New York is gearing up to celebrate all facets of design with a mass of 2018 NYCxDESIGN events. From annual exhibitions to timely talks, this year's programming offers a variety of experiences all over the city. As you prep your schedule of what to see and do, check out the top recommendations from design industry insiders.
Lauren Urband, Founder & President, The Consultancy PR
It’s almost our favorite time of year… NYCxDesign! It’s a busy and exciting time for the New York design community between all of the various showroom events, Wanted Design, Sight Unseen and ICFF. The schedule can be a bit overwhelming, so here are our top recommendations for what to do and see during this inspiring week of design.
Armadillo & Co at ICFF
At ICFF, don’t miss Armadillo & Co, an Australian born, global lifestyle brand committed to ethical production of simple, handmade quality rugs. The brand will make their East Coast debut at ICFF (booth 667) and will showcase their newest pieces, which merge seamlessly with both traditional and contemporary interiors. 
Armadillo & Co
Consort at ICFF
Consort, the celebrity interior design firm and showroom led by Mat Sanders and Brandon Quattrone, will debut its Consort Collection (booth 1053), an assortment of handcrafted hardline and softline furniture. This undertaking into furniture is a first under the brand and is available through the online shop and in the Los Angeles and New York. Inspired by the discovery of a leather-bound journal at one of Consort’s favorite spots for vintage in Paris, the collection marries a mystery man’s modern-day Parisian romp with Consort’s undying obsession with French modernism. 
Consort
Design Within Reach Furnishing Utopia 3.0: Hands to Work
Beyond ICFF, Design Within Reach returns with Furnishing Utopia 3.0: Hands to Work, which opens a new dialogue intended to transcend Shaker aesthetics. More than 25 designers, including Studio Gorm, Christopher Specce and Ladies & Gentleman Studio, who provided creative direction, explored the virtues of focused work and cleanliness that the Shakers regarded as a path to enlightenment.
Design Within Reach also will also host a Summer Installation with noted illustrator Rob Wilson at its uptown location.
Rob Wilson
Jayson Home Sample Sale
Lastly, the beloved Chicago-based retailer, Jayson Home says so-long Soho with a very special sample sale as its NYC pop-up shop comes to a close this month. The entire store will be discounted up to 50% off through the end of the month. 
Jayson Home
Laura Bindloss, Founder, Nylon Consulting
UHURU Design Party
On Saturday, May 5th, UHURU Design will reveal the opening of their-first ever Redhook showroom with a Cinco de Mayo party of tacos and tequila. They will also be auctioning off portraits of their staff with proceeds benefiting a local community center. You can find more details here. 
UHURU Design
ICFF Talks: The Impact of the Internet on the Interior Design Profession
On Monday, May 21st, I would recommend seeing Christiane Lemieux, the founder of The Inside, speak at ICFF Talks. The Inside is "fast fashion" for the home—fashion forward, custom patterned furniture which is made in the US and ships to your door in four weeks. The talk will focus on the changing retail landscape—and how to successfully adapt—from the perspective of design industry pros. 
The Inside
Kimberly Phillips, Head of Public Relations + Events, Design Within Reach
Design Within Reach Presents Furnishing Utopia 3.0: Hands to Work
The third in a series of exhibitions exploring the design legacy of the Shakers, this year, the collective is opening up a dialogue between designers and viewers intended to transcend Shaker aesthetics. Designers were asked to explore the virtues of focused work and cleanliness that the Shakers regarded as a path to enlightenment.
Visitors will discover 40+ new objects from more than 25 international designers. In addition to the curated works, interactive visual and sound installations will challenge visitors to more deeply consider the sensorial satisfaction of using common tools.They will have the opportunity to put their own hands to work by creating videos that capture the mesmerizing sight and sound of performing ordinary tasks (think ASMR-style) and performing focused chores at a meditative workstation.
Hands to Workis curated by Studio Gorm, Christopher Specce and Ladies & Gentlemen Studio, with overall creative direction by Ladies & Gentlemen Studio.
