Today’s top designers and artists discuss their latest ventures and collaborations making waves across the industry.
Carmen Nash
When Carmen Nash received an Instagram message from Kelly Wearstler complimenting her aesthetic and inquiring about pieces for sale, her side hustle as a vintage furniture dealer quickly turned into a full-time career. However, Nash soon realized that she didn’t just want to present pieces of furniture; she wanted to tell a story that would emotionally resonate with her audience, thus beginning her art and design journey. Fast forward to today, and Nash has recently released a visually transporting lamp collection with Troy Lighting which, ironically, began with an admiring note on Instagram. Aptly named Folk and Flora, the rhythmic designs reference folk perspectives of the rural south, including those of Nash’s own family, while also nodding to the beauty and simplicity of Ocala, Florida, which she has long called home. “I discovered a lot about myself during the design process,” Nash explains. “But at the end of the day, connecting people to things they love is what impacted me the most.”
Jamie Bush
Since founding his Los Angeles-based firm in 2002, Jamie Bush has been recognized for his ability to blur the lines between interior and architectural design, as well as an eye for what he calls “historically driven modern design”—focusing on materiality, texture and natural forms. It’s this passion that has driven a portfolio filled with significant residential homes and a recent collaboration with Marc Phillips Rugs. “The designs are based on abstract paintings I made depicting studies of agricultural fields left fallow and eroded by nature,” Bush explains (see his Pepper rug, at left). The pieces have a hint of traditionalism and ample versatility: They live as easily in a classic Tudor as a contemporary home.
Alyssa Kapito
Alyssa Kapito has made a name for herself crafting distinctive interiors rooted in minimalist classicism. On the heels of publishing her first monograph, the New York-based designer is fast at work developing a second collection for AKI Editions, the small batch editions arm of her e-shop, Galerie by Alyssa Kapito. Envisioned as a gathering ground for fine antiques and bespoke collaborations with makers—like the above collection with Venetian glassware company Laguna~B— the designer plans to open a physical space in Manhattan this fall. “Galerie is a place that combines all of my passions,” Kapito shares. “I love art, I love design, I love fashion, and I love creating. I want it to be somewhere I can welcome you into my world!”
Barry Dixon
It’s no secret that Barry Dixon has a proven penchant for crafting heirloom-worthy products. With a love of antiquities and an eye for modernity, Dixon uses his pieces as finishing touches in beautifully balanced rooms. While he has many collaborations to his name, his latest collection of metal lighting and furniture with Iatesta Studio is particularly special. A passion project initiated by the Maryland-based studio’s owner and creative director, Matt Quinn, the compilation is a resurrection of Dixon’s iconic and archived designs, like the Synapse Pendant which first debuted more than a decade ago. “We already had a history of collaboration,” says Dixon, “so we were primed and ready to go.”
Jessica Helgerson
Most design elements aren’t accompanied by “friends,” but the table lamps in Jessica Helgerson’s new Bobine collection are meant to pair perfectly with a set of glass snail sculptures. “They are cute, whimsical figures,” says the Portland- and Paris-based designer. “I wanted to create elements that spark joy when you look at them.” The shapely light fixtures—beauties in their own right, created in concert with Portland artists Lynn Read and Andi Kovel—are available as luminous all-glass fixtures or hand-painted wood and ceramic models. Helgerson’s intention is for the pieces to be a light in a sometimes-challenging world. It is this same joy that Helgerson brings to breathing life back into historic homes, a particular specialty of the designer who seamlessly mixes traditional and timeless elements within a contemporary framework, a formula she’s using for a new rug collection set to launch this year.
Workshop/APD
In the world of design, Workshop/APD, founded by principals Matt Berman and Andrew Kotchen, is most certainly a unicorn. From residential and commercial interiors to architecture, hospitality, and a stunning space at this year’s Kips Bay New York Show House (below), the firm has their hands in just about everything. “Early on, we felt uncomfortable defining who we were,” says Berman. “But now we embrace it and realize design is fluid. There’s a lot of crossover between disciplines.” Such crossover has led them to product design and collaborations with brands like Arteriors, with whom they are launching a second line in September. The assortment, which features pieces like the Roll chandelier, focuses on mixed materials and architectural details.
Amber Lewis
If the laid-back, California cool aesthetic had a poster child, Amber Lewis might be its face. As the principal and founder of Los Angeles-based Amber Interiors and Shoppe Amber Interiors lifestyle boutiques, her signature style, which she describes as “elevated, but lived-in,” counts cultlike devotees. Lewis’ unstudied, approachable chic is on full display in her recently completed Lake Arrowhead getaway (below), where the family room’s warm tones and layered patterns exude a mellow coziness. Her celebrated look has led to partnerships with Loloi Rugs and Visual Comfort & Co.; this fall, she adds even more to her 100-plus piece collection (including the Billings End Table, at above) launched in the spring with Four Hands—the brand’s first designer collab. Also on the docket? A fifth outpost of Shoppe Amber Interiors in Montecito, set to debut before the end of the year.
