After two exhibitions and months spent navigating between successive confinements, the Colony collective, a New York publisher unlike any other, has made a comeback in its showroom in Chinatown, Manhattan.
With the love of materials as a common thread, the studio A Space presents, in the collection “The Source”, a brutalist style coffee table in volcanic tuff, inspired by Armenian architecture and craftsmanship. The Allied Maker studio, originally from Long Island, offers three new collections of lighting with clean lines, including the chandelier Monoscope made of wood, aluminum, Japanese paper and borosilicate glass. Playful, the Phaedo studio unveils a modular console in Lexan, a very resistant transparent plastic used in the manufacture of car headlights and police shields.
Strong artistic inspiration
The recycling spirit also dominates the collections, like the “Found” consoles in raw marble, signed A Space, which enhance form rather than function. Produced in limited edition, Colony furniture often plays with the border between art and design, even if it means openly drawing on the works of the masters of yesteryear.
After the series “Sonia” and “Line Mirror 01”, inspired by the formal research of artists Sonia Delaunay and Agnès Martin, the duo Vonnegut / Kraft evokes, with its table Bole in African sapele wood, the imaginary tropical flora of paintings by Douanier Rousseau. The pieces in the collection are available through a classic exhibition-sale method, which in reality hides strong humanist aspirations, inscribed in the collective’s DNA.
Oak Crescent Lounge daybed by studio Vonnegut / Craft (Colony). DR
Flashback. After Hurricane Sandy, which devastated New York in 2012, the city has its feet in the water and is struggling to get up. The very prestigious Moss Gallery has closed for good, taking with it the poor prospects of recognition for designers in the region.
The storm of design
It is in this atmosphere of distress and resilience that Jean Lin, designer and founder of Colony, graciously takes advantage of a temporary space in the Ligne Roset boutique. With the critic Jennifer Gorsche and the industrial designer Brad Ascalon, Jean Lin then brought together works created from debris collected after the storm to turn them into useful objects. One way to ward off fate while raising funds for the local Red Cross.
Bole dining table and Mesa stools from the pictorial work of Douanier Rousseau (Colony). DR
Called “Reclaim”, the resulting exhibition is also an opportunity to claim the richness of American design, often neglected across the Atlantic for made in Italy, according to its curators. The charity sale is a success and Jean decides to organize long-term support for creation.
Altruistic and commercial
If she chose talented artists, Above all, the entrepreneur founded a tight-knit community, modeled on the model of food cooperatives, then in vogue in New York: “The classic marketing system is not tenable for designers at the start of their careers, she explains. Between production costs and commissions paid to the gallery that represents them, designers spend their time chasing the accounts rather than creating calmly. “
A reduced commission for the gallery
Once co-opted, members pay an annual subscription which gives access to the exhibition space as well as to a support network. The cooperative also receives a low commission on sales, around 10% – instead of 30% to 50% in the traditional gallery scheme. The system allows contributors in particular to set up projects in parallel: “As attractive as it may sound, asking creators to sign an exclusive contract considerably slows down their development and, by extension, ours”, says Jean.
An altruistic and commercial system at the same time, still relevant: “Today I have gathered enough talent to highlight the diversity of artistic proposals, while leaving everyone enough space to express themselves without him or she feeling in competition. “ A reasoned approach that gives hope to all New York design.
> Colony. 324 Canal St 2nd floor, New York, NY 10013, USA. goodcolony.com
Soul is a Japanese word which means rain. It is also the name of this armchair, the fruit of the first collaboration between Studio Paolo Ferrari and Hiroko Takeda.
The Dish side table features three sculptural legs combined with a concave top.
On the left, the Carrara marble Arc Side Table is part of the “Repeat” series. Originally envisioned as a room intended for entryways, the Cantilever bench provides a practical means of storage without disturbing the overall balance of the room. DR
Monoscope chandelier, signed Allied Marker, low angle. DR
Portrait de Moving Mountains et Hiroko Takeda. DR
On the left, the duo Vonnegut Kraft and on the right, the duo Allied Maker. DR
On the left, Phaedo studio and on the right, A Space. DR
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