Designers To Watch

The tastemakers of today—and tomorrow—are bringing a fresh, forward-thinking vision to design now.

Transformation in its broadest sense, whether concerning a product, space or tradition, is pushing and expanding the boundaries of American Modern design. At the forefront of this movement, Egg Collective and O&G Studio are innovating all categories, honestly and sustainably, with a reverence for art and nature. Meet the makers.

Egg Collective

The all-female founders of the emerging East Coast design firm bring material sense to their principle-driven practice.

For the founders of design firm Egg Collective—Crystal Ellis, Hillary Petrie and Stephanie Beamer—it started with friendship, and a mutual passion for designing and creating. The tenets of the business when it began in 2011 are its tenets today, but the vision has evolved.

Egg Collective’s focus on collaboration and consistent engagement has provisioned the rich rewards of a design practice on the rise, evidenced by accolades including Best New Designer at ICFF, a nod from Martha Stewart’s American Made Honors, and a gleaming new flagship in a historic building in New York City. The trio channeled their background in architecture to transform the environment into one that reflects their aesthetic, down to the custom hardware in mirror polished solid stainless steel.

Also featuring a custom-designed polished stainless steel reception desk, thick curving walls and honed limestone floors with custom carpets, the showroom is a showcase for the materiality—wood, glass, stone, metal and leather— that has come to define the nature- and art-influenced design firm.

One sees a great case for Egg Collective as an Old World guild, but in a New World way. Its network of fabricators has expertise in materials like metal, stone, and glass to help Ellis, Petrie and Beamer execute their ideas at the highest level of craft.

They also support other creatives, and use their showroom for a curated series of art exhibitions in the hopes of “sharing a unique language that is both contemporary and timeless.” In setting out to establish what they call “the antithesis of the disposal design model,” Egg Collective is now a reflection of everything it creates—made to last. eggcollective.com

Photographs : Courtesy Of Matthew Williams

O&G Studio

The Rhode Island-based furniture designer and manufacturer revives a rich hand-built tradition with American Modern craft.

When Jonathan Glatt, the co-founder and creative director of O&G Studio, launched the platform in 2009, it was to create and manufacture designs that honor and build upon classic American craft for contemporary tastes.

He certainly picked the right place, headquartering the operation in Rhode Island, a place of both the past and the future. “It is tiny and epic at the same time” and “influences a type of great design that I love,” says Platt, who also looks to 18th-century furniture makers, the Goddard Townshends, as a reference and aims to achieve a similar feeling with all O&G designs. By this he means something “that is rarely wild and unconstrained, but deeply satisfying and stands the test of time.”

Although reflecting an undeniable New England flavor, “O&G is American Modern,” says Platt, who is nonetheless open to other stylistic influences and design periods. To that end are O&G’s signature Windsor-style benches and chairs, along with the recently launched Hull Coffee Table, featuring a low profile with an early ‘70s vibe, and the Meridian Sconce family, based on Brutalist buildings and crafted from sand-cast brass.

One also sees a strong regional influence in material—“We love wood and only use sustainable North American hardwoods like ash, maple, oak and walnut,” says Platt—and a color palette with Salt Pond, Kelp and Oyster finishes.

With dressers and lounge pieces, as well as new collaborations on the O&G drawing board for 2020, plus its plumbing collection Brut with Watermark, the studio finds itself in familiar territory: with its hands full. oandgstudio.com

Photographs : (Clockwise From Top) Courtesy Of Angel Tucker, Lanserring And Erin Little