Design in Focus: Pieces That Captured Our Attention

Over the summer, we’ve been exploring some of the most exciting new voices and ideas in the world of art, furniture, and design. From design fairs to intimate showroom visits, we’re constantly searching for the latest innovations, product lines, and inspirations that can inform and elevate our work. These experiences remind us that the design world is always in motion. Makers are rethinking materials, reinventing forms, and exploring the many ways objects can shape our daily lives.

Part of the joy of practicing architecture and interior design in New York City is staying attuned to this constant evolution. Every new piece we encounter has the potential to shift our perspective, to spark an idea that might carry into a future project. These discoveries keep our design aesthetic fresh, layered, and responsive, ensuring we’re always connecting timeless craft with new possibilities. We left our recent explorations feeling deeply inspired, and we wanted to share a few of the designers and pieces that stood out most.

Kawabi

Kawabi lighting channels something we’ve always admired in Noguchi’s lights: the gentle interplay of paper or paper-like materials, of light diffused rather than forced. But Kawabi takes that lineage in a bolder direction. Their designs lean into sharper forms, layered materials, and more articulated silhouettes. Pendants with carved wood, organic paper shades, dramatic floor lamps, and sculptural sconces that feel like modern objects as much as sources of glow.

We’re drawn to how Kawabi bridges softness with structure, how a paper shade might cascade, or how the contrast of warm wood and textured fibers gives presence without overwhelming a room. These lights don’t just offer illumination, they create moments: reading nooks, moody corners, soft accent lighting where material and craft show. For interiors needing that tension between light and shadow, artistry and function, Kawabi delivers a compelling twist on the Akari tradition we love.

Studio Sam Klemick

Studio Sam Klemick produces sculptural works and furniture that feel both grounded and deliberate. His pieces move between the tactile and the conceptual: voluminous forms, soft curves, and unexpected geometries that almost challenge gravity. The materials he chooses are thoughtfully crafted, each piece balancing weight and light, surface and silhouette.

What stands out in Klemick’s work is his sense of pause. These objects invite attention rather than demand it. For us, his work resonates because it makes the ordinary feel considered, and the decorative feel essential.

Tennant New York

Tennant New York vintage parasol lamp shade

Tennant New York creates lighting that feels both bold and poetic, often blending unexpected materials into luminous, one-of-a-kind pieces. Their fixtures reimagine familiar objects with surprising elegance. Most memorably in designs incorporating vintage parasols, whose delicate ribs and translucent canopies are transformed into lamp shades that radiate warmth and atmosphere. Other works make use of seashells and even sea stars, turning organic forms into refined, light-filled sculptures that celebrate nature’s intricacy. Across their collections, Tennant demonstrates a sensitivity to form, proportion, and materiality, producing pieces that are as much art as they are functional design. The result is lighting that feels fun, inventive, and deeply personal, ideal for those seeking fixtures with both narrative and presence.

Thomas Yang Studio

Thomas Yang Studio’s work balances precision with delicacy, and his latest piece introduced at the Collectible NY fair exemplifies this vision. A sculptural table adorned with clusters of tiny metal flowers appears almost impossibly delicate, as if a breeze might scatter them, yet the craftsmanship is meticulous and enduring. The table highlights Yang’s ability to merge technical skill with a lyrical sensibility, creating pieces that feel both refined and alive. Beyond this new work, his practice also includes customizable wall hooks, functional yet sculptural elements that allow clients to adapt and shape their use, a subtle extension of his interest in design as interaction. Across his portfolio, Yang’s designs invite close attention, revealing details that unfold with time and anchoring spaces with quiet sophistication.

Pelle

Pelle continues to redefine what lighting can be, creating pieces that are as much sculptural artworks as they are sources of illumination. Their Nana Lure Chandelier, with cascading floral forms arranged in graceful arcs, feels almost alive, an installation that blurs the line between nature and design. Each element is carefully crafted, giving the impression of movement and softness within a material object. Equally striking are the Helm Oblique fixtures, including both chandeliers and table lamps. With their distinct oblique angles and seamless corners, they embody a sculptural precision that manages to feel bold and refined at the same time. These collections reveal Pelle’s talent for weaving narrative and material innovation into objects that transform a room not just with light, but with presence. Whether delicate or architectural, their work carries a sense of quiet drama, bringing both warmth and sophistication to contemporary interiors.

More Design Inspo

As we reflect on these latest discoveries, what excites us most is how each piece, whether a light, table, or sculptural object, pushes the boundaries of material and form in ways that resonate deeply with our own approach to design. At Shapeless Studio, we see these finds not just as beautiful objects, but as sparks that inform and expand our process.

If you’re curious to learn more about how we translate inspiration into thoughtful interiors, we invite you to explore our design philosophy and project stories. You can also reach out to us if you want to book some one-on-one time with our designers. And of course, keep watching this space as we’ll continue sharing the ideas, makers, and innovations that inspire us, in the hope they’ll spark something for you too.

Jess ThomasSeptember 17, 2025