{"id":817032,"date":"2026-05-23T14:50:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T14:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/817032\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T14:50:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T14:50:45","slug":"new-york-design-months-small-beautiful-objects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/817032\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Design Month\u2019s Small, Beautiful Objects"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n Photo-Illustration: Curbed; Photos: Matthew Gordon, David Sierra, Carbon Stories, Leah Verway\n <\/p>\n

There\u2019s a certain scale at which the discerning buyer might hit a rut; things that are smaller than most pieces of furniture might require turning to the largest of shelves at the biggest box stores. Part of the problem may be that it doesn\u2019t make sense to design stunning editions of items that could fit in your pocket if they won\u2019t end up in many shops. There are Lalique knife rests and Faberg\u00e9 snuffboxes, sure, but so many offerings in the realm of tiny home goods generally fail to inspire.<\/p>\n

But among the regular assortment of items that would burst the seams of your bank account or your apartment\u2019s square footage, this year\u2019s design week<\/a> featured all sorts of small, excellent objects, and many of them were even affordable. From Petra Hardware\u2019s new line of knobs and pulls to Lichen\u2019s exhibition of incense holders, the pleasure was in seeing everyday objects made strange and beautiful.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Leah Verwey\n <\/p>\n

The humble light dimmer has been transformed into an object of delight by Dimwit<\/a>, an electrical hardware company founded by Joanna Bean Martin. At the Afternoon Light design fair, it debuted Anagrams, a line of dimmers with bauble-like knobs and switch plates that are anything but discreet; these can be swapped out without requiring a single tool (and there\u2019s the anagram). Available in a palette of lemon, aubergine, sage and other complementary colors, the collection is a satisfying alternative to the app-based dimmers that accompany so many smart bulbs these days. Here the rotary knob has been elevated here into something ethereal \u2014 an orb on a\u00a0canvas.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Leah Verway\n <\/p>\n

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\n From left: <\/strong>Photo: Leah VerwayPhoto: Leah Verway\n <\/p>\n

\n From top: <\/strong>Photo: Leah VerwayPhoto: Leah Verway\n <\/p>\n

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\n From left: <\/strong>An assortment of the new Fundamentals collection. Photo: Matthew GordonPetra\u2019s Bocce line. Photo: Matthew Gordon\n <\/p>\n

\n From top: <\/strong>An assortment of the new Fundamentals collection. Photo: Matthew GordonPetra\u2019s Bocce line. Photo: Matthew Gordon\n <\/p>\n

For the last two years, Petra<\/a>, a showroom founded by Sight Unseen\u2019s Monica Khemsurov, has commissioned and rounded up high-end hardware \u2014 switch plates, curtain tiebacks, and towel bars, among them. This month it just debuted the first design of its own with Petra Fundamentals<\/a>, seven coordinating knob and pull combinations across three collections. Hand-cast in India at the atelier of Anastasio Home, with contributions from Bower Studios<\/a> and Alexis and Ginger, the collection brings a modern, sculptural flourish to otherwise common fixtures. Ginger Gordon and Alexis Tingey found inspiration from a variety of quarters for these appendages. Some resemble ancient oil lamps and brooches; others take after Barbara Hepworth and Isamu Noguchi sculptures.<\/p>\n

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\n From left: <\/strong>Petra\u2019s Russo hardware. Photo: Matthew GordonHandles from Petra\u2019s Barbara line. Photo: Matthew Gordon\n <\/p>\n

\n From top: <\/strong>Petra\u2019s Russo hardware. Photo: Matthew GordonHandles from Petra\u2019s Barbara line. Photo: Matthew Gordon\n <\/p>\n

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Photo: Carbon Stories\n <\/p>\n

Lichen<\/a>, a Ridgewood design shop and incubator, put on an intriguing survey of incense burners during design week. The theme seems like a lark, but the incense holder is actually the most common item that designers submit to Lichen for consideration. So they chose to showcase the best of these ideas. There\u2019s an orange and white smokestack, a Soriana sofa, a three-legged glass creature, and even a series of figures holding a life net to catch the ash.\u00a0One ceramic head will chain-smoke as many sticks as you care to give him, but his health will never suffer. Nor will your wallet. A number of the pieces are under 100 dollars.<\/p>\n

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\n From left: <\/strong>Photo: Carbon StoriesPhoto: Carbon Stories\n <\/p>\n

\n From top: <\/strong>Photo: Carbon StoriesPhoto: Carbon Stories\n <\/p>\n

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\n From left: <\/strong>Wavy Night Dancer by Mikei Huang. Photo: David SierraA light by Ben and Aja. Photo: David Sierra\n <\/p>\n

\n From top: <\/strong>Wavy Night Dancer by Mikei Huang. Photo: David SierraA light by Ben and Aja. Photo: David Sierra\n <\/p>\n

It\u2019s rare to see a single nightlight that aspires to anything more than emitting a feeble glow, let alone 120 of them. DUDD LITE might well be the most interesting selection of nightlights ever mounted. Curated by Laura Young of The Future Perfect<\/a> and the aesthetic pranksters of DUDD HAUS, this exhibition features the best of some 400 submissions. The brief was rather simple: the design had to work with Bocci\u2019s 22 lighting system, but they could and did take on almost any form otherwise.<\/p>\n

There is an homage to column details<\/a> from Sophie Coll\u00e9, a melted plastic bag piece<\/a> from Chen and Kai<\/a>, an abstracted composition from Garnier Pingree inspired by an uncle\u2019s sculptures and mobiles, and a Bighorn sheep talisman<\/a> from Courtney Duncan. Miniature jokes abound; an inflatable tube man (you know, from auto dealerships), a banana in swimming trunks, and a bear in a cave among them. Insomnia, or that middle-of-the-night trek to the bathroom, will no longer be boring.<\/p>\n

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\n From left: <\/strong>Dust Collection by James H. Kennon. Photo: David SierraSpatial Void by Kevin Woodtli. Photo: David Sierra\n <\/p>\n

\n From top: <\/strong>Dust Collection by James H. Kennon. Photo: David SierraSpatial Void by Kevin Woodtli. Photo: David Sierra\n <\/p>\n

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