By Tilly Macalister-Smith
Prieto works closely with his collaborators, leaning into the expertise of the makers to shape his design decisions, as if letting the material guide his choices. He plans to produce more stools, perhaps in series and with different artist friends and collaborators contributing to the different elements, be that the fabric, or buttons and so forth. ‘The stools are like a way of having a conversation with friends, almost like a documentation,’ he says. Certainly exploring the intersection between art and furniture design has opened avenues for him; his first solo show under his own name, rather than that of Savvy Studio, will open at New York’s Emma Scully Gallery in spring 2023.
by The Editors
Bowers has been developing his highly multidisciplinary practice for over a decade — creating everything from fashion accessories to textiles to ceramics from his studio in New Orleans — but started really making waves in the furniture scene a little over a year ago with a striking collection of paper lamps for The Future Perfect, a Best Contemporary Design award at Design Miami, a string of furniture experiments for Emma Scully Gallery, and a series of sculptural yet affordable lights for Gantri.
By Kate Guadagnino
Like much of Prieto’s work, the pieces’ final forms came out of conversations with friends about how their respective skills and sensibilities might be combined — “in a very simple way,” he specifies. In this case, he partnered with the Brooklyn-based carpenter Andrin Widmer on the table and stool platforms and with Valerie Name Bolaño of the New York-based interior design firm Spoliâ on the upholstered cushions that sit atop the stools... Prieto, who plans on releasing other iterations of the stools — the results of other conversations — and on including two of these future designs in a show of his work set to open at Emma Scully Gallery this spring.
Presented by Emma Scully Gallery in New York, "Paraciphers" is a new exhibition by lighting designer Bec Brittain. Her latest creations are the result of her fascination with the movements of parachutes, notably in the wind tunnel tests carried out by NASA. Each light contains messages of equality and community encoded into its fabric, which are then interpreted with color in a marriage of pure beauty and meaningful reflection.
By Dana Covit
Nata Janberidze and Keti Toloraia of Rooms Studio turn to Georgian folk and artisanal vernaculars, “architectural forms of the orthodox churches,” and “primeval” motifs to mystical effect for interior inspiration. Their Talisman Mirrors, whose forms unapologetically borrow from a religious and devotional iconography, were recently installed against a deep oxblood wall for Emma Sculley Gallery at Design Miami.
by Dan Howarth
Among the newcomers this year were Emma Scully Gallery, in a curio called Reflecting Women – an all-female showcase set in a mirrored, multimedia experience, which included Parachute Lights by Bec Brittain and a set of five Talisman Mirrors from Rooms Studio.
By Lindsey Shook
Manhattan-based gallerist Emma Scully presented an all-female curio entitled Reflecting Women, a comprehensive selection of work empowered by the female spirit featuring works from Bec Brittain, Simone Bodmer-Turner, Rooms Studio, Jane Atfield, Ibiyanε, Jaye Kim, Kaja Upelj, Nel Verbeke, and Jenny Min.
By Hannah Martin and Lila Allen
Selfie-lovers flocked to newbie Emma Scully’s Curio booth to preen in one of the many mirrors on display, all designed by women artists.
By Ingrid Abramovitch, Parkie Bowie Larson and Sean Santiago
From the disco dazzle of Mark Grattan’s high-shine chrome pieces at Cristina Grajales to the artful mirrors commissioned by Emma Scully Gallery, Design Miami encouraged visitors to revel in their own reflections.
By Nic Monisse
Design Miami 2022, with curator Maria Cristina Didero, CEO Jennifer Roberts, gallerist Emma Scully, Ago Projects co-founder Rodman Primack, and Lebanese designer Nada Debs.
By Alice Morby
First presented at this year’s Design Miami show, the pieces formed part of a wider show that saw mirrors, furniture, and decorative objects placed together against a red-toned backdrop. “Reflecting Women invites visitors to discover themselves within the imagination of each participating designer through a mirrored, multi-medium experience where – through the act of observation – you may recognize yourself,” Scully says.
By Adrian Madlener
Emma Scully Gallery, Superhouse and Objective Gallery – three recently established platforms in the vanguard of the New York scene – are making their debut... Mounting the ‘Reflection Women’ show, Emma Scully Gallery has brought together new pieces by Bec Brittain, Simone Bodmer-Turner, Rooms Studio, Jane Atfield, Ibiyanε, Jaye Kim, Kaja Upelj, Nel Verbeke and Jenny Min.
