London can be pricey and popular this time of year. The team at designjunction has shared 4 simple ways to help maximize your time at this amazing fair.

Book in advance. Tickets are £12 standard advance or £15 on the door. Trade professionals arefree in advance and £15 on the door.

Print your badge. Prior planning means you can skip the queues and access all four areas as soon as you arrive. If you forget, there are printers onsite.

Download Junction. It’s the digital version of the event guide, which includes show highlights, exclusive interviews and the full exhibitor directory.

Check out Traces. The Traces app lets you discover KXCQ special offers and discounts from local creative businesses, restaurants, shops and hotels.

Up for a picnic? Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA) is hosting its fifth annual summer soiree and fundraiser on September 7, Picnic By Design® at the Mercantile Annex in Midtown! Guests will have the chance to bid on beautifully designed picnic baskets, created by renowned New York City tastemakers.

Diffa’s Picnic by Design®

Picnic by Design combines high-end design, food and a fun atmosphere at a beautiful venue. Dawn Roberson, Director of Special Events at DIFFA, notes, “This event grows each year and continues to serve as a platform for young and emerging designers to raise awareness for the cause while celebrating epic design.”

DIFFA’s Mission: Combat HIV/AIDS

DIFFA’s mission is to help in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The charity organization was founded in 1984 and has since grown into one of the largest funders of HIV/AIDS Service and education in the country. So far, DIFFA has granted more than $41 million to nonprofit organizations combating HIV/AIDS across the United States. Picnic By Design® is just one of its popular events raising awareness and funds for a serious cause, while engaging designers and showcasing their work.

Designers: “Repeat Offenders” & “Newbies”

This year’s basket designers are, as always, an amazing group–including “repeat offenders” such as: Antoinette Loupe Interiors, MoDmade NY and VDA Designs as well as first-time participants: KWG Design, Mee Tran + Phuong Huyn, Stacy Garcia, FXFOWLE, Wills Design Associates, Stantec Architecture are just a few who will contribute their unique creative work. Media Sponsors include Interior Design and Modern Luxury Manhattan. Food and Beverages will be provided by Cliffton Dry, STK Restaurants, Canard Inc., and more.

Tickets & Sponsoring

Tickets are now available for an Early Bird Price of $125, increasing to $150 on August 25. Purchase them here. Want to become a sponsor? Inquire here. Find more information about DIFFA’s combat against HIV/AIDS and their successful fundraising programs here.

Event: DIFFA’s Annual Summer Fundraiser: Picnic by Design
Date: September 7, 2016

Time: 6 – 9pm EST
Location: Mercantile Annex, 517 West 37th Street, NYC

The 2015 picnic basket my MoDmade NY was a work of art. Photo by Erik Bardin, courtesy of Interior Design.

VDA Designs, “Repeat Offender” at Picnic By Design®. Photo by Erik Bardin, Courtesy of Interior Design

Antoinette Loupe’s contribution included a message from the heart in French. Photo by Erik Bardin, courtesy of Interior Design.

A full list of MetFridays: Pride programming and activities at The Met Fifth Avenue is available on The Met website.

MetFridays: Extreme Measures, on July 22, invites visitors to discover the power of objects large and small through interactive gallery chats, art making, music, and more. A concert by Bansuri flutist Jay Gandhi will take place in connection with the exhibition Divine Pleasures: Painting from India’s Rajput Courts—The Kronos Collections (June 14–September 12), and a special Drop-in Drawing session will feature live models wearing garments inspired by the exhibition Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology (on view through August 14).

The Met Fifth Avenue offers food and drink specials every Friday evening as part of MetFridays. The Roof Garden Bar is presenting an artful cocktail menu inspired by The Roof Garden Commission: Cornelia Parker, Transitional Object (PsychoBarn) (on view through October 31, weather permitting), featuring one of their most popular offerings, the Red Barn Sangria. Throughout June, the Great Hall Balcony Bar will host a menu inspired by the exhibition Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World (on view through July 17), drawing on the cuisine of the ancient city of Pergamon (now known as Bergama, in present-day Turkey), and featuring light appetizers-perfect for sharing with friends while enjoying a drink.

Museum Members can enjoy priority service at the new Members Rooftop Bar located on the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, open every Friday and Saturday evening from 5 to 8 p.m. The Members Rooftop Bar, open only to Museum members, will feature a selection of summer cocktails and offer unparalleled views of the New York City skyline.

Other MetFridays activities occurring at The Met Fifth Avenue on a more regular basis include concerts by string quartet ETHEL and Friends on the Balcony Bar, Museum Highlights tours, Drop-in Drawing sessions, and The Observant Eye, in which visitors spend time investigating and discussing a particular work of art.

