Plywood – a humble yet beautiful material: strong, light, and readily available for most projects. In Thank You by Damien Hoar de Galvan, plywood pieces are layered upon each other, forming custom cavities for books. Structures of meaning and technique, gathered throughout the artist’s career, breathe life into the mundane. A mind personified, books are usually kept neatly in a row on a bookshelf. Yet here, each tome has space to breathe, much like the process of learning.

Five textured, square fabric swatches in different colors and striped patterns—are evenly spaced in a horizontal row against a plain off-white wall.

Photo: © Misako Nakahira, 2025

This stunning textile collection by Misako Nakahira, the Unlayered Series, blends fiber with optical illusion, deftly combining the feedback produced by the hand and eye. Nakahira is a master of color, combining transparencies within woven expression for a result that is not only unique, but memorable.

A sculpted pillow covered in iridescent, reflective mosaic tiles sits on a white surface, casting colorful light reflections onto the surrounding area.

Photo: Courtesy of Colin Roberts

This iridescent, shimmering pillow by artist Colin Roberts surround the contrast of stillness, softness, and sharpness. A rich blend of culture, humor, and technicality, his pieces shed light on the human experience – and refract it as well. Roberts takes a soft volume and shifts its transparency, throwing glimmering motes of light onto surrounding surfaces in the process.

A dark room with a circular track surrounding a pillar, illuminated by colorful lights reflecting off transparent, crystal-like structures; two people stand in the background.

Photo: Carsten Beier

Sven Sauer blends broken glass and model trains in his piece DEVIATION, fusing a multitude of seemingly incongruous elements into one immersive installation. The placement and color of the lights drastically affects the overall look, beholden to the multitude of surrounding shards. DEVIATION illuminates how much we influence each other, asking, “Is the world really as dark as we perceive it to be right now?”

A floor lamp with a textured, crumpled white paper shade and a pull cord stands beside dark, pleated curtains, casting soft light.

Photo: Courtesy of Dan McMahon.

This lamp is born out of a process quite rare in the lighting industry, and indeed in most products on the market today – sprayed paper pulp. Its extremely thin wall thickness allows it to be a warm diffuser for light, with the fibers of the paper allowed to shine through. McMahon’s latest venture in paper spraying, aptly named Paper Lamp 02, features flowers and botanicals nestled within the layers, allowing natural dye and resins to bleed into the paper. Paper Lamp 02 was included in the JONALDDUDD 10-year anniversary show during NYCxDesign 2025.

Growing up in NYC has given Aria a unique perspective into art + design, constantly striving for new projects to get immersed in. An avid baker, crocheter, and pasta maker, handwork and personal touch is central to what she loves about the built environment. Outside of the city, she enjoys hiking, biking, and learning about space.