By Lydia Geisel
When gallerist Emma Scully asked New York–based ceramist Simone Bodmer-Turner to go big for her Design Miami booth, Bodmer-Turner did just that with a sculptural plaster mirror—her largest freestanding piece to date. The extra-large entryway staple is a fitting addition to the show, which is dubbed “Reflecting Women” and will also present works by Bec Brittain, Rooms Studio, Jane Atfield, Ibiyanε, Jaye Kim, Nel Verbeke, Kaja Upelj, and Jenny Min, through December 4.
By Osman Can Yerebakan
Another striking Curio presentation is by Emma Scully Gallery in which an all-women designer presentation, titled Reflecting Women, includes pieces by Jane Atfield, Rooms Studio, Bec Brittain, and Jenny Min. The scene-stealer is Brittain’s moving light fixtures Parachipers series, titled Zora 1 and James 2. With their cast aluminum bases with black lacquer finish, the parachute shades in textile, silk thread, brass, and gold-filled chain blow in air, pulling the gallery-goers into the celebration of woman design.
By Ryan Waddoups
Long inspired by the organic architecture of Savin Couelle and Valentine Schlegel, the Brooklyn sculptor’s recent forays into furniture design continue with a giant eight-foot-tall mirror adorned with the signature graceful shapes that make her ceramic pieces so compelling.
By Francesca Gugliotta
Emma Scully Gallery will propose, within the Curio program, Reflecting Women, an engaging experience that supports and celebrates women in design.
By Ryan Waddoups
Though initially drawn to ceramics as a pastime, seven years spent perfecting the graceful, biomorphic shapes of her favorite architects (think Savin Couelle and Valentine Schlegel) has cemented Simone Bodmer-Turner as one of today’s most sought-after makers of sculptural vessels. She continues to scale up her practice, recently debuting her first-ever furniture pieces—a whimsical credenza with spherical drawers and some gravity-defying chairs—and now unveils her largest piece yet, a freestanding mirror for Emma Scully Gallery at Design Miami.
By Sujata Burman
Nine women designers working in mediums including plaster, lighting and ceramics feature in Manhattan-based Emma Scully Gallery’s Curio. Championing female empowerment, the works by Bec Brittain, Simone Bodmer-Turner, Rooms Studio, Jane Atfield, Ibiyanε, Jaye Kim, Kaja Upelj, Nel Verbeke, and Jenny Min ask visitors to take time to reflect.
By Annabel Keenan
Throughout the fair, mirrors abound. Emma Scully Gallery (C02), in its Design Miami/ debut, will present a Curio booth entitled “Reflecting Women,” dedicated to mirrors by female designers.
Produced by Kathryn Given and Sarah Shelton
Photography by Leslie Unruh
Pioneering Perch - British Deisnger Jane Atfield's RCP2 Chair... was one of the first pieces of furniture made excluisively from recycled plastic.
By Leo Lei
Brittain created a series of flowing patterns that resemble the rhythm of flowers in the wind by drawing inspiration from the movement of inflated parachutes.
By Aileen Kwun
New York’s new guard moves beyond social media, opening brick and mortar spaces to make design within reach.
“There is a new wave,” said Emma Scully, who opened her namesake gallery on New York’s Upper East Side last spring.
by Almas Sadique
“With Bec, nothing is made just for fashion. Everything starts from a conceptual backbone. She is really one of the most important American lighting designers. Throughout her body of work, there’s an attention to form, attention to material and attention to detail that’s so thoughtful. From a curatorial standpoint, Paraciphers is in line with the gallery's mission of championing cutting-edge contemporary collectable design. Our main goal is to keep representing and supporting the work of groundbreaking living artists, designers, and craftspeople," says Emma Scully, founder of the gallery, about Brittain’s unique style and process.
By Tim McKeough
Photography by Brooke Holm
In "Paraciphers," now on view at Emma Scully Gallery in New York, Brittain introduces works that were more than a decade in the making.
