"Eccentric" furniture by queer designers fills Bushwick space
Interior design studio Studio S II has collaborated with artists Grace Whiteside and Liz Collins to showcase furniture by a majority of women, trans and non-binary designers in Brooklyn as part of NYCxDesign.
Called Design Dysphoria, the exhibit included furniture, textile artwork, glass work and fine art pieces arranged in a residential-like layout inside the concrete-lined studio of Studio S II in Brooklyn's Bushwick neighbourhood. The curators prioritised queer presence in contemporary design.
"We are carving out some queer space with an incredible cohort of designers and artists that are all crossing disciplines and blurring boundaries within their practices, a notion of queerness itself," said co-curator and glass artist Grace Whiteside.
The show centres on a bed bright orange bed and boldly patterned curtain by textile artist Liz Collins, next to spikey glass orb pendants by Whiteside and a patterned, tiled pedestal by Zander Schlacter.
Textured, resin side tables by Jeremy Martin and horse hair wall hangings by Nima Jeizan sit on either side of the bed, with additional brightly coloured textile work by Larry Krone and Poppy Deltadawn throughout the corner.
"This is a fun show, it's a celebratory show," Collins told Dezeen. "It's eccentric. We want it to be like an open-plan apartment and maybe even imagine the person who lives here and the friends who live here."
"It's easy to pull together a group of queer people design, but we really wanted to centre trans, non-binary and women designers." she continued. "We have a few gay, cis men but we wanted to kind of flip the script."
A metallic and wood chair by Studio S II sits in front of a Shou Sugi Ban privacy screen by Yolande Milan Batteau at the centre of the room, while a poplar wood totem of spliced orbs by Vivian Chiu sits next to it.
In the "living room", a glass table by Studio S II rests on a brass base, while two stone blue chairs by Collins are linked by a swatch of fabric. Other pieces in the area include artwork of silicone tiles by Pamela Council and a ceramic, cross-hatched sculpture by Fawn Krieger.
In a third corner, a "yard" hosts a handblown glass dog, accompanying droppings and toys by Deborah Czeresko, with a glass cat carrier placed opposite.
Prints by Fo Wilson and a fringed wall hanging by Kira Keck also surround the space, while a jacket by Zev Schwartz hangs above the studio's entrance.
Sterling silver jewellery and dishes by Zhi Wei were placed throughout the space.
"While the queer community is intimately intertwined with the environments it constructs and inhabits, there continues to be a need and opportunity to establish new places that prioritize queer voices and comradery," said the team.
"What is the significance of being an LGBTQIA+ designer in a world that is just beginning to integrate queerness into its common milieu?"
Design Dysphoria is the inaugural exhibition of interior studio Studio S II in Brooklyn, co-founded in 2o20 by designers Erica Sellers and Jeremy Silberberg.
Other shows and spaces on exhibit during NYCxDesign include Lee Broom's New York penthouse and a multi-functional space in a 19th-century Tribeca loft by lighting brand In Common With.
The photography is by Joe Kramm.
Design Dysphoria will be on show at Studio S II from 20 May to 25 May and New York's design festival 2024 takes place throughout the city from 16 to 23 May. See the NYCxDesign 2024 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.
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