“Jomo Tariku: Juxtaposed: A Portal to African Design” at Wexler Gallery.
Photo: Christian Giannelli
8 Collectible Design Shows to See in January
From amorous aluminum one-offs by Deon Rubi to Jomo Tariku’s thrilling showcase of Ethiopian-inspired furniture and artifacts
January is a month for starting anew, whether shedding the previous year’s unhealthy habits, sticking to a new workout routine, or finally committing to daily Duolingo sessions. It’s also the perfect time to mentally reset and seek out new creative terrain, which is why we’re rounding up the month’s most captivating collectible design exhibitions. Each offers exciting new ideas worth taking with you into the new year, whether on your moodboard or in your living room. We highlight a few essential New York City shows but journey around the world, from Deon Rubi’s amorous aluminum one-offs in Buenos Aires to a thrilling showcase of Ethiopian-inspired furniture and artifacts by Jomo Tariku.
“Jomo Tariku: Juxtaposed: A Portal to African Design” at Wexler Gallery. Photo: Christian Giannelli
1. “Jomo Tariku: Juxtaposed: A Portal to African Design” at Wexler Gallery | Philadelphia
Over the past three decades, Jomo Tariku has been laser-focused on applying his Ethiopian heritage to the creation of sculptural furniture inspired by African artifacts, landscapes, wildlife, and hairstyles. The world is catching on—not only has his work been acquired by LACMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Denver Art Museum, but pieces also appeared on the set of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). His first-ever solo exhibition, at Wexler Gallery’s spacious Philadelphia outpost until the end of January, sees the visionary experiment with materials and technologies beyond his standard explorations in birch and walnut. Instead, he finds ways to weave in modern materials like metal, plastic, and leather across 31 pieces to “move the design dialogue forward by developing a new creative language based on Black culture,” he says. Interspersed throughout are objects and artifacts from the continent that offer a compelling glimpse at the legacies of African craft.
“Goons: Evolving Forms” at St Vincents. Photo: Eline Willaert
2. “Goons: Evolving Forms” at St Vincents | Antwerp
Fashion designer Mia Kim and architect Paul Trussler once fashioned a wooden bench on a whim hours before a dinner party because they realized they didn’t have enough seating for their guests. That playful spirit pervades their Parisian furniture studio Goons, which has recently emerged as a purveyor of simple plywood furniture melding Judd-esque minimalism with freewheeling experiments in volume and form, often in response to the founders’ daily needs as a couple raising a young family. For their latest series, they created an expansive dining set—a console, tables, bench, stool, and chairs—in pristine Scandinavian birch plywood that aims to adapt to life’s unpredictable circumstances. “When we considered the scale and changing nature of our own family and friendship over the past years and into the future, the idea of multi functionality became an obvious source of inspiration,” Kim says. “But as less of a ‘feature’ and more just the reality of owning something special for a very long time.”
“Rio Kobayashi & Fritz Rauh” at Blunk House. Photo: Leslie Williamson
“Rio Kobayashi & Fritz Rauh” at Blunk Space. Photo: Chris Grunder
3. “Rio Kobayashi & Fritz Rauh” at Blunk Space | Point Reyes Station, California
Fresh off a Design Miami showcase that scooped Best Curio for combining JB Blunk’s sinuous wooden chairs with textiles, jewelry, and shelving by three like-minded contemporary makers, the gallery returns with a dual exhibition that seeks to unearth commonalities between furniture maker Rio Kobayashi and late painter Fritz Rauh. Here, the conversation focuses on organic forms, free intuitive expression, vigorous color, technical rigor, and relationships with Blunk’s legacy. The densely patterned paintings by Rauh, who befriended Blunk in the late 1950s, ripple with hallucinogenic colors and lifelike shapes that harmonize with sculptural works by Kobayashi, who sourced salvaged redwood from local sawyers while staying at the Blunk House last year. Details and dialogues emerge in unexpected places, such as a bench’s undulating underside echoing a canvas’s sinuous, forest-green brushstroke.
“Jos Devriendt: FLOWers” at Demisch Danant. Photo: William Jess Laird
4. “Jos Devriendt: FLOWers” at Demisch Danant | New York
Jos Devriendt’s outings at Demisch Danant tend to be showstoppers, often populating the beloved postwar French design gallery with fungi-shaped lamps that play with light and form. Now, the Belgian luminary is inviting us into a figurative flower garden. Guided by his intuition, the never-before-seen trove of functional works combine sundry materials—bronze, ceramic, brass, epoxy—to achieve new forms and colors within his practice. Through chiaroscuro, each luminaire plays with the nuances of natural and artificial light to serve double duty as daytime sculptures and nocturnal beacons that put a poetic spin on solitude and impermanence.