Raquel’s Dream House
Raquel’s Dream House is a month-long initiative proposed by Raquel Cayre – the woman behind one of the design world’s favorite Instagram inspo-accounts @ettoresottsass – that re-examines traditional methods of presenting, viewing and experiencing design as well as its corresponding modes of display. The selected contributors, designers and artists represent Raquel’s ambition not simply to challenge pre-existing models, or even contradict them, but to “abolish their rules by playing with them.” Raquel takes up the architecture of 79 Greene Street to pose a question: What kind of room is possible?
Raquel's Dream House
Designing Women II: Masters, Mavericks, Mavens
For NYCxDesign Week 2018, female-owned-&-led design studio Egg Collective presents Designing Women II: Masters, Mavericks, & Mavens. Co-curated with Lora Appleton, the founder of kinder MODERN and The Female Design Council, the second iteration of the acclaimed exhibition will be a dialogue across time and space, featuring international work from both contemporary and historical voices.
Building upon the critical acclaim of last year’s inaugural show, Designing Women II will feature a broad array of women working in different scales and in various mediums including furniture, ceramics, textile, jewelry, and lighting.
The exhibition will feature works by: Bari Ziperstein, Cini Boeri, Egg Collective, Greta Magnusson Grossman, Heidi Abrahamson, Katie Stout, Kristin Victoria Barron, Leza McVey, Lilian Holm, Marta Palmieri, Mary Giles, Mimi Jung, Mira Nakashima, Nanna Ditzel, Natalie Weinberger, Nicola L., Rooms, Sabine Marcelis, Sonwai and Winsome Brave.
Sight Unseen Offsite
Sight Unseen’s annual OFFSITE showcase is a who’s who of the best contemporary design and forward-thinking brands. For the 2018 edition, 201 Mulbery serves as the main hub and will feature group exhibitions as well as Sight Unseen-curated projects focused on the theme of collaboration from designers including Bellamoli Studio, Cold Picnic Vonnegut/Kraft x Slow and Steady Wins the Race and more. Plus, there are various OFFSITE-affiliated venues around the city that will be launching new designer collections including Harry Nuriev x Opening Ceremony, Giancarlo Valle x Viso Project, and Ben and Aja Blanc at 3.1 Philip Lim.
Organizers and Sight Unseen co-founders Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer have also published a print magazine for design week, which includes a full guide to the OFFSITE events and can be picked up at partner venues May 16-20. 
Sight Unseen
MUJI Materials Garden
Japanese lifestyle brand MUJI will present a large-scale, immersive installation by Brooklyn-based designers Ladies & Gentlemen Studio that takes the form of landscape garden and features a series of vignettes curating selections of MUJI’s products composed with the raw source materials.
A haptic stone pathway, connects each vignette and encourages visitors to ponder MUJI products in a new context by wandering, exploring, and discovering the inherent beauty of the raw materials they originate from. Ceramic goods sit atop a block of the clay used to make them, MUJI's glassware emerges from a bed of sand, etc.
MUJI
Rebecca Sass, Account Executive, Novità
What to see at WantedDesign:
Humanscale
Humanscale's new QuickStand Eco will greet Wanted Design attendees at check-in. For those looking to catch up on a few emails at the show, this sleek sit/stand has got you covered. QuickStand Eco workstations will offer the perfect place to perch and work amidst the design action.
Humanscale
Zero Waste Bistro
The Finnish Cultural Institute in New York will be feeding the design community with five days of food and design at Wanted Design. The Zero Waste Bistro will celebrate circular economy, new material innovations and sustainable design. Chefs from Nolla, the first Nordic zero-waste restaurant in Helsinki, present food that is sourced, packaged and produced to create zero waste. Co-curated by Harri Koskinen and Linda Bergroth, design partners include Finnish Design Shop, Artek and Durat Design.
NJ Interiors
NJ Interiors is debuting at WantedDesign Manhattan with an explosion of Nature: refined yetfunctional sculpted door handles transform into branches of coral, shells and exotic birds –alongside delightful knobs shaped like marine sponges and porous stones. Hand-designedwallpaper fills the background with images inspired by tropical forests. 100% made in Italy, eachcreation is a careful mix of design, craftsmanship and art.
