Visit Rhode Island School of Design at ICFF + WANTED

Architecture & Design
Photo Credit: Jonah Takagi BFA 02 FD

Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) is pleased to participate in the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) + WANTED at the Jacob K. Javits Center during NYCxDESIGN 2025 from May 18–20 in New York, NY. This year RISD’s Furniture Design department will present Grounding Space in WANTED at ICFF (booth W887) and graduate work from RISD’s collaboration with Bestcase.

Grounding Space – WANTED Booth W887 
Remixing stylistic traditions and historical ornament and embracing the fantastical, this exhibition explores dimensionality—in virtual and physical realms—with natural and synthetic materials and through both traditional and exploratory functional objects. As our experience of space becomes more expansive, we remain inextricably tethered to the Earth. The work highlights curiosity and imagination as modes of exchange and understanding, all the while navigating diverse contextual realities. Grounding Space expands upon traditional furniture archetypes and alludes to atmospheric forces, poetically wielding light and employing materials made possible by advances in industry. It invites us to consider the act of creation as an opportunity for irreverence, homage and complexity. From 1800s farm equipment to the powerful cultural symbolism of animals and the creative possibilities of circuit boards, the work in this exhibition is an amalgam of time and space—a collective composition—that grounds us in the now.

The work includes It’s What’s Inside (Log Light) No.1 and Oriented Structures of Being (O.S.B No. 1) Bench by Kailyn Bryant BFA 25 FD, Weekday Wardrobe by Nino Chambers MFA 25 FD, Bent Bolt Wall Hooks by Andrew Goulet MFA 26 FD, National Geographic by Jack Kemper BFA 25 FD, Turn on Light by Xubai Li MFA 25 FD, Critters by Maggie McCreery BFA 26 FD and Riley Borst BFA 25 TX, Bull by Gretsy Moreno Ortiz BFA 25 FD, Enzo Chair and PC Sconce by August Ostrow BFA 25 FD, Spore Chair by David Schwimmer BFA 25 FD, Hang Sconces by Sam Sherman MFA 25 FD, Vessels by Emelia Violich BFA 2025 FD and Tractor Stool by Oscar Walsh BFA 25 FD.

RISD x Bestcase – WANTED Booth W887

Booth W887 will also feature graduate work from RISD’s collaboration with Bestcase. In 2024, Bestcase worked  with RISD Furniture Design MFA students to design a collection of furniture. A design and manufacturing studio based in New York, Bestcase is known for transforming industrial materials into refined, contemporary pieces merging aesthetic experimentation with precision fabrication. Specializing in sheet metal, Bestcase reimagines utilitarian materials with elegant finishes and unexpected forms, often blurring the line between functional design and sculptural art. Co-directed by Furniture Design faculty members Patty Johnson and Jonah Takagi BFA 02 FD, the course focused on Bestcase’s manufacturing capabilities and made use of their machinery, facilities and deep expertise. From seating to shelving, students worked closely with Bestcase to develop an understanding of industrial production processes and realize highly resolved production-ready work.

A selection of images from from Grounding Space and the Bestcase collaboration by photographer Jonah Takagi can be found here.

About Rhode Island School of Design
RISD (pronounced “RIZ-dee”) is a creative community founded in 1877 in Providence, Rhode Island. Today, we enroll 2,518 students hailing from 57 countries. Led by a committed faculty, they are engaged in 44 full-time bachelor’s and master’s degree programs and supported by a worldwide network of over 33,000 alumni who demonstrate the vital role artists and designers play in today’s society.

Beyond facts and figures, what is the spirit of this community? Through a cross-disciplinary curriculum of studio-based learning and rigorous study in the liberal arts, RISD students are encouraged to develop their own personal creative processes, but they are united by one guiding principle: in order to create, one must question. In cultivating expansive and elastic thinking, RISD seeks to activate a critical exchange that empowers artists, designers and scholars to generate and challenge the ideas that shape our world. RISD’s mission, at both the college and museum, is not only to educate students and the public in the creation and appreciation of works of art and design, but to transmit that knowledge and make global contributions. Visit risd.edu to learn more.