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“It’s a privilege to be able to chase dreams.”
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| 25 Designers on Their Favorite American Designs
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To celebrate the nation’s birthday, we asked some of our favorite designers to pay tribute to American design.
|  | “I love when an idea can be translated into a range of material options and retain the sovereignty of its original design intent. A compelling example of this rigor can be found in a customized suite of furniture inside the American industrialist J.I. Miller’s private office (pictured above) in Columbus, Indiana. These classic Soft Pad chairs were designed by Charles and Ray Eames, produced by Herman Miller, and customized by Alexander Girard as unique, polished-bronze variations. Personalizing an idea to this extent feels wonderfully American.” —Jonathan Nesci |
| |  | “Who wouldn’t love a spontaneous moment turned into architecture housing beautiful music night after night? The contrast of the reflective, slick, stainless skin exterior with the warm Douglas fir and oak interior in Frank Gehry’s Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles is masterful. The exuberant shape, the luscious stainless-steel shell, outstanding acoustics, and truly theatrical experience are all exceptional. And, of course, Walt Disney was also an American icon!” —Lauren Rottet |
| |  | “Wendell Castle chose furniture as his medium of functional art. This resonates with my belief of creating architecture and design in voluptuous forms. As there are no straight lines in the body, my art reflects this beautiful form. When I see Castle’s work, his curves become the microcosm of the lines in the human body.” —Gulla Jónsdóttir |
| |  | “With the Eames leg splint, designed in 1943, Charles and Ray Eames perfected the process of using resin and molded plywood that they later used for furniture. The leg splint is a utilitarian object that is also inherently beautiful. It hangs in our studio as a sculptural piece that is a daily reminder of our goal to blend utility, manufacturing techniques, and beauty.” —Jamie Iacoli |
| |  | “For rare books and manuscripts by Gordon Bunshaft, the Beinecke Library at Yale University has to be one of my enduring favorite examples of American design. Conceptually, materially, and visually, it’s a distilled design that exemplifies what we strive for: to find a poetic solution to every design problem. Designed as an imposing jewel box, the building shields and displays its precious contents by filtering light through a facade of marble panels, amplifying the experience of entering a magical space where one finds precious things. A marvelous example of finding the solution within the problem.” —Suchi Reddy |
| View more of the community’s favorite American designs.
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| What Else Is Happening?
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New York may landmark a 19th-century rowhouse that once housed slavery abolitionists.
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The embattled American Dream mall faces Covid-19, the latest roadblock in its 20-year saga.
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Japan’s shinkansen bullet train breaks another record: running smoothly during earthquakes.
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Though smaller outfits are leaving, Lévy Gorvy is the latest blue-chip gallery to open in Paris.
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Perrotin hosts a virtual graduate show for Yale MFA students after their exhibition got canceled.
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Reach the design world every morning. Find out more about advertising in the Design Dispatch.
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| Metric Tons of E-Waste Generated in 2019
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According to a new report generated by the Global E-Waste Statistics Partnership, a record 53.6 million metric tons of electronic waste was generated in the past year—a 21 percent increase since 2014. The report was originally commissioned to gauge progress being made in handling electronic waste, but results suggest the situation has instead escalated considerably: The amount of electronic waste is expected to nearly double by 2030. To make matters worse, only 17 percent of last year’s electronic waste was officially recycled—the rest was either sent to a landfill, incinerated, or got lost somewhere in the waste management process.
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| Member Spotlight:
Keep
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| Keep's hand-blown glass lighting utilizes traditional Italian techniques to create contemporary work with exquisite craftsmanship and signature patterning. Founded by partners Susan Spiranovich and Adam Holtzinger, Keep lighting is designed and handmade in Brooklyn.
| Surface Says: Thanks in part to Keep, the craft of glassblowing is alive and well in Brooklyn. The studio’s sculptural, expertly blown fixtures give an age-old technique a contemporary twist.
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| Today’s Attractive Distractions
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