Full schedule of public hours at The Met Fifth Avenue

MetFridays at The Met Cloisters

Visitors can experience the wonders of medieval European art, architecture, and gardens at The Met Cloisters until 7:30 p.m. on Fridays through Labor Day. The Met Cloisters overlooks the majestic Hudson River in northern Manhattan’s Fort Tryon Park and derives its name from the portions of five medieval cloisters that have been incorporated into its overall structure.

On Friday, August 26, at 6 p.m., The Met Cloisters will host a tastingof German white wines of the Mosel with importer Stephen Bitterolf, founder of vom Boden Fine Wines.

Jazz and Honey at The Met Cloisters will take place at 6 p.m. during the July 29 MetFridays. Trumpeter Alex Nguyen and his quartet will perform music from the 1930s, the decade when this jewel on the Hudson was designed, built, and opened to the public. Visitors will be able to taste the flavors of the summer season with a sampling of local honey and learn about the ancient practice of beekeeping.

The Trie Café at The Met Cloisters offers a thoughtful selection of wine and beer, chosen to complement the gardens and inspired by the Saint-Guilhem cloister. The heritage of all of the wine and beer selections can be traced to the medieval era.

Extended Summer Hours at The Met Cloisters are made possible by The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.

Full schedule of public hours at The Met Cloisters

MetFridays at The Met Breuer

The Met Breuer extends The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s modern and contemporary art program to the iconic building designed by Marcel Breuer on Madison Avenue at 75th Street in Manhattan. On every Friday throughout the year, The Met Breuer is open until 9 p.m.

Exhibitions on view at The Met Breuer this summer are: Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible(through September 4) and diane arbus: in the beginning (July 12–November 27, 2016).

For more information on these exhibitions, please visit metmuseum.org/exhibitions.

Full schedule of public hours at The Met Breuer

MetFridays Hours

When: Every Friday evening

Location: The Met Fifth Avenue, open until 9 p.m.

                    The Met Breuer, open until 9 p.m.

                    The Met Cloisters, open until 7:30 p.m., May 27–September 5

Ahead of designjunction on May 11, 6.30pm – 8.30pm join A|N, designjunction + Dwell on Design and multiple showrooms in the Flatiron District for a night of cocktails and design!  Register here.

designjunction runs from May 13 – 15 at ArtBeam, 540 W 21st St, New York, NY 10011

With its third edition happening on May 13 – 16, 2016, Sight Unseen OFFSITE coincides with the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) and NYCxDESIGN. Produced and curated annually by Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer, the co-founders of the editorial and curatorial consultancy, Sight Unseen, Sight Unseen OFFSITE provides a platform for the most directional, cutting-edge ideas in contemporary furniture design, with a special emphasis on independent studios, forward-thinking brands, and the best and brightest American talents.

Over the past two shows one has been able to see presentations by the likes of Grey Area, Tai Ping, Kelly Behun, Field Experiments, and last year, a Katie Stout pillow playground was added along with an American Design Club exhibition, and more.

This year the show takes over a new space with double the square-footage, inside the iconically sloped 1974 W.R. Grace building, boasting floor-to-ceiling views onto Bryant Park directly below, and Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer have set the bar high with an even more ambitious curatorial program.

Sight Unseen OFFSITE once again are partnering with Ford to bring the design thinking behind its cars to life, with a special immersive infinite sound bath installation “TOPO”, by the architecture firm Leong Leong. “TOPO” turns a flowing field of more than a thousand foam rollers, typically found in gyms, into a kind of musical instrument, using acoustic actuators to pick up ambient sounds and translate them into a sonic soundscape. The effect will be will create the sensation of being in different acoustic spaces depending where one is in the space and on how the different frequencies amplify and cancel each other out. With mirrors lining the installation, the overall effect distorts perceptions of distance, scale, and space.

In addition to this acrylic and foam paradise, this year’s show will also have a major Norwegian element – an exhibition of works created by five Norwegian studios in collaboration with five American studios. Following a trip to Norway last year, Sight Unseen’s editors set up a cross-cultural exchange pairing five entrepreneurial American studios with five up-and-coming Norwegian studios, who spent six months together working long-distance on objects that utilize an American workshop for fabrication and that can be independently manufactured for future sales. The result is Norway x New York, a collection of collaborative furniture and lighting with a debut at Sight Unseen OFFSITE.

Norway x New York Jonah Takagi (DC) and Hallgeir Homstvedt (NO)

Sight Unseen OFFSITE runs from Friday, May 13 through Monday, May 16, 2016.