By JS
Photography by Brooke Holm
After a two-year hiatus, Bec Brittain, the acclaimed lighting designer from New York, presented to the world her new creations - "Paraciphers". The parachute-like objects attract with their colors and original shapes.
By Wava Carpenter
For this edition of our “Ones to Watch” column, we’re profiling three red-hot artists taking blown glass in new directions. Each in their proprietary style transforms the ancient medium of molten silicates and pigments into of-the-moment expressions radiant with color, light, and charisma.
By Diana Budds
Designer Bec Brittain, known for her architectural pendants and LED light sculptures, recently became fascinated with NASA parachutes and their ability to withstand intense force in order to help astronauts safely descend to Earth. The parachutes are so delicate that you can see through the nylon fabric, yet they are capable of holding thousands of pounds.
By Ingrid Abramovitch and Sean Santiago
The designer Bec Brittain will present a new collection of lighting at Emma Scully Gallery on Manhattan’s Upper East Side
from October 12 through December 18. Inspired by NASA’s wind tunnel testing of parachutes, the work is a marked
departure for her practice, evincing a more fanciful approach that belies the months of research
and technical exploration the project required.
By Eric Mutrie
Ultimate Flex
For "Anti Chairs," Emma Scully Gallery invited six designers to challenge old ways of sitting. New Orleans-based Bradley L. Bowers unveiled Frank, an invitingly cushy upholstered chair modelled after taut muscles.
Designer Faissal El-Malak's ritualistic piece pays homage to the soap towers of Nablus, Palestine.
By Xing Si
The RCP2 chair, designed by Jane Atfield 30 years ago, became a symbol of the eco-design movement. This chair, made entirely from recycled plastic bottles, sheds light on consumer culture and the environmental crisis, becoming a design example for resource regeneration.
By Adrian Madlener
Diverse work to entice dreamers and collectors – Emma Scully Gallery: Anti Chairs
It’s often said that there are too many chair designs out there, but all that this expression proves is that there are few iterations that truly break the mould. A new exhibition at Emma Scully Gallery on the Upper East Side seeks to challenge this perception by questioning certain societal norms.
By Jill Singer
Scully writes: “Much like the seminal MoMa design exhibition, ‘The New Domestic Landscape,’ circa 1972, ‘Anti Chairs’ is an exhibition in support of the designer’s role in sculpting patterns of behavior in society — providing tools for thought rather than functional objects for living.” To that end, each of these chairs has something that makes it … almost not a chair.
By Diana Budds
Emma Scully’s “Anti Chairs” show brings together a few of the most experimental designers working today to consider furniture primarily as a conceptual rather than a functional object: Bradley L. Bowers, who made a puffy, iridescent armchair; Jumbo (the studio run by Justin Donnelly and Monling Lee), which contorted a metal barricade to make a bench; and Chris Wolston, who contributed an abstract carpet — his first-ever rug design. Ilana Harris-Babou, an artist who interrogates design culture, presents collages inspired by sitting down on a subway seat still warm from the previous occupant; the unsettling sensation sparked a hunt for images that show the butt imprints left on a chair and took her on a fascinating journey through, among other spaces, online fetish communities and furniture-repair blogs.
By Artsy Editorial Staff
The glue holding it all together is the buoyant furniture and sculpture of Emma Scully Gallery, including a delightful, six-foot-tall ceramic fruit bowl by Sean Gerstley and a cast-iron table resembling a giant gray mushroom by Charlotte Kingsnorth.
By Cindy Hernandez
Manhattan’s Emma Scully Gallery celebrates the British sustainable design pioneer on the 30th anniversary of her RCP2 Chair, the first chair produced from recycled plastic.
By Whitney Bauck
Designer Jane Atfield brought recycled plastic into furniture design in the ‘90s. She’s ready for the industry to finally catch up.
By STIRpad
Emma Scully Gallery’s latest exhibition, showcasing British furniture designer Jane Atfield’s iconic 30 year old RCP2 chairs, is a celebration of the design that heralded the practice of recycling plastic waste into useful products.
By Kelly Pau
An exhibit at Emma Scully Gallery commemorates the first designer to craft furniture from recyled plastics.
