Hasta La Ideas

Photography by Perrin Drumm for Core77

With the proliferation of handmade, handcrafted goods entering the mainstream furniture market and capturing the attention of a wider audience, the Architectural Digest Home Design Show is doing its best to keep up with the times. But as it’s a largely commercial affair, with huge crowds drooling over shiny new cooktops (though I think that may have been due to the free meatball sliders at the Sub-Zero booth), the show felt divided. The main hall housed your usual suspects—big flooring manufacturers and name brand kitchen and bathroom appliances separated by aisles packed with men in broad shouldered suits and women dressed in the latest from Liz Claiborne.

Dovetail Bench by Analog Modern, one of the exhibitors at MADE

But a quarter of the exhibition space was devoted to MADE, where all the artisans, craftsmen and independent studios making one-of-a-kind designs were cordoned off. MADE is why I went. The usual suspect here were reclaimed wood benches, handmade, naturally oiled wooden chairs and mid-century inspirations made, yes, mostly out of wood. There were also some beautiful felt pieces (usually paired with wood). Our friends at the American Design Club had a well-trafficked booth packed with goods from their long roster of designers, and Matter’s lighting display, namely their naked bulb chandelier, stopped me in my tracks. But that’s just a taste of MADE. Check out our full gallery of images from this year’s Show!

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