DATE AND HOURS:

Friday, May 13, 2016 at 12:00 PM – Monday, May 16, 2016 at 5:00 PM

5/13: 12pm – 7pm

5/14: 11am – 7pm

5/15: 11am – 7pm

5/16: 9am – 5pm

LOCATION:

Grace Building

1114 Avenue of the Americas

15th Floor

New York

NY 10110

WantedDesign NYC in collaboration with Be Original Americas and Alessi will come together for a talk with Alberto Alessi at Industry City on “My Life in Design” This conversation will focus on Alberto Alessi’s career, how he’s managed to accommodate nearly 300 designers and architects under the same roof, and the dreams and failures of an Italian Design Factory design manager. RSVP is a must by May 9 to beoriginal@bdeonline.biz

Conversation Series

May 14th, 15th, 16th at 12-1pm at WantedDesign Manhattan

WantedDesign continues their Conversation series, a three-day program co-presented with Metropolis Magazine and hosted in the Conversation Room at Grimshaw. WantedDesign is a place where ideas are discussed and the public can engage with professionals to better understand design culture and business. Given that, design has always been about collaborations and encounters. The Conversation Series is the ideal place to get together, confront and ponder views on the international scene of design. This year, the conversation series will explore new prospective themes, like: design and science, design and cultural identity and the future of making. – Click here for more information.

Oui Design

Also launching at WantedDesign this May, in partnership with The Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States is Oui Design, a brand new program, part of the French Embassy’s initiative to enhance French-American exchange in the field of design. Oui Design will present a series of projects at WantedDesign exploring the intersection of design and savoir-faire, new production processes and the impact of design on our daily lives. The program includes the Transatlantic Creative Exchange exhibition, We Trust inWood by matali crasset and Le vent des Forets, Visual Magnetics collaboration with French graphic artists Antoine+Manuel and a conversation presented by Intramuros magazine on the collaboration between Bernhardt design and French designer Oceane Delain. Lastly, the École Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle-Les Ateliers (ENSCI-Les Ateliers), will be leading the WantedDesign Design Schools Workshop this year.

MANHATTAN LOCATION, DATES AND TIMES:

WantedDesign, Manhattan: May 13-16 2016

Terminal Stores

269 11th Avenue

New York

NY 10001

Friday May 13: Preview (by invitation only)

Saturday May 14 & Sunday May 15: From 10am to 7pm (open to trade and public)

Monday May 16: From 10am to 7pm (open to trade only)

BROOKLYN LOCATION, DATES AND TIMES:

WantedDesign, Brooklyn: May 7-17 2016 (Closed on May 9,10,11)

Industry City in Sunset Park

274 36th Street

Brooklyn

NY 11232

Saturday, May 7 – Sunday, May 8: from 11am to 6pm

Thursday, May 12 – Monday, May 16: from 11am to 6pm Tuesday, May 17: from 2pm to 6pm

BKLYN DESIGNS – one of the anchor fairs of NYCxDESIGN showcasing Brooklyn’s finest designers, makers and brands – will return to the Brooklyn Expo Center in Greenpoint from May 6-8, 2016! Founded by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce in 2003, it was one of the first fairs to shine a spotlight on the rich creative economy in Brooklyn, highlighting contemporary products across furniture, lighting, tableware, art, textiles and jewelry. From modern heirloom furniture and artistic lighting to sustainable surfacing and handmade accessories, the show will feature inspiring products from 50+ emerging designers and established brands hailing from all corners of the borough. Complementing the amazing range of innovative furniture on display will be a variety of installations, pop-up shops, workshops/demos, a seminar series and satellite talks. Below is a list of the exciting programming to look out for at this year’s show:

Diverse array of exhibitors from independent designers to collectives: At BKLYN DESIGNS, a variety of work will be on display. Designers will launch entirely new brands (such as Cam Crockford Design, Calator Design, earthly and POPA), alongside established design veterans (including Mark Jupiter, a 4th generation NYC furniture creator and Think Fabricate a multi-disciplinary design studio).

BKLYN BUYS juried marketplace of small items for sale: The show’s curated marketplace will return giving attendees the opportunity to take a bit of the show home with them, from handcrafted accessories to beautiful books to unique design objects. The pavilion will celebrate the wealth of creativity and craftsmanship in the borough.

Pop-up shops featuring modern design goods: American Design Club will strengthen this retail hub, offering products for sale by well-known Brooklyn designers and NYCxDESIGN Destinations: Cornhole, a usable gallery of one-of-a-kind cornhole boards designed by surprise collaborators.

Showcase of Pratt student & alumni work: In an exciting partnership with the Pratt Institute, BKLYN DESIGNS will be able to represent both student and alumni work from the borough’s premier design school.

Micro Loft concept space: A collaboration between AJ Madison, AphroChic, Resource Furniture, and Con Edison, this installation will bring smart living to the forefront with cutting-edge kitchen appliances, space-saving furniture, and an all around beautiful, functional design.