By Team Yellowtrace
An exhibition celebrating the work of pioneering British designer Jane Atfield has come to New York. Held at Emma Scully Gallery in Manhattan, the show coincides with the 30th anniversary of the release of Atfield’s RCP2 chair, one of the first pieces of furniture made exclusively from recycled plastics.
By Yoni Yardeni
With sustainable furniture becoming increasingly popular, it’s worth looking back and paying tribute to the pioneers behind it. British designer Jane Atfield brought her gorgeous RCP2 chair to the forefront three decades ago, and it was the very first to be composed of fully-recycled consumer materials.
By Sonia Zhuravlyova
Recycling plastic and the circular economy might be a common enough concept today but that wasn’t always the case. British designer Jane Atfield was one of the first to pioneer the use of recycled plastics to make new design objects in the early 1990s. Her RCP2 chair, for instance, is one of the first design items that is not only a thing of beauty but is also ecologically sound – and it first appeared 30 years ago.
By Adrian Madlener
Once an essential component of mass production and democratised design, plastic has gained a negative reputation in recent decades, and rightfully so. It’s no secret that this synthetic composite is especially harmful to the environment. The sheer scale of non-decomposable plastic waste that currently pollutes the planet is immeasurable. Because of this, many in the design industry have made efforts to address, if not rectify, this pernicious problem. It is sometimes suggested however that the push to implement more reused, upcycled, or bio-based alternatives is a recent development when, in truth, independent talents and producers have been endeavouring to do so for much longer. Case in point: British designer Jane Atfield and Missouri-based manufacturer Yemm & Hart.
By Sammy Su
Originated back in 1992, Jane Atfield’s renowned recycled plastic chair dubbed the RCP2 celebrates its 30th anniversary. In this day and age, eco-friendly initiatives and green-driven innovations are not unheard of and have been given more emphasis to reducing global climate change. But back then, designing with the environment in mind wasn’t a priority in comparison to style-heavy makes. The field of furniture design and plastics also made it difficult for Atfield due to the industry’s male-dominated nature during the 90s.
By Pei-Ru Keh
New York gallerist Emma Scully revisits the groundbreaking design of Jane Atfield’s RCP2 recycled plastic chair, on the 30th anniversary of its creation.
By Ben Dreith
Emma Scully Gallery in Manhattan is showcasing the furniture of Jane Atfield, a British designer credited with one of the earliest uses of recycled plastics in furniture design.
By Anna Carnick
This month, Emma Scully Gallery in New York presents Charmaine Bee, a solo exhibition dedicated to a single, potent work by the young American multidisciplinary artist. And it’s a piece decidedly worthy of its own stage.
By Anna Kats
Curator and scholar Anna Kats takes us to the Caucasus for a tour of five of Tbilisi’s best architecture and design practices: Gypsandconcrete, Material Editors, Rooms, Wunderwerk, and Multiverse. It’s time to learn about the new Georgian architecture.
By Camille Okhio
By Theophil Bousek
Photos by Adrianna Glaviano
Tbilisi-based design duo Rooms Studio, consisting of Nata Janberidze and Keti Toloraia, present their largest US exhibition “Distant Symphony” at the Upper East Side’s Emma Scully Gallery. Presenting works from their permanent collections as well as more recent pieces designed during the pandemic.
By Rebecca N. Thienes
Photos by Adrianna Glaviano
The Tbilisi-based design atelier (founded in 2007) lands in New York City with an exhibition of recent works. Located in Emma Scully Gallery nestled on the ground floor of a grand building on the Upper East Side, the namesake gallerist clad the walls in jute fabric shipped from Paris, a nod to pre-war gallery wall treatments and precursor to modern-day obligatory all-white spaces. The textured treatment layers onto the warmth of works in beeswax with the accompanying sweet smell, the Iron Secret cabinet in blackened, embossed copper and plywood, and a side table mixing basalt and stainless steel.
By Adrian Madlener
Intersecting Europe and Asia along the soaring Caucasus Mountains—the tallest in the region—Georgia is a country steeped in history. Ancient monasteries and Orthodox churches with classical ornamentation juxtapose Soviet Era tower blocks. For local design duo Rooms Studio—Nata Janberidze and Keti Toloraia— this rich heritage serves as an abundant source of inspiration that informs its interiors, furnishings, and objet d’art.
