Fashion Declares Design as the Next "Consumer Obsession," and other news
Should Collectible Design be gatekept?, An influx of industry predictions, J. Lohmann Gallery's newest exhibition brings joy to downtown NYC, and Maison&Objet celebrates Korean design.
Hello Friends,
Happy New Year! I hope everyone is feeling well-rested in preparation for The Great Consumer Exhaustion I keep hearing about. The holiday gift guides have been put to rest and we can continue to focus on the important things like how to stop fashion from ruining design (see below).
For our new readers, welcome, and thank you for subscribing. As a refresher, Leo (my co-founder) and I (Julia - nice to meet you), created TDR in 2017 to navigate large city-wide design and art weeks. While I was scouting for AD Show in the 2010s I could never find exhibition listings in one place - they came directly from PR, and journalists would publish exhibition info in retrospect - so we started TDR to keep ourselves and our pals in the know.
With our third founder, Zack, we built a website to help you discover design exhibitions in almost every major city (and beyond). But we don’t just share big annual design weeks and the events happening there, we are the first website to list collectible design and independent design exhibitions all in one place.
Leo and I came up during NYC’s best design era (in my opinion!) and the design community there has completely transformed our professional and personal lives. That’s how we became best friends and co-founders. We want design lovers to become design insiders, and that starts with seeing exhibitions in person, meeting like-minded people, and experiencing the energy of the design community firsthand.
Anyways! I have a lot to say this month, here we go:
First off, I’d like to shout out fashion journalist Lauren Sherman - she writes a must-read newsletter for Puck and has an awesome podcast called Fashion People that I listen to religiously (she also co-wrote an excellent book about Victoria’s Secret that my husband got me for Christmas). Lauren’s podcast is how I escape design to learn about fashion, so imagine my shock when design made its way onto Fashion People earlier this month. Lauren had an interesting interview with Design Miami chair Jesse Lee, whose company Basic.Space bought the fair a year ago. I googled Basic.Space to find out more - it's a lifestyle resale platform Lee describes as "Soho House meets Raya."
Lee's insight on collectible design feels surface-level and reveals more about fashion's current fascination with design than about design itself. When he points to design's luxury status, his evidence is Instagram posts from Balenciaga and ALAÏA. His observations - that "design is the new luxury" and Art Basel is now "ubiquitous and mainstream" - read like someone viewing the field through a social media lens rather than from within.
Design Miami's new direction under Lee seems focused on exclusivity through celebrity collaborations. A very fashion approach. But here's the thing about collectible design: while its niche appeal is part of what we love about it, its real value lies in education. Dismissing the general public doesn't just limit attendance - it cuts off the development of future collectors, designers, and curators.
I love Design Miami, I remember my first visit in 2014 absolutely blew my mind. It’s one of the best contemporary design fairs which actually offers ROI for most of its exhibitors. But I don’t love it when fairs become obsessed with aligning with celebrities. It becomes so vapid. Then the exact people you’re trying to keep out are desperate to get in to take selfies, in hopes of spotting Rihanna. Have you been to Frieze LA? That is the perfect example. Frieze LA is the most stressful fair on earth.
This topic leads to a newsletter I read last week that has been reposted a few times here on substack. Emily Sundberg’s In/Out Industry Predictions newsletter feels very spot on (and depressing in certain cases). But regarding design, she writes:
Design (furniture, lighting, collectibles) will continue to grow its market share and position in contemporary culture as the creative class in cultural capitals seek new avenues of exclusivity. We see design replace the waning power of the art market and culture, and the over-saturation of fashion (partly due to TikTok, Instagram, and new media) continues to exhaust. Design has borrowed a lot of the tool kits from Art and Fashion (fairs, opening parties, collaborations) but currently maintains higher cultural capital in many creative circles. You see this trend playing out in your Instagram feed in New York, Paris, and Los Angeles as design products, events, and designers themselves become the new marker of elite tastes across generations. Why was Fendi at Design Miami? Loro Piana at Salone in Milan? This isn’t about a line of products that contribute a negligible amount to these companies bottom line. It’s because this is where the tastemakers and the elite are.
She is right. And readers of TDR will already know that fashion houses have long participated in the design world: Louis Vuitton's Objets Nomades exhibitions, Loewe's Craft Prize showcases, and Hermès' home installations, among others, have been showcased during important design weeks for many years now. It's telling that the fashion world is only now taking notice because Bottega Veneta had Gaetano Pesce chairs at their runway show. Fashion wants to consume design because fashion is tired of its own product… because everything in fashion has become duped. But there's a key difference in our worlds: the fashion industry thrives on rapid consumption, while design collecting rewards patience and discernment.
It seems the fashion industry has caught on to collectible design, and I am worried that they ruin everything.
