Rich, Brilliant, Willing: New on the Scene

(adam ötžch) Less known creators often turn up on the New York designer scene to pleasantly surprise us. The Rich, Brilliant, Willing studio definitely ranks among them. This year, the studio was marked by I.D. magazine as one of the forty most inspiring young designers.

New York still seems to be a lighthouse shining in the deserted sea of the North American design. The world scene has always been dominated by the incomparably higher amount and tradition of European design. However, several aspiring young residents of New York seem to be catching up with it by the speed of light. Apart from Dror Benshetrit, Stephen Burks and his Ready-Made, Jason Miller, and Todd Bracher, there is also the Rich, Brilliant, Willing studio, which contributes to the renaissance of American design that experienced its peak fifty years ago on the beaches of Los Angeles with the Eames.

The studio derives its name from the surnames of the three colleagues who co-founded it. Even though Richardson, Brill, and Williams have only made several designs so far, they show a homogenous style and fresh ideas. Their latest product, entitled the Matrioshka side table, consists of white laths of various lengths that form a barrel of sorts. Only three laths touch the floor, thus forming legs. The Excel floor lamp from 2008 represents a subtle structure of wooden sticks, crowned with a large round light that can be turned at will. The multi-functional Excel Perch stand, seat, or clothes-rack is endowed with similar aesthetics of colorful sticks. The Russian Metal Table is a coffee table consisting of simple sheet metal parts. A similar motive could be seen on tables designed by BarberOsgerby for Established and Sons, whose type of work may correspond with the designs by the Rich, Brilliant, Willing. Unlike the London-based Established and Sons, this young studio, which combines light humor and hyperbole, is based in New York.

www.richbrilliantwilling.com

The author is the Dolce Vita editor.

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