Part 2 of a tour around the exhibitions and showrooms of NYCxDesign 2024 includes a few non-furniture entries. American Design Club challenged artists and designers to consider new interactions with drinking vessels. Treble Clef Audio debuted some of the world’s most expensive speakers. And MUJI paid tribute to a woman with a gift for writing product descriptions.

There’s more coverage to come, revisit Part 1 here.

HIDA ISU Installation

Japanese furniture brand HIDA made their NYCxDesign debut with an takeover of Studio Guapo’s Alphabet City storefront space. Hida Sangyo, based in the mountainous Gifu Prefecture is a century+ old company making handcrafted furniture. The half dozen chairs on display show the company’s commitment to traditional craftsmanship applied to modern design. All of them are quite beautiful. The space was filled out with pieces by Rarify, USM Modular, Ingo Maurer and Western Acoustics.

American Design Club – Mouthful

AMDC’s annual design exhibition invited designers to submit creative takes on drinking vessels. The pieces included in Mouthful ranged from functional to less than practical. A standout were Harry Allen’s series of ceramic mugs with handles formed from cast doorknobs and drawer pulls.

Treble Clef Audio

While NYCxDesign is still fundamentally a furniture driven in focus, occasionally vehicles or electronics make an appearance. That was the case with Danish audiophile brand Treble Clef Audio‘s takeover of a Manhattan loft. Debuting the TCM-A loudspeaker for the first time in NYC, the handcrafted, 170+ pound treble note shaped speakers deliver a near live-quality reproduction. The aesthetics might not be to everyone’s tastes and at roughly $91K a pair, the target buyers narrow further. However the they sound great and the craftsmanship is impeccable.

MUJI IS

Behind the ‘Wa-ke’ was the second MUJI IS exhibition held at NYC’s Hudson Yards coinciding with NYCxDesign. For this iteration, the focus was on the work of Miyuki Tokunaga, the woman responsible for writing the concise descriptions found on MUJI product tags. A flowing ribbon of craft paper divided the gallery space on to which were printed enlarged versions of Tokunaga’s tags with their associated items. The space was minimally altered and still felt very much like a MUJI environment, a testament to the brand’s consistent stance on simplified living.

Vitra Workspace

Vitra has been without a NYC showroom since losing their last space in the Flatiron district. While legendary Swiss design brand seeks a new location, there’s a workspace office located on a Hudson River facing floor of the vast Starrett-Lehigh Building. A one day open house offered a peek into the space and a chance to see the new Mikado chair designed Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby.

Photos and Text: Dave Pinter