Well, I may have lost us a potential Design Miami partnership (TDR is looking for aligned partnerships FYI 🤣) but I want to maintain an authentic dialogue here and I am curious about what you think! Please reply to send me an email, or drop a comment if you have something to add. I’d be thrilled to see more comments!
Moving on! We have some interesting news links below, and a featured interview with ceramic artist Ahryun Lee, whose joyful and playful works will brighten our day at USM later this month. We hope to see you there!
And as always, if you have an exhibition you would like to see up on the website:
In this issue:
Some news
Ahryun Lee
Fair of the month
Exhibition of the month
News News News
One of my favorite design journalists, Ben Drieth, writes a great newsletter. His latest talks about what is being coined as “De-Art” aka Collectible Design (or functional art). Read it here.
Rick Kaufmann, Impresario of Art Furniture, Dies at 77. NYT
Who was the buyer of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s collection at Sotheby’s? WWD
More 2025 predictions: Cautious optimism seems to be the trend in this round-up on Business of Home.
Turn off Siri. Forbes
The reality of art fair costs. Hyperallergic
Some NYC news via Eater, as reported by Emily Sundberg: Lure in Soho might lose its space to a Prada restaurant. It is rumored to be a Pasticceria Marchesi, which is surprising that they don't already have an NYC location. I am only including this news because my wedding cake was from Marchesi and I haven’t had an opportunity to tell the world. Tastes as good as it looks!! A++ cake experience.
A TDR Exclusive Interview: Ahryun Lee
Later this month, on January 16th, Ahryun Lee and J. Lohmann Gallery will present the exhibition Hoppy Marvels at USM Haller’s NYC showroom on Green Street. We love to see how USM has become a hub for design exhibitions, and the contrast of Ahryun's playful ceramics against USM's minimalist case goods will create a fun and engaging dialogue.
Joern Lohmann - the founder of J. Lohmann Gallery - has been at the forefront of the decorative arts and design scene in NYC. His sharp eye is focused on ceramic and glass artists who use innovative techniques to push their creative output beyond the traditional expectations of their material.
Since 2018 Joern has been fostering the vision of Korean-born, Bavaria-based artist, who has been creating a world of characters as part of her practice. Ahryun’s porcelain forms - which she describes as shapes of memory: sculpture as symbols - emerge from a deep exploration of childhood wonder and joy, transforming remembrances into tactile creatures that live somewhere between reality and imagination.
In TDR's interview with Ahryun, we learn about her influence from her upbringing in Korea, her education at Seoul National University, and how it contrasted with the conceptually-driven program at the Royal College of Art in London she later attended. For artist readers, Ahryun shares insights on successful gallery relationships, emphasizing how mutual trust and aligned aesthetic vision - as she's found with J. Lohmann Gallery - have been crucial to her artistic development. She also reflects on the role of international fairs in shaping her career trajectory.
Read more at the link below:
We hope to see our friends at USM for the opening. Here is the exhibition information:
January 16, 2025 to February 6, 2025
Hours: Monday to Friday 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM & Saturday 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Location: USM NY Showroom. 28-30 Greene Street New York, NY 10013
Fair of the Month: Maison&Objet
It’s Maison&Objet time in Paris. The great big Parisian trade show anchors activities and events happening throughout the city, and we’ll be keeping up with it on the TDR calendar. In this winter edition, British designer Faye Toogood receives Designer of the Year honors, while the show’s 2025 Rising Talents Awards spotlight young South Korean creators. The honorees - all under 35 - include Dahye Jeong's innovative basketry, Minjae Kim's sculptural wooden furniture, In Yeonghye's textural chairs, and Sisan Lee's poetic steel designs.
January 16, 2025 - January 20, 2025
Location: Paris Nord Villepinte Exhibition Centre
ZAC Paris Nord 2, 93420 Villepinte, France.
Exhibition of the Month: Evolving Forms
Our favorite Antwerp-based gallery, St Vincents, presents Evolving Forms, the first solo exhibition by Paris-based design studio goons. The show introduces new work from founders Mia Kim, a fashion designer/creative director formerly of Hermès and Chanel, and Paul Trussler, an architect who worked alongside Frank Gehry as a maquette-maker before leading his own practice. Their process centers on reclaimed plywood, exploring its potential through careful consideration of volume and utility - each piece shaped by both their design expertise and the practical needs of family life.
Thank you for reading our January newsletter!
We're excited to share more in 2025: conversations with industry tastemakers, guides to major design fairs, and our latest perspectives on contemporary design. Check out our annual fair guide newsletters: Part 1 and Part 2. Our website remains updated with current and future events.
Also: Your feedback helps shape our content! Let me know what you'd like to see more (or less) of.
Cheers! 🥂
Julia (and hello from Leo and Zack)
Looking to share your design work with our community? We welcome collaborations with galleries and individual artists/designers.
Contact: julia@thedesignrelease.com
real.
Thank you for saying it!