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NYCxDESIGN celebrates three grand openings

With the start of NYCxDESIGN comes a number of new galleries to the city. Inside Galerie Was, located on Manhattan’s Broome Street, visitors can scope out vintage furniture from the likes of Pierre Jeanneret, René Gabriel, Charlotte Perriand, and Le Corbusier, and contemporary talents Yoona Hur, Koen Van Guijze, Oda & King, Jorge Suárez-Kilzi, Marianne Kolb, A for Ara, Nancy Kwon, and Mugly NYC. The vision of Cosmos founder Andy McCune, fashion industry chef Allie Fitzpatrick, and designer Lauren Piscione of LP Creative, the appointment-only gallery also features a studio where the founders will turn out one-of-a-kind creations that fuse history and technology. 

Over in Brooklyn’s Dumbo neighborhood, the design practice JAM, led by Joe McGuier and Megan Prime, will open the appointment-only JAM Shop at its headquarters (in tandem with an e-commerce site) later this month. Born from McGuier and Prime’s passion for the pieces they regularly source for clients, this hub for vintage furniture, lighting, decor, and art, rounded out with a smattering of antiques, melds rare works with those by 20th-century legends like Afra and Tobia Scarpa, Hans Wegner, and Vladimir Kagan. 

Through May 21, OMET—the just-launched collectible Mexican and Latin American design gallery brought to life by Mexican architect Lorena Vieyra—pops up in the Lower East Side. Marrying such materials as lacquered volcanic stone, onyx, and fused glass, the inaugural collection bears the imprint of 11 designers. Consider the tripod-shaped chair from sculptor Pedro Reyes that references the metal grinding stone used to make from-scratch tortillas, José María Balmaceda’s graphic rugs emblazoned with cultural symbols, and Raúl de la Cerda’s modular tables that recall Mayan sculpted stone stelae. Following design week, the collections will be available through the gallery’s website.

Designer Elizabeth Krueger unveils Opame Collective

A new source for refined craftsmanship has come to Chicago. Local designer Elizabeth Krueger and cofounder Sid Parakh have unveiled the Opame Collective, home to furniture, textiles, art, and more that share a keen sense of materiality. Standouts include the one of a kind ceramics section—derived from the hands of Kansai Noguchi, Bridget Johnson, and more—and the in-house collection of furniture and accessories that sumptuously mix marbles, brass, travertine, and more into sophisticated forms. The works are on view by appointment at Kreuger’s West Hubbard Street gallery and also available online. 

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