product in mind,” says
Lo. “We think about every user and make the lights easy toinstall and understand without a manual.” —AH

DESIGNRESIDENCY

Fabrica is a communications research
center based in Treviso,
Italy, establishedin 1994 by Luciano
Benetton. Its residency
program offers young
people from aroundthe world a one-year
scholarship, including
a round-trip ticket to
Italy, enabling a highly
diverse group of
designers/artists toacquire real-world
experience. The goal
is to inspire “social
catalysts” who, atthe end of their timeat the center, willcontinue their work
independently.
fabrica.it

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0 LI VIA LEE
LO CATIO N

E D U CATIO N

Singapore

Central Saint Martins College of Art
and Design

Olivia Lee had Asian city dwellers in mind when she conceived Float, a table that appears to contain lotus leaves inwater. “Nature is important and symbolic in Asia, especiallyin Southeast Asia,” says Lee. In Eastern cultures, water represents tranquility and fortune, while the lotus symbolizes
enlightenment and rebirth. Float, however, is an illusion. The“water” is clear resin cast around lotus leaves. Such sleightof hand results from working in the studio of British designer
Sebastian Bergne after college. “His joyful and witty approach
to his own practice always stayed with me,” she says. —JF

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ILLUSTRATION: CHRISTOPHER THEED. PHOTO: THE PRIMARY STUDIO (LEE).

A global program
explores the intersection of practiceand theory.

modern world
spotlight

UNEXPECTEDPATHWAYS
Innovative programs
offer students new
directions for study.

ASSA FI SR AEL
LO CAT I O NAlongside such crossdisciplinary experts as
industrial designer andbiodesigner Guillian
Graves, students at the
Design and Sciences
Program at ENSCI-Les
Ateliers examine culture, design, and science. Previous projects
include Mos(KIT)o kit,a system designed for
local governments todetect and create mapsof areas populated
by mosquitos infectedwith arboviruses.
It won Gold last year
at the international
Genetically Engineered
Machine competition
held in Boston.
ensci.com

Tel Aviv & MilanE D U CAT I O N

Bezalel Academyof Art and Design

Simple, flowing lines that avoid
unnecessary details are typical ofdesigner Assaf Israel’s work andare brought together with perfectrestraint in his Daydream lounger.
The seat consists of two identicalcushioned panels that interlock,creating a fragile-looking shape that
supports one person in a meditative
recline, or two people in meaningfulexchange. “I wanted to create
an object that will remind us of theimportance of taking a break andconnecting to ourselves in orderto reload,” says the designer. The
founder of Joynout Studio, he
divides his time between Northern
Italy and his native Israel. —TO

LO CAT I O N

E D UCAT I O N

ParisNational School of Industrial Design in ParisPHOTO: FRANCESCO BOLIS (ISRAEL)SAMY RI 0
Samy Rio started out studying cabinetmaking but found he wasmore interested in the production than the product. Fascinated by the
bamboo trees in a park near his home, he began to design with thematerial. He created the Bamboo lantern on a trip to Taiwan, where heworked with the national center for crafts. It won several awards andcommissions, and jump-started his career. Rio has expanded to othermaterials but is still determined to find a way to get bamboo into
industrial production. —AH

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MALTE TALLER
LO CAT IO N

Mexico CityE D UCAT IO N

Deni Correa: National Institute of Fine
Arts in Mexico City Urani Correa: National
School of Conservation, Restoration andMuseography in Mexico City Zzabi Olaria
Agis: self-taught

Malte Taller, run by three sisters—
Deni Correa, Urani Correa, and Zzabi
Olaria Agis—takes traditional pewter
kitchen utensils and enamels them withblack-and-silver designs, often inspiredby pre-Hispanic Mexican geometries.
The women credit a blue-speckled
enameled bowl that their grandfather
kept on his table with introducing themto the medium. Their playful designs
are applied by silkscreen and then baked
at 1,470 degrees, so the patterns won’t
fade. Like their abuelo’s bowl, Malte
Taller’s pieces should last a lifetime.
—EILEEN SMITH

EM ILI ANO
M 0 L INA
LO CAT I O N

Mexico CityE D U CAT I O N

Ibero-American University

ILLUSTRATION: CHRISTOPHER THEED. PHOTO: MASAYUKI HAYASHI (WE+)

When Emiliano Molina first presented the prototype of his Finger chair to workshops, no
one would make it, saying that it was too fragile and would break. He finally found a friend
willing to undertake the project, but even thefriend expressed doubt. “It was a challenge,
but every piece is a challenge,” Molina says,
noting that the seat is surprisingly strong.
Today the Finger chair is found in hotels, restaurants, and homes across Mexico. The piece
was also the foundation of his business,
Cuchara Design, which now employs five people and produces 18 additional products. —AH

WE +LO CATI O N

E D UCAT I O N

TokyoHayashi: Hitotsubashi University
Ando: Central Saint Martins Collegeof Art and Design“Wax is easy to use and can be reused simply by melting it,
making it a versatile and harmless material for us and theenvironment,” says Toshiya Hayashi, who, with Hokuto Ando,founded the design firm we+ in 2013. Their Disguise vases
are created by hand by molding layers of the material ina rotary motion. Inspired by Olafur Eliasson and Tokujin
Yoshioka, they added light and motion. LED lighting illuminates the vases from below, while a small motor createsripples in the water that are reflected by the light. The result:translucent, moon-like objects with movement and a luminous glow. Flowers optional. —JF

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TALENT
SHOWCASESL A NI
A DE 0YE
LO CAT IO N

