The International Contemporary Furniture Fair, held mid-May at New York‘s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, has been an annual ritual for design addicts for two decades. The ICFF is where top design firms (like Umbra, who boasted the show’s largest booth) and schools (like the Savannah College of Art and Design, which won the event’s Editor’s Award for Top Design School) show off their latest and greatest. With well over 600 exhibitors representing 38 countries, the event offers a snapshot of the design world at this current moment in time, and shines a spotlight on the trends, designers and firms that will be making design news in the future.
One notable happening at this year’s ICFF was the launch of Meta, a new design firm that brings many of the brightest lights in modern design together. First launched in Milan this April by 18th-century antique dealer Mallett Antiques, the firm focuses exclusively on luxury modern furniture and objects designed by top designers including Asymptote (Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture), Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, Tord Boontjem, Matali Crasset and Wales & Wales. These designers then worked with artisans around the world to complete their seriously expensive, made-to-order designs – including a solid gold box, an enamel-leaf wardrobe and a paktong pendant lantern. All amazing, gorgeous…and very, very expensive.