Team BUILD just returned from bustling New York City where we energized the batteries catching up with old friends, new places, and fresh design. We timed our trip to align with New York’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair, the largest national trade show of furniture, interiors and beautiful people. Not only was the show extremely informative, but everyone we visited was a pleasure to speak with. A huge thanks to the hard-working reps, owners, designers and builders, all of whom were on their feet all day, foregoing the blue skies and sunshine outside to generously educate us on their products. With 500+ booths it’s daunting to attempt to see everything, but we had our finely tuned radar on. We filtered our highlights to a palatable shortlist of picks that we think you’ll enjoy getting familiar with. 

Our first stop was a visit to the crack-team at Brizo where we were happy to see their new Solna faucet available in matte white and matte black. This thing is oozing with good, clean Scandinavian design savviness and we can’t wait to start specifying them for projects. (Added bonus: It’s also available with SmartTouch.) Big appreciation to Judd and Jai of Brizo for taking the time to catch up with us.


[All Photos by BUILD LLC]

Seattle’s very own Graypants was knocking it out of the park with their display, a loungy atmosphere, complete with soundtrack, attracting hordes of cool kids stopping by to chat. Their recycled cardboard lamps continue to be the freshest use of discarded boxes on the planet.

The 40” x 52” wall tiles by Inalco are the perfect match for those bathroom and shower applications where fewer grout lines are desired. The simple, sensual colors and textures maintain a balanced level of sophistication.

These handsome wood chairs are the work of student John Ford and we were blown away at their level of elegance and design discipline.

We’re not sure how practical it is for the home, but the Private Rocker by Kyle Fleet at Cranbrook Academy of Art stole our hearts and an unproportional amount of our time. The concept is playful and fresh.

The Autoban collection from De La Espada was one of the quickest transports from NYC to Scandinavia we’ve experienced. We felt like we got beamed up to the Swedish mothership to soak in the warm tones, elegant curves and natural beauty. It just made us want to hunker down and have a Tuborg.

We’re not huge wall paper fans but when we spied the NLXL booth displaying hip textures like weathered wood planks and rusted tin ceiling tiles, we we’re taken. Sign us up, we’re looking forward to having some fun with these.

It’s a challenge to find box sinks that aren’t overdesigned and AF|NY is doing a spectacular job of keeping them simple without losing the poetry. In addition to standard sizes, they can also customize the length, width, and height to darn near anything.

The Stickbulb lighting booth by Rux Design was love at first light. These crisp, clean, and highly functional lights are everything they need to be and nothing more. The wood housing keeps the LED technology warm and friendly, while the mounting options are ample.

We chatted with the Room B folks for quite a while (thanks, Room B folks) and, having our own cabinet shop, we can tell this crew knows their stuff. Their highly-crafted, timeless furniture is available at reasonable prices. Definitely get these folks on your radar and check out more of their work.

Design House Stockholm really nailed the design for a line of straight-forward, handsome pendant lights.

While the Jieldé Lamp has been around for decades, a true classic never gets old. So of course we had to stop by to say hello and pay our respects. And we were pleased to hear the lamp is now available in matte colors.

Santa & Cole’s playful wall and ceiling fixture utilizes simple geometry and reflected light to create a sophisticated aesthetic.

By the end of our day at ICFF, we’d had our fill of incredible design. It was high time for a break and a thirst quencher. So to cap off our list is the supremely well-mixed Mezcal Manhattan we had at Locanda Verde after the show. Gorgeous and tasty.

To wrap things up that evening, ICFF threw a slick opening night party at the Park Avenue Armory on Manhattan’s upper east side. The theme was NASA and we couldn’t have been more thrilled to see the installations mimicking everything from lunar landers to artistic interpretations of mission control centers. Throw a few drinks in the mix and you’ve got one serious party.

Kudos to ICFF and everyone involved –a very successful show this year and we’re chomping at the bit to use some of our new design finds.

Cheers from team BUILD