Rhode Island School of Design to Participate in ICFF + WANTED During NYCxDESIGN 2025

Furniture Design department to present Grounding Space at WANTED; Industrial Design faculty to lead the WANTED Design Schools Workshop, with participation from RISD and six other schools

PROVIDENCE, RI  – April 21, 2025 – 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 Industrial Design faculty members and students will participate in the WANTED Design Schools Workshop.

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.

A selection of images from Grounding Space by photographer Jonah Takagi BFA 02 FD can be found here.

RISD is the School Partner for the 2025 WANTED Design Schools Workshop

This year, RISD is the school partner for the WANTED Design Schools Workshop, a collaborative design challenge for international design schools with contributions from guests and industry experts and support from Haworth, Core77 and Molo. The topic is “Eating in NYC: Reconnecting and Redesigning Food Systems,” and the challenge will be facilitated by RISD faculty members Charlie Cannon and Erica Pernice BFA 14 ID over the course of four days. In a dedicated workspace at ICFF, more than 30 students from different schools and countries (including RISD, CCA, CENTRO, Escuela Monica Herrera, Ohio State, and Pratt) will work together in teams and present their projects to a jury of industry leaders on the ICFF Talks Main Stage on Tuesday, May 20 at 2:30 pm.

Other RISD Participation During NYCxDESIGN 2025

In addition, RISD students Nino Chambers MFA 25 FD, Jennifer Choi MFA 25 FD, Xubai Li MFA 25 FD, Jumana Motiwala MFA 25 FD, Sam Sherman MFA 25 FD, Palm Paramee Panchaphalasom BFA 25 FD, Ryan Everett Smith BFA 25 FD, Yichu Wang MFA 25 FD and  Lorna (Shuyang) Zhang BFA 25 ID (Studio L) will also be showing work in Launch Pad at WANTED, a platform for emerging designers. RISD Furniture Design faculty member Amy Devers MFA 01 FD, executive producer and host of Clever Podcast, will lead the jury for Launch Pad at WANTED and present the Emerging Designer Showcase on the ICFF Talks Main Stage on Sunday, May 18 at 4 pm. 

RISD alums will also participate in various ICFF Talks during the event: Emily Edelman BFA 12 GD, Exploring Infinite Creative Potential with New Technologies; Josh Owen MFA 97 FD, Good Design and Architecture Create Happiness; and Adam Charlap Hyman BFA 11 FD, Defining Style: A Conversation with the World’s Leading Designers. All talks are open to ICFF + WANTED event registrants. Register here to attend. 

Alums are also engaged in other NYCxDESIGN programming and activity beyond the Javits Center. Material Matters: A Show of Work By Recent Alumni will feature work by recent RISD graduates living and working in NYC; Alexandra Soiseth MFA 23 TX will participate in the NYCxDESIGN Emerging Designer Residency; Glass Subjects: Curated by Charlap Hyman & Herrero (Adam Charlap Hyman BFA 11 FD) will be on view at R & Co, featuring work by Jolie Ngo BFA 20 CR and exhibition design support from Alkemis Paint (Price Latimer BFA 00 GD); and Furniture Design faculty member Pete Oyler MFA 09 FD will be exhibiting at Paraphernalia at Fredericks & Mae. For a directory of all known RISD community participation at NYCxDESIGN, please visit alumni.risd.edu.

About Furniture Design at RISD
Students in RISD’s Furniture Design department embark on a course of study encompassing theory, skills, context, research and professional practices. Drawing from a rich tradition, they are encouraged to experiment and work with a wide range of emerging materials and technologies, developing individual voices through the process of making. The program emphasizes the principles and practice of furniture design as well as the social value of art, design and responsible citizenship. Learn more at risd.edu/academics/furniture-design.

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.

RISD contact:
Jaime Marland
Senior Director, Public Relations / RISD
jmarland@risd.edu
401 427-6954