Virtual reality lounge: With the huge presence of virtual reality as a tool in design and architecture, Sunchaser Entertainment and the Architecture & Design Film Festival will help us represent this important emerging technology at the show with an immersive virtual reality experience concerning space & architecture.

12 panel discussions on design, architecture, technology & more: Topics include the development of the Brooklyn waterfront, product design and fabrication, hospitality design in Brooklyn, adaptability and scale in green architecture, and designing for small spaces. There will be a variety of robust topics on the table for the show’s design-savvy audience.

Satellite talks on living, designing & entertaining: Many of the show’s installations will host talks and sessions, such as the THINK + [TABLE], where attendees are invited to grab a seat and participate in the discussion.

Workshops on textiles, 3D printing & more: A brand new initiative, the show’s Maker’s Lab will feature workshops and tutorials for those who’d like to try their hand at some of the crafts our Brooklyn designers have mastered.

On-site consultations & portfolio reviews: Aspiring designers will have a chance to connect with established designers and brands, including a portfolio review by the American Design Club.

Interactive installations for kids & adults: With the show weekend including Mother’s Day, BKLYN DESIGNS provides design-centric programming for all ages. For example, young attendees can interact with Rockwell Group’s popular Imagination Playground of architectural blocks that can be combined in different creative ways.

Cafes & bars featuring local vendors: Delicious drinks and food from local vendors will be available throughout the show.

Now in its fourth year, the Collective Design Fair in west Soho, NYC, has cemented itself as a commanding presence on the annual New York Design Week calendar, featuring works from a global roster of established and emerging galleries worldwide.

This year’s fair will showcase an exciting program of special installations, curator-led tours, and Collective Conversations featuring designers, gallerists, educators and cultural innovators exploring vital topics in the field of design.

Not to be missed is and suitably located within the entry hall of the Collective Fair, is ‘Capture’ an explorative collaboration of Rome and New York City between NOSANCHUK and Flavor Paper. ‘Capture’ combines the installation of the “Super Series” kaleidoscopic wallpapers based on David Nosanchuk’s photographs of art and architecture, for Flavor Paper with his most recent work, “Louie”, a 3D printed pendant derived from a laser mapping of a cornice detail of Louis Sullivan’s Bayard-Condict building in NYC, for .exnovo.

The ‘Super Series’ wallpapers were launched in the fall 2013 and have been met with international recognition. Since then, the works have been acquired for the permanent collections of the Cooper Hewitt, a Smithsonian Institution and Les Art Decoratifs, Paris.

Louie and InBetween wallpaper for this year’s Collective Design installation.
Photo credit: Boone Speed

New to the fair for 2016 is Collective Concept, a capsule presentation where contemporary designers working in lighting, furnishings, ceramics or textiles are encouraged to explore new directions and reconnect with the roots of their design thinking. Each designer will create a fully realized environment onsite, providing a rare view into the creative practice.

 Here Fort Standard, a collaborative partnership between Gregory Buntain and Ian Collings will be debuting their new collection entitled ‘Qualities of Material’ The collection pushes natural materials such as wood, stone and leather beyond conventional limits and applications thereby delving further into the experimental dimension of their design process.

Introducing Fort Standard’s “Qualities of Material” Furniture Collection Photography by Brian Ferry

Also part of Collective Concept is Lindsey Adelman. Founded in 2006, Adelman’s studio signature aesthetic was born with the release of its first product: the Branching Bubble chandelier, which combines organic elements of blown glass with more rational machined components. Since then, the studio has explored that same visual tension throughout a range of products and disciplines, working with an expanded materials palette to create products from concrete tile to wallpaper.

Lindsey Edelman exhibiting a new video, drawings, and chandelier with Nymphenburg porcelain as part of Collective Concept at The Collective Design Fair. Studio Photography Lauren Coleman 

An exclusive exhibition of graduate work from the Cranbrook 3D Design Department has also been curated for the 2016 fair. Fine Design for the End of the World will explore how today’s most pressing challenges—such as social and economic inequalities, rampant material consumption, and environmental degradation—can become subjects for critical and poetic reflection in design objects.

LOCATION:

Skylight Clarkson, 550 Washington Street, New York City

DATES AND TIMES:

May 3: 3-6pm Press & Collector’s Preview

May 3: 6-9pm VIP Opening

May 4-7: 11am-8pm

May 8: 11am-5pm

Tickets are available to purchase online and are valid for all 3 days.

DATES AND TIMES:

Friday, April 29, 
11am-8pm

Saturday, April 30, 
10am-7pm

Sunday, May 1, 
10am-5pm

LOCATION:

The Mart, 7^TH Floor

222 Merchandise Mart Plaza

Chicago, IL 60654