Industry City becomes the latest NYCxDESIGN week destination

May 12, 2014 Heather Chin

BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/Photo by Heather J. Chin

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The 11-day NYCxDESIGN series has a new destination in Brooklyn this year, courtesy of Sunset Parks Industry City (IC) and design-centric curation powerhouse WantedDesign. It joins BKLYN DESIGNS in DUMBO as the only Brooklyn venues during the citywide program.

According to Industry City CEO Andrew Kimball, IC is the perfect venue for NYCxDESIGN because it has an explosion of creativity and design that is key to growing the innovation economy at [IC] and in the borough.

From May 9 through 20, the main factory floor of Building 2 at 220 36^th Street will serve to showcase the designsfurniture, lighting, woodworking, textiles, performance, graphic design, 3-D printing, gaming, environmental sustainability, and moreof dozens of local and international creators.

Extending our vision for WantedDesign to Brooklyn by bringing an 11-day lively program with city organizations, design collectives, makers, and creating a Brooklyn design hub for the entire NYCxDESIGN celebration is an exciting mission,said Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat, co-founders of WantedDesign. We truly believe it will contribute to NYCxDESIGN by making it stronger, offering a new and unique experience for . . .both design professionals and the general public.

Design participants include AIGA/NY with their post-Sandy resiliency Design/Relief project in South Street Seaport, Red Hook and the Rockaways; TobeUs carved toy-like wooden vehicles, each created by a different artist; Tucker Robbins Designs indigenous-modern furniture from craftspeople in Nigeria, the Philippines and Cameroon; Simo Neris one-of-a-kind silk-printed photographic scarves and shirts; and Dorit Chrystlers performance of Um Projects theremin musical instruments.

Several pieces from Brooklyn artists with the WorkOf design collective are also present, assembled together as part of a two-room WorkOf Apartment.

Were trying to show you how you can live just with materials from Brooklyn, said Charlie Miner, who co-founded WorkOf with John Neamonitis. Our goal is to help promote independent designing and connect them with consumers who support them.

Fort Greene designer James Devlins hand-welded brass gold and calacatta marble table reflects that balance between luxurious materials, out-of-the-box design, and relaxed setting that some associate with Brooklyn. Everything that makes Brooklyn a great place to work is the variety and feeding each other [inspiration], leading to a much better design than we wouldve made on our own, he said.

Red Hook residents Rachel and Nick Cope founded Calico Wallpaper just a few months ago and are already printing unique, printed landscape murals in collections such as dip-dyed Bayou, a serene sea green, and marbleized wallpapers.

In the middle of it all, in the outdoor courtyard between the two floor spaces, is Sebastian Errazurizs giant golden calfa piñatastuffed with hundreds of dollar bills and titled XX Century Capital.

Designed to simultaneously evoke Wall Streets iconic bull statue, the Bibles false golden calf idol, and the Latin American birthday party piñata game, the calf wears a golden dollar sign between its horns.

I wanted to create a piece that could be festive and be part of a celebration, said Errazuriz, whose studio is in Sunset Park. Coming from South America, I immediately remembered the classic birthday piñatas filled with candy that the kids would hit blindfolded.

On May 20, NYCxDESIGN visitors will be invited to wield 99 wooden bats and have a go at the statue until money rains down on them. The symbolism? The 99-percent taking the 1 percent to task.

For the full schedule, visit www.IndustryCity.com/events/design.