By Sean Santiago
We’ve officially entered the “post-pandemic” phase of the exhibition calendar as designers are once again able to fly, ship, and conceptualize across international borders. For Tbilisi, Georgia–based Rooms Studio, founded in 2007 by Nata Janberidze and Keti Toloraia, their unlocked-down debut is Distant Symphony, on view now through November 20 at Emma Scully Gallery.
By Ksenia Oshchepkova
Photos by Adrianna Glaviano
New York collectors and decorators know and love the works of the Georgian studio Rooms, which have been exhibited more than once in local galleries. But Nata Dzhanberidze and Keti Toloraya do not stop there and continue to conquer the American audience: in October, the Distant Symphony exhibition, the largest of the latest Rooms projects in the USA, opened at the Emma Scully Gallery.
By Max Rakin
A chronic experimenter, Bradley L. Bowers moves among the worlds of furniture, lighting and jewelry, challenging assumptions every step of the way.
By Alison Levasseur
Coast to coast, a fresh crop of creative talents is writing the next chapter in great interior design.
By Fiona Le Brun
Photos by Adrianna Glaviano
Tbilisi Duo Rooms Studio’s New York show invokes both inner life and collaboration.
By Salvatore Peluso
Photos by Chris Mottalini
Eight international designers sent their ideas digitally to gallery owner Emma Scully, who had them made in a foundry in Virginia and exhibited in her new space in New York.
By Monica Khemsurov
Photos by Chris Mottalini
Emma Scully Gallery‘s latest show, Cast Iron, takes advantage of a concept we’ve always been surprised isn’t used more often: selling digital designs that can be fabricated close to the buyer, eliminating the need for shipping (and its consumption of CO2). Of course with 8 pieces by 8 designers all made out of heavy-ass cast iron, we’re not surprised Scully went this route; the ones in the show, however, were all made by the O.K. Foundry in Virginia.
By Adrian Madlener
Emma Scully’s first New York show brings together eight disparate talents to reevaluate the parameters of contemporary industrial design.
By Sheyda Khalilova
Cast Iron, an exhibition going from May 13 to June 25th, 2021 in Emma Scully Gallery in the Upper East Side of Manhattan is featuring works by Chenand Kai, Brecht Wright Gander Studio, Ryan Decker, Tellurico, Faissal El-Malak, Bradley L Bowers, Charlotte Kingsnorth, Nel Verbeke.
By Alia Akkam
All of the furniture, lighting, and decor showcased in “Cast Iron,” Emma Scully’s debut show at her namesake gallery on New York’s Upper East Side, is crafted from the same versatile material. Although Scully produced the pieces in collaboration with the family-run OK Foundry in Richmond, she commissioned digital designs for them from eight young designers around the world (Ryan Decker, Brecht Wright Gander, and Chen Chen & Kai Williams among them). The result is an eco-conscious (and pandemic-friendly) creative process that merges the industrial and the technological.
By Leo Lei
Cast Iron is a gallery exhibition presented by Emma Scully on view from May 13th – June 25th at Emma Scully Gallery on 16 East 79th Street in New York City. Scully commissioned eight artists from across the world to digitally design exclusive pieces of furniture, lighting or decor, in which Scully would then handle production with the help of O.K Foundry, a fourth generation foundry in Virginia.
By Bianca Felicori
Emerging gallerist and curator Emma Scully presents Cast Iron, her first show in New York, which premiered on May 13th.
By Romina Román
Photos by Chris Mottalini
American design gallerist and curator Emma Scully commissioned eight disparate voices around the world to create eight works in cast iron, pieces that are now being exhibited at her namesake gallery. Young designers made digital files that Scully later materialised as a symbol of the 19th-century industrial revolution. These pieces are now part of Emma’s inaugural exhibition in New York, Cast Iron, marking her return to her native city after 3 years of residing in Los Angeles. Cast Iron is on view until June 25, at Emma Scully Gallery, a quintessential Upper East Side exhibition room that the gallerist reimagined with the help of Brooklyn-based studio Wallpaper Projects.
By Elizabeth Fullerton
The creative duo Tiphaine de Lussy and Carolyn Clewer have been collaborating on fashion and art projects for decades. With their latest knit and crochet creations, eyes and mouths are everything.