As contemporary design has moved further into the conceptual, artisanal making and a return to beauty have emerged as compelling counterpoints. As a result, the design world has renewed its focus on craft.
At ICFF, taking place in New York City during New York Design Week in May, that transition will be reflected in Look Book, a section dedicated to North American independent design. Curated by The Design Release co-founder Julia Haney Montanez, it brings together emerging and mid-career studios working across furniture, lighting, and material-led objects, each with a distinctive point of view.
Craft is the skilled making of objects through an advanced understanding of materials and processes. It involves technical ability, control, and artistic vision.
Here, we preview works on view at the 2026 edition of Look Book that reflect this high level of skill and material understanding, with many drawing on the language of historical applied arts, reinterpreting them through contemporary forms. The work ranges from controlled and architectural to instinctive and experimental.
Sculptural lighting sits alongside furniture and objects made in wood, stone, metal, ceramic, and paper. Precision and intuition are both present throughout.
Look Book at ICFF runs 17–19 May 2026 in New York City.
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Thomas Yang's Rocking Rock Floor Stool, made of white oak and river stone. Photo courtesy of the studio.
Thomas Yang approaches design through a close relationship between memory and material, pairing personal references, from family homes in Taiwan and Northern Italy to everyday objects and mechanisms, with what he describes as “living materials” such as wood and stone, which carry their own histories. Trained in industrial design but working against its more outcome-driven logic, he focuses on slowing the process down, using material intention and traditional techniques to shape objects that reflect how they are made. His work considers how objects gain meaning over time, not as immediate statements but through use, ritual, and longevity.
HB-AS’s Berea Sandstone Lamps. Photography courtesy of the studio.
HB-AS’s Berea Sandstone Lamps, an exclusive design for the minimalist platform Leibal, are made from quarry remnants of prehistoric sandstone, turning discarded material into sculptural lighting. Formed over roughly 350 million years through river deposits carrying clay, iron, aluminum, magnesium, and other minerals, the stone bears natural variations in color, markings, and pattern that make each piece distinct. By working with offcuts left behind by industrial quarrying, the designers transform a material typically considered unusable into a raw, minimal object that foregrounds both geological history and process.
Steffany Trần is the founder of Vy Voi, a New York City-based design studio that brings together Vietnam’s art and design history with contemporary living. Trained as both an industrial designer and artist, Trần works between New York and Sài Gòn, creating furniture, lighting, and objects in ceramic, paper, and wood. Each piece is made by hand using traditional Vietnamese techniques and shaped by observations of the natural world and daily life.
Karen Gayle Tinney's one of a kind vase. Photography courtesy of the artist.
Karen Gayle Tinney is an artist and designer whose work brings ceramic and fiber together in pieces shaped by the relationship between the two materials. In her practice, neither stands alone: ceramic establishes form and structure, while fiber extends, completes, or physically connects each composition. After studying product design at Parsons School of Design and working for several years as a home décor designer, Tinney launched her own practice in 2016. She now creates each piece by hand in her Vermont studio, where she works alongside her husband in the Okemo Valley, with some works taking months to complete.
Anna Dawson’s work is guided by sensory experience, drawing on references such as ocean air, morning light, and moments of urban discovery. Designed with emotion as a starting point, her pieces balance atmosphere and function. Here, handblown glass bases introduce softness and depth, their rounded forms and subtle translucency contrasted by wide, hovering shades and brass details that give the lamps a sculptural presence.