“Shlomo Harush: Please Do Not Sit” at Nilufar Gallery. Photo: Filippo Pincolini
“Shlomo Harush: Please Do Not Sit” at Nilufar Gallery. Photo: Filippo Pincolini
5. “Shlomo Harush: Please Do Not Sit” at Nilufar Gallery | Milan
No medium is off-limits to Shlomo Harush, the Jerusalem-born artist who has recently zeroed in on the metamorphosis of industrial materials like aluminum, bronze, and steel. The creative polymath’s recent experiments now culminate in a major solo exhibition at Milan’s collectible design mainstay Nilufar Gallery in a joyous expression of freedom, energy, and weightlessness. In one piece, Harush manipulates brass wire to achieve continuous three-dimensional drawings shaped like a chair; others see him etch patterns and symbols into geometric, copper-clad furniture. “I blend everyday subjects and objects into my work,” Harush says, “manipulating them to turn away from the archetypal towards new and unexpected emblems.”
“Julia Haft-Candell: Hold” at Rebecca Camacho Presents. Photo: Jeff McLane, courtesy of the artist and Rebecca Camacho Presents
“Julia Haft-Candell: Hold” at Rebecca Camacho Presents. Photo: Jeff McLane, courtesy of the artist and Rebecca Camacho Presents
6. “Julia Haft-Candell: Hold” at Rebecca Camacho Presents | San Francisco
Julia Haft-Candell has long wielded sgraffito—the technique of carving into clay before firing to achieve variations in textures and colors—to harness her chosen medium’s full expressive power. Often, the Angeleno artist’s spellbinding works glimmer with bronze and gold flourishes shaped like combs, hands, chains, and infinity loops. Her latest body of work expands her visual lexicon even further, venturing into bold new creative territory. One sculpture resembles a hand extended backward, but doubles as a lamp adorned with chains of loops that splay across its surface; another masquerades as a luminous wall sconce captured in a state of genesis as legs extend outward from the clay body holding them.
“Deon Rubi: Acero Inolvidable” at Calvaresi Contemporaneo. Photo: Florecia Lista
“Deon Rubi: Acero Inolvidable” at Calvaresi Contemporaneo. Photo: Florecia Lista
7. “Deon Rubi: Acero Inolvidable” at Calvaresi Contemporaneo | Buenos Aires
Lucila Garcia de Onrubia, better known as Deon Rubi, decided to train in archery to more fully understand how Cupid wields his bow and arrow when casting love spells. She translated her learnings into the one-of-a-kind metal furnishings comprising her latest solo exhibition in Buenos Aires, an array of curious artifacts that sparkle with love and seduction. One standout is the cast aluminum Ok Cupid bench, a sly nod to the dating website. Three heart-shaped tubes compose the seat, which is pierced by arrows likely shot by the cherub affixed to its leg. Heart motifs reappear in a polished aluminum floor lamp and wall sculpture, perhaps signaling our current app-saturated practice of love is razor-thin and lacking in soul and passion.
“Alban Roger and Atelier d’Offard: The Alps” at Amelie, Maison d’Art. Photo: Maison Mouton Noir
8. “Alban Roger and Atelier d’Offard: The Alps” at Amelie, Maison d’Art | New York
When Amelie du Chalard invited curator Alban Roger to imbue her New York City gallery with the essence of winter, she likely didn’t expect a full-fledged overhaul into an alpine landscape. But the invitation coincided with the launch of Monte, a Dominican collectible design brand named after the Spanish word for “mount” that Roger recently founded with Andres Gomez and Jorge Brown Cott, so snow-covered mountains were top of mind. Inspired by erosion and the quiet majesty of natural forces, Roger’s sculptural tables take pride of place with French artist Arthur Vallin’s sculptural musings on the cyclical nature of seasons. They look perfectly at home within an immersive scenography by renowned French paper maker Atelier d’Offard, which crafted an otherworldly cave-like setting that reflects winter’s all-encompassing quiet.
Cover: “Jomo Tariku: Juxtaposed: A Portal to African Design” at Wexler Gallery.
Photo: Christian Giannelli
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