Everything Our Editor-in-Chief Liked at Brooklyn’s NYCxDesign Shows

When a group of design shops in the Boerum Hill section of Brooklyn announced that they would be holding simultaneous openings during NYCxDesign, it was another welcome step in turning what was once an insular and industry-focused design week into a city-wide civic happening. So, photographer Levi Mandel and I decided to take a stroll down Atlantic Avenue and stop into spaces showing new homewares in my home borough last weekend.

But, I’ll confess, we decided to kick off our Brooklyn rounds in Manhattan at The Lamp Show. 

I love The Lamp Show. If you’re not familiar, every year, Head Hi, the architecture bookshop and café located across from the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the many studios it houses, puts out an open call for lamp designs. They get hundreds of submissions—work by everyone from ambitious amateurs to household name designers—and then choose the most interesting to put up for sale. The lighting on offer stretches the idea of what can or should be considered a lamp in the best possible way, with riffs on the form ranging from the truly brilliant to the delightfully dumb. Last year, the line to get into the opening wrapped around the block, and so for this edition, Alexandra Hodkowski and Alvaro Alcocer, the duo behind Head Hi decided to find a larger space in Manhattan, but for the purposes of this roundup, we’re grouping them with their peers across the river.

Up a classically creaky steep staircase in TriBeCa, they installed work by 54 designers in a busy, but much less chaotic setting. Even on opening night, timed entry slots kept the crowds under control.

The absolute best in show was a table lamp by Studio Atomic. The designers named the piece "Kanna" in a tribute to "the talented Japanese hairstylist who meticulously fashioned its cut in our cozy studio." I insist that this proves hairy lighting is a trend.