NEW YORK – Allsteel Inc. is rolling out the welcome mat and putting out the party treats to help Designer Pages celebrate the first anniversary of its successful IDNY Meetup event series for the Big Apple’s community of architects and design professionals.
While the Thursday, September 16th event at Allsteel’s New York City Resource Center will take on a party atmosphere to mark the one-year milestone, it will also carry on the valuable networking and learning platform that has brought Designer Pages and its concept industry acclaim. Sharing the bill as headline speakers for the evening will be Archi-Tectonics principal Winka Dubbeldam, plus the inventive individuals behind the product design studio Rich Brilliant Willing (RBW)—Theo Richardson, Charles Brill and Alex Williams.
Dubbeldam founded her NYC-based design firm, Archi-Tectonics, in 1994 and has been cited for her progressive designs, including such recent projects as the nine-story V33 residential tower that’s under construction on Vestry Street; performer John Legend’s recently completed NYC loft; and the Cibani townhouse in Chelsea. Her firm’s philosophy is guided by a principle of “meaning-form.”
“This is a departure from architectural design which used to define itself in style or form, into design as process,” explains Dubbeldam. “Generative design learns from the intelligence of industrial design, which is always reactive to, and an integral part of, new production systems and materials qualities. We are inspired by product development, which integrates performance studies, marketing analyses, digital technologies and rapid prototyping. We design from the inside out.”
Dubbeldam, who is on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania and has also taught at Columbia University and Harvard School of Architecture, will be speaking at the IDNY event about her projects, process and practice.
In offering their perspectives on projects, process and practice, the aptly named Rich Brilliant Willing promise to strike an intriguing counterpoint to Dubbeldam’s presentation. They will raise the curtain on their young collaborative and the ingenious products it has yielded, such as the Excel Floor Lamp produced by Roll & Hill, the recently launched Branch Chandelier, and also debuting this year, the BIAS clock for Areaware.
Each of the three RBW partners—Richardson, Brill and Williams—contributes a unique point of view to their portfolio. As their website notes, “One explicitly loves materiality, another has an unconventional color palette and eye for sculptural form, the third is an inventor bringing spontaneity and theatrical energy to the work.” Since forming their studio in 2007, they’ve enjoyed instantaneous recognition. I.D. magazine named them among the “Top 40” designers in 2009, and that same year they made the Surface magazine “Avant Guardian” list.
In jointly announcing the anniversary programming, representatives from Allsteel and Designer Pages acknowledged the September 16th lineup is compelling.
“We feel very privileged to be hosting the IDNY first anniversary event and especially to welcome such illustrious design talent for the evening’s presentations,” says Kris Yates, Allsteel vice president of marketing. “We’re especially pleased to be able to co-host Winka for this program, because it’s a reunion of sorts. In 2001, she was among six American cultural figures recruited by Allsteel to star in the advertising campaign for our #19 Chair and the brand’s re-launch. It was a hugely successful partnership.”
According to Rebecca Lewis, marketing director for Designer Pages, “We couldn’t ask for a better program in September to celebrate IDNY’s first birthday. Allsteel’s space is without question one of New York City’s best design showrooms and these remarkable speakers are leading the charge in their respective fields. This confluence of local creators will be a true testament to Manhattan’s status as the center of the architecture and design world and Designer Pages is supremely happy to support this community.”
The IDNY Meetup was conceived as an extension of Designer Pages to provide a social networking opportunity for metro New York architects and design professionals and enthusiasts. The Meetups convene monthly in a “host” design showroom and provide a lively, relaxed atmosphere for dynamic conversation and dialogue plus afford unparalleled access to industry pioneers.
For more information on the September 16th program at Allsteel, contact Rebecca Lewis: [email protected] or (212) 683-4696, ext. 202.
About Allsteel Inc.
Allsteel Inc., which is headquartered in Muscatine, Iowa, designs, builds and delivers workplace furniture solutions. The company holds firm to a belief that there’s always a better way to improve efficiency and foster teamwork … another possibility to find solutions that increase the bottom line and deliver long-term value … a new opportunity to help a business be more effective. Allsteel has distinguished itself with award-winning products such as Acuity seating, Align workstations, Merge conferencing tables, and Stride, its latest workplace solution that’s designed to evolve with the needs of a business. Allsteel was the first office contract furniture manufacturer to have all products certified either Indoor Advantage or Indoor Advantage Gold, and the majority of the line can contribute to LEED-CI credits. The company has Resource Centers in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New York, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Washington, D.C., and Toronto, ON. For additional information, visit www.allsteeloffice.com.
About Designer Pages
Designer Pages is a manufacturer-generated search platform to help designers search, save, and share product information. Manufacturers of all sorts can publish and update product listings freely. Qualified buyers can instantly connect to these manufacturers to request information—or save products to begin building a materials library that will never become outdated. But most importantly, Designer Pages is all about sharing product information through collaborative “workspaces” that help designers jump-start projects with tools to improve communication and efficiency. The result is a Web-based, self-maintained, and comprehensive software solution for specifying products in architecture and design. www.designerpages.com.