NJ Interiors
What to see at ICFF:
Humanscale - Beyond Sustainability
Presented by Jon Strassner, Humanscale’s Director of Workplace Strategy, Beyond Sustainability (May 21) will engage ICFF attendees in a conversation on the shifting landscape of commercial office design. As the environmental movement continues to evolve, it is no longer good enough to do less harm to the environment or use fewer resources. Now is the time for designers to work towards creating a net positive future. Companies on the cutting-edge of the environmental movement are no longer just measuring their carbon footprint, but are actively engaged with clients and partners in measuring their “handprint” and achieving a more positive impact.
Duravit
Join the bathroom brand at ICFF as they unveil two new furniture collections in Booth 2117. One of their ICFF highlights is XSquare - made to stand-out with its angular, chrome profile. Also keep an eye out for Brioso, which takes a playful yet simple approach to bathroom design. 
Duravit
Aronson's Floor Covering
With 150+ years of experience, first-time ICFF (booth 2049) exhibitor Aronson’s Floor Covering will launch their new Empire Collection, a boutique line of handmade, custom carpets featuring exclusive designer collaborations in Booth 2049. The Empire Collection features tufted & flatwoven rugs made by European artisans using traditional techniques & all-natural, high-quality fibers. Empire Collection's first designer collaboration, the flirtatious and graphic "In The Hood" line by Ghislaine Viñas, will also be on display at the booth.
Ceramics of Italy
The Ceramics of Italy Pavilion is organized by Confindustria Ceramica (the Italian Association of Ceramics) and the Italian Trade Agency to showcase the latest designs and technologies in Italian ceramics. From sleek sanitaryware to ceramic and porcelain tiles popping with color and pattern, new products from 15 premier Italian ceramic brands will be shown at booths 2219 + 2319 during ICFF 2018.
Ceramics of Italy
Stickbulb at ICFF
Stickbulb is introducing a new collection of LED pendants called Bough at ICFF (booth 1657). Named after the main branch of a tree, Bough marks an exciting development for the Long Island City-based lighting brand featuring a Y-shaped connector that allows for the creation of dynamic new forms at an unprecedented scale. The collection explores the space between Stickbulb's minimal aesthetic and expressive pieces, and joins their growing collection of signature fixtures made from sustainable and historic pieces of wood.
Around the City:
JabbrrX at LGA Terminal B
Eight of Jabbrrbox’s connected workspaces are installed in New York’s LaGuardia Central Terminal B, a major hub that sees over 15 million travelers annually. The cutting-edge IoT JabbrrX offer users free, reliable, and secure WiFi, flight-tracking abilities, terminal maps, and a photobooth app, with expansions including Bluetooth connectivity for hands-free calling, a camera for video conference calls, in-booth speakers, screen-sharing capabilities, and speakers for music and handsfree calling. A breakthrough solution for the increasingly mobile workforce, Jabbrrbox’s consumer service is the perfect environment for on-the-go work, wellbeing, and on-demand privacy.
JabbrrX
Brooklyn Designs
Brooklyn Designs is a survey of the contemporary design scene in Brooklyn. Founded by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce in 2003, it was one of the first design fairs to shine a spotlight on the borough’s creative economy. Now in its 15th year, it continues to serve as an incubator for emerging designers and a platform for established brands, producing a range of creative products and services across furniture, lighting, accessories and technology. The 2018 edition will move to a new home at the Brooklyn Museum, kicking off the first weekend of NYCxDESIGN from May 12-13 with a VIP preview on May 11. In addition to the curated exhibition, the show will feature site-specific installations, a shoppable marketplace and panel discussions with prominent figures in the design world.
Lion & Lamb Communications
W New York - Times Square Hosts What She Said: Women in Design & Architecture
W New York - Times Square will host What She Said: Women in Design & Architecture, a panel discussion free and open to the public on Tuesday, May 15th from 6:30-8pm. Moderator Parker Bowie Larson will be leading the hour-long discussion among female luminaries in the fields of design and architecture including:
