Object Edit: The Design Launches Defining the Moment
From a summery new rug collection inspired by Michael Bargo’s treasured textiles to sculptural hi-fi speakers given a downtown makeover by Kouros Maghsoudi
Welcome to Object Edit, Galerie’s twice-monthly survey spotlighting the most noteworthy new furnishings, lighting, textiles, and objects debuting around the world. Every month brings a flood of launches, but only a select few distinguish themselves through exceptional craftsmanship, fresh ideas, and a distinctive point of view. Here, we highlight the pieces worth knowing about—and unpack the stories behind them.
Michael Bargo Channels His Amagansett Summers Into Beni Rugs
Michael Bargo decamps to Amagansett every summer, carving out a welcome respite from his day-to-day as one of today’s most sought-after vintage furniture dealers. “For six weeks, I stage my summer alter ego: the surfer-skater I always wanted to be,” he says. Naturally, he creates an interior world to match. Described as “relaxed, carefree, and a little bohemian,” it begins with the unpacking of a carefully assembled cache of Japanese textiles, vintage table linens, and woven tapestries layered throughout his rental until every room bears his imprint. Now, Bargo has translated that seasonal tradition into his first collaboration, Oak Lane, for Beni Rugs.
The collection comprises six rugs and Beni’s first woven floor pillow, each evoking the motifs and color pairings found throughout Bargo’s beach kit. Thick stripes, offset plaids, and graphic borders reference treasured textiles gathered over the years, while four distinct weaving techniques lend each piece its own character. Inspiration arrived from equally varied sources: a Jean Prouvé house in the South of France, where exceptional furniture sits against worn plaster walls; the Lalannes’ atelier, with its easy coexistence of sculpture and weathered textiles; and Brice Marden’s bohemian retreat in upstate New York. Vintage designer towels from the 1970s and ‘80s, once sold through department stores under fashion-house licensing agreements, provided another point of departure. Their bold graphics and sun-washed palettes echo throughout the collection, infusing the rugs with the languid spirit of a sunny afternoon.
Like the rest of Beni’s repertoire, the collection is woven at the company’s workshop outside Marrakech, where artisans employ techniques passed down through generations. Oak Lane also debuts two new constructions: the flatwoven Safaa leaves the warp visible, lending the rugs subtle tonal variation. Rif draws on the appearance of vintage rugs worn smooth over time, offering a slimmer profile suited to casual living. “We wanted the collection to feel lived-in from day one,” says Beni cofounder Tibero Lobo-Navia. “Rugs that welcome layering, texture, and everyday life—our new weaves deliver this feeling.” As does the new floor pillow, cut directly from the rug patterns so the motifs continue uninterrupted across the room. The gesture riffs on a longstanding Moroccan practice of repurposing worn rugs, extending the life of cherished textiles. Bargo approaches his Amagansett retreat similarly, returning each summer to a familiar cast of fabrics that reveal new possibilities with every season.
Nina Takesh’s Resplendent New Wallpapers Tell a Cross-Cultural Story
Last year, Nina Takesh introduced a 14-piece furniture collection that drew on the inviting elegance of midcentury French interiors. Now, the Los Angeles designer and entrepreneur is turning her attention to walls with Eastern Blush, a new suite of wall coverings created with Swedish mural specialist BelarteStudio. Inspired by Takesh’s upbringing in Tehran, studies in France and Switzerland, and years spent in the Paris fashion world, the series traces the cultural influences that have continually informed her prolific design practice. The collection emerged through a close collaboration with BelarteStudio’s artists, beginning with mood boards layered with color studies, material references, and expressive painted motifs drawn from Takesh’s interiors. Together, they refined each image and palette to reflect her sensibilities.
Eastern Blush comprises seven patterns, each with a distinct point of view. Soirée Persane references Persian textiles and tapestries through dense botanical patterns punctuated by hidden animal motifs. Tropique pares the palm into graphic silhouettes that range from soft cream to deep burgundy. Damier revisits the French checkerboard, while L’Air des Jardins draws from 18th-century chinoiserie and hand-painted silk panels, filling walls with resplendent flowering branches and birds at mural scale. “The collection pulls from the two strongest threads in my life: Persian heritage and European classicism,” Takesh tells Galerie. “What I wanted was designs that already carry a history so the room doesn’t have to explain itself.”
Pembrooke & Ives Put an Architectural Spin on Brassware
When Pembrooke & Ives founder Andrew Sheinman first met Drummonds creative director James Lentaigne after the British bathmaker opened its New York showroom, a conversation about the architectural potential of plumbing fixtures soon evolved into a collaboration. That partnership produced the Hudson Collection, a new line of bath fittings named after the river that flows through New York, the city both British-born brands now call home. “We were intent on creating something that did not sit neatly within a single historical reference,” Lentaigne says, citing subtle Art Deco influences in the brassware’s clean lines and sculpted profiles.
Across the collection, angular cross-head handles sit alongside lever options, while crisp edges give way to gently rounded contours. Each component begins with the traditional lost-wax casting process before artisans hand-finish every surface. The method lends notable depth and weight to the brass, particularly in the faceted cross-head handle. “The cross-head’s geometry is confident and architectural, and it’s where the Drummonds craftsmanship shines,” Nicdao says. “The fixtures have a wonderful simplicity and elegance, while subtle bevels and sculpted curvature reveal greater complexity of design and craftsmanship.” The collection comprises basin and bath fillers, shower controls, and shower fittings available in both handset-and-riser and wall-mounted configurations, as well as nine metal finishes.
Bruno Grizzo’s Painterly Ceramics Elevate These Metabolist-Inspired Tables
Among the most captivating debuts of NYCxDesign was Lawson-Fenning’s Bosque collection, which channels the monumental spirit of the Japanese Metabolist movement into a suite of 19 upholstered furnishings and case goods. Named after the Spanish word for “forest,” the collection imagines furniture as part of a larger ecosystem, with broad, low-slung silhouettes designed to relate to one another across a room. Rounded corners temper the substantial profiles, while solid white oak and American walnut lend the tables and storage pieces a sense of permanence. Hand-cut joinery and carefully crafted details speak to the network of American carpenters and fabricators who have collaborated with the Los Angeles company for decades.
The collection reaches its most compelling expression through a limited series of side tables created with New York ceramic artist Bruno Grizzo. Immediately drawn to what he describes as Bosque’s “strong sculptural presence,” he introduced hand-painted ceramic tops whose richly layered glazes bring an earthy dimension to the furniture. “I wanted the tables to feel less like manufactured objects and more like living surfaces that reveal the hand of the maker,” Grizzo says. Each top carries subtle shifts in color, texture, and brushwork, with palettes inspired by stone, moss, weathered concrete, and oxidized metal. “The layered glazes create a sense of depth that shifts with changing light and perspective, Grizzo adds—painterly flourishes that give every table a distinct character shaped by the unpredictable alchemy of the kiln.
Kouros Maghsoudi Gives the Hi-Fi Speaker a Downtown Makeover
High-fidelity speakers rarely earn a place in a thoughtfully designed interior, too often arriving as monolithic black boxes. Stack, a new collaboration between Silence Please and ascendant designer Kouros Maghsoudi, makes a seductive case for audio equipment as collectible design. Unveiled during NYCxDesign at the audio studio’s sleek Bowery listening salon, the speaker comes in an edition of ten pairs, with bone and black high-gloss lacquer among the available finishes. The project emerged from the late nights Maghsoudi spent at Silence Please, where conversations with the owner moved from club culture to the role sound systems play within domestic interiors, as well as their shared backgrounds: “We share many of the same social values that come with growing up Middle Eastern, like community, hospitality, and generosity,” Maghsoudi says, “many of which are also achieved with sound and music.”
Designing a speaker introduced a new challenge for Maghsoudi, who had never before created an electronic. Internal dimensions, wood selection, driver placement, and horn geometry all affect audio quality, requiring strict adherence to technical parameters. “The constraints were frustrating, but at other times it was refreshing to not be bogged down by a million decisions,” he says. And those requirements never obscure the intoxicating decadence that defines his collectible furniture. Stacked geometries rise beneath a flared horn finished in lustrous lacquer, while concealed components maintain the speaker’s sculptural silhouette. The launch also marks a turning point for a newly energized Maghsoudi, who is lately embracing a direction inspired by Halston-era glamour: “Think more Seagram Building, less TWA Hotel.”