RISD Designers Make Their Mark at New York Design Week 2025

A hollowed-out beech log that emits a warm, diffused light. A contemporary office chair featuring the feet and distinctive spots of a cheetah. Stools resembling microscopic organisms that “refuse self-sacrifice despite their silent disposition and are equally able to be sat upon or to crawl out from under you.”

These are the kinds of unexpected objects RISD Furniture Design students recently presented at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair’s WANTED exposition in New York City. Called Grounding Space, the fantastical collection included work by emerging designers Riley Borst 25 TX, Kailyn Bryant 25 FD, Nino Chambers MFA 25 FD, Andrew Goulet MFA 26 FD, Jack Kemper 25 FD, Xubai Li MFA 25 FD, Maggie McCreery 26 FD, Gretsy Moreno Ortiz 25 FD, August Ostrow 25 FD, David Schwimmer 25 FD, Sam Sherman MFA 25 FD, Emelia Violich 25 FD and Oscar Walsh 25 FD.

“The combination of traditional and exploratory functional objects remixed stylistic traditions and historical ornament to explore dimensionality in virtual and physical realms using natural and synthetic materials,” says Associate Professor of Furniture Design Pete Oyler, who helped to organize the show. “The work highlights curiosity and imagination as modes of exchange and understanding, all the while navigating diverse contextual realities and inviting viewers to consider the act of creation as an opportunity for irreverence, homage and complexity.”

A number of the students were also selected to participate in WANTED’s Launch Pad platform, which introduces new concepts through furniture, home accessories and lighting prototypes. Furniture Design faculty member Amy Devers 01 FD/MFA 12 hosts the related Emerging Designers Showcase and describes the annual event as “a lively platform for emerging designers to present their work to a live audience and gain insights from established industry professionals.”

Also on view in RISD’s booth at WANTED was graduate student work created in conjunction with New York-based design and manufacturing studio Bestcase, which is known for transforming industrial materials into refined, contemporary pieces merging aesthetic experimentation with precision fabrication. Co-directed by Furniture Design Graduate Program Director Patty Johnson and faculty member and alum Jonah Takagi 02 FD, the collaborative course focused on Bestcase’s manufacturing capabilities and allowed students to realize highly resolved pieces ranging from seating to shelving.

Outside of the Furniture Design department, RISD took part in this year’s Design Schools Workshop, which brought together students from RISD and five other art and design schools. The four-day event invited students from around the world to “break out of their normal learning patterns and envision the future they desire for themselves and the global community.”

RISD Industrial Design faculty members Charlie Cannon and Erica Pernice 14 ID co-led this year’s design challenge: Eating in NYC: Reconnecting and Redesigning Food Systems. “New York is one of the world’s great food cities,” the duo explains. “The outer boroughs offer case studies in the diverse foodways of NYC residents, the possibilities of urban agriculture and the enormous areas needed for processing compost and waste.” Workshop participants were divided into cross-college teams of five to investigate how to put humans back at the center of the food system and in the process make it more sustainable, accessible and visible. 

Elsewhere across the city, myriad RISD alums showed striking work that reflected their personal histories, played with perspective and scale, and otherwise pushed the envelope. They also participated in panel discussions exploring Universal Design, challenging industry norms, and investigating the benefits of creative mindfulness and sustainable design.

Visit RISD’s alumni website to learn more.

Simone Solondz / Grounding Space photos by Jonah Takagi 02 FD
June 17, 2025