E D UCAT IO N

New York

McGill University & Parsons
School of Design“Design is a form of communication,” says
Lani Adeoye, who has lived in such disparate
locations as Montreal, Lagos, and New York.
She’s right. Objects speak to each other all thetime—echoing one another’s form or style.
Adeoye’s Talking tables “derive their essencefrom instruments,” she says, being inspired by
the dundun, or “talking drums,” of West Africa.
Made of hand-turned wood, steel, and woven
leather, they reinterpret the drums’ silhouette
into a contemporary idiom with a removabletray top. —ZACHARY SACHSA global circuit oftrade shows gives
young designers
valuable visibility.
Greenhouse at the
Stockholm Furnitureand Light Fair
Stockholm, Sweden
Submission deadline:
September 22, 2017
A juried exhibition forunestablished designers and schools.
stockholmfurniture
lightfair.se

SaloneSatellite at
Salone del Mobile
Milan, Italy
Submissions deadline:
August 2018 for 2019.
Open to architects
and designers under
the age of 35.
salonemilano.it

Pure Talents at
immCologne
Cologne, Germany
Submissions deadline:
September 22, 2017

imm-cologne.com

The Launch Pad at
WantedDesign
New York, New York
Submissions deadline:
January 15, 2018
A juried selection ofworks by independent
designers and small
companies looking for
manufacturers.
wanteddesignnyc.com

38

MARYAM TUR KE Y
LO CAT I O N

E D U CAT I O N

New York

Pratt InstituteMaryam Turkey, a refugee from Iraq via Syria—where
she had to stay for three years before being allowed into
the United States—became a designer to help solve problems. “I want to make things people need, not just want,”
she says. But Turkey has an equally strong artistic side,
expressed in work like her Vaza vase. She used asymmetry
to create a dynamic form that acts as a foil to the organic
curves of the flowers within it. She also added an opening
in the center to expose the usually hidden plant stems. —AH

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ILLUSTRATION: CHRISTOPHER THEED

Forum for young
designers, institutions,and universities

modern world
spotlight

DAISU KE KI TAGAWA

A NIA
WOL 0 WSK A
LO CAT I O N

LO CATIO N

E D U CATIO N

Tokyo

Kanazawa College of Art“I’m not designing products to be ‘new and fun,’ but products that I, or someone likeme, will want to incorporate into their space,” says designer Daisuke Kitagawa. For his
Floe table, planes of tinted glass top a stainless steel base. The glass sections can berearranged, altering the dimensionality of the piece, like a tightly stacked Donald Judd
sculpture. Kitagawa’s method is driven by observation. “First, I study the history andcurrent situation of the product category,” he says, “and then I doubt them.” —ZS

Bacalar, Mexico
E DUCAT I O NAcademy of Fine Arts
in Warsaw, Centro in
Mexico City

“I believe in quality, in having fewer possessions, but
ones that last a lifetime,” says
Ania Wolowska, who studied
in Poland and then Mexico,
where she relocated in 2010.
Her studio, ITZ, produces
furniture that combines
European modernism’s quest
for perfection with the richgrain of local hardwoods
and traditional craftsmanship.
“Our productions are handmade. We don’t use any
automated machinery or
CNC routers,” Wolowska says.
For her Chamak low table,
she worked with lathe master
Luis Alarcon to fine-tune
the proportions. —ZS

V ISIBILI T Y
LO CATIO N

New York CityE D U CATIO N

Rhode Island Schoolof Design

A heightened sensitivity to vernacular
design informs the work of Sina Sohrab
and Joseph Guerra, who met at school
and founded their design firm, Visibility,
in Manhattan. Their matching gunmetal
steel shaving brush and basin, which canbe used to hold shaving cream, echo
the silhouette of a mortar and pestle.
“We approach the human scale in a
familiar yet nuanced way,” Sohrab says.
“The ritual of shaving is both ceremonial and cleansing, and the designreflects these qualities.” —ZS

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N KUL I
ML A NG E N I
LO CATIO N

E D U CATIO N

Johannesburg

Kaospilots

For Nkuli Mlangeni and her Ninevites
collective, cultural exchange is both aworking method and a source of inspiration. Her Sankara rugs, based on thepatterns of the Nguli people in South
Africa, are developed with graphic
designers in Spain and Africa. Using
textiles sourced from Namibia, they
are woven and hand-dyed in Peru.
“I loved their style of weaving, but
I also felt there wasn’t much trade
happening between the African continent and South America, and I wanted
to explore that.” Mlageni hopes therugs will resonate in an even larger
global context that reflects the processof their creation. —ZS

AGATA
N 0 WAKCONNECTION
THROUGHLEADERSHIPLO CAT I O N

Design communities
are made stronger
and more vital by“connectors.”

E DUCAT I O N

De Montfort University& The University of Fine
Arts in Poznan

Agata Nowak puts functionality first in a range offriendly designs that are
simple but clever. “I appreciate projects that respondto actual problems,” shesays. This is what led to herconceptual line of furniture
for kids. Understanding how
children like to bounce
around their rooms, Nowak
created a safe space fullof gentle curves rather than
sharp corners. For the
next user problem she takes
on, she’d like to work on
a more subconscious level,
exploring new kinds ofmood lighting and haptic
materials. —TO

Ravi Naidoo foundedInteractive Africa and
Design Indaba in CapeTown, South Africa,
to create a platform
for global design discourse. After two
decades, his vision has
become the Design
Indaba Festival, anannual celebration of
the innovation, creativity, and design
thinking emanatingfrom South Africa.
Fueled by a desire to
support and mentor
the next generation,
Naidoo initiated a program called Emerging
Creatives that connects young South
African artisans,designers, and architects with local
and international
influencers.

ILLUSTRATION: CHRISTOPHER THEED

Warsaw

designindaba.com

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