The New Design Landscape

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Navigating The New Design Landscape

When I moved to London in 2023, I felt like the industry was going through its second major shift since the start of the pandemic. I felt out of touch and lost - without a clue of where the chips were falling. In NYC, my world and work revolved around independent furniture designers as a trade show producer, and when trade shows fell out of favor in 2020, galleries started popping up everywhere. They seemed to replace traditional showrooms, focusing on functional art and ultra-avant-garde pieces that photographed beautifully and interestingly for Instagram, attracting collectors rather than the usual trade audience. Meanwhile, makers of more traditional furniture found themselves sidelined.

However, the pendulum seems to be swinging back, with trade shows regaining their crucial role in the industry, while functional art and collectible design fairs continue to thrive - bolstered by a growing art-focused audience that is engaging with design in a more serious way.

The challenge now is that independent furniture designers - who were once the real draw at trade shows, showcasing their handcrafted and highly refined work - have adapted to a world without them. I wanted to find out how these designers are navigating this shift. Are they returning to trade shows, or have they found new ways to showcase and sell their work? I wanted to understand where mid-career independent designers see themselves in this evolving space, and hear from those on the ground - independent designers, interior designers, and industry insiders - about where they see things heading and what this shift means for the future of design.

A text exchange with my friend and former AD Show exhibitor, furniture designer Deb Folz, inspired this exploration. I remember doing the rounds at ICFF and hearing whispers “here come the Anthropologie girls/here come the ABC home people” and then seeing friend’s work, like Deb’s, on the floor at ABC a few weeks later. There was a certain predictability to it all. Trends emerged in real-time; for instance, designers would paint their booth walls a fresh salmon pink, and within a year, Millennial Pink had taken over the world.

But now that furniture designers have gotten used to not spending on trade shows - a result of the pandemic show closures - some have moved on to platforms to help them sell, and many have become reliant on social media for exposure to new clients. Instagram used to be where you connect to your audience in such an easy way, and now, as we all know, you have to perform for relevancy, and some of us are not built for that.

As an aside: a few months ago Jaime Derringer (founder of Design Milk, now writing independently on Blob) had written about the rise of "process porn" on social media: videos that showcase the act of creation. While some artists share their process as a personal or promotional tool, many now create content primarily for the algorithm, turning their creative practice into a performance. This shift raises critical questions about the value of artistic labor, self-promotion, and whether constant visibility devalues both the artist and their work. It’s a good read you can find here.

But regardless of your strategy - and process is a good strategy - Instagram now feels like screaming into a void.

Back in those simpler pre-algorithmic times - 2015 give and take a few years - 1stDibs was making their big move to bring independent furniture design on their platforms. Deb tells us how 1stDibs was targeting a wide range of creatives and almost every furniture designer she knew ended up there. Deb tells us that while the platform once felt supportive, “exposure is like nothing now - they want you to pay for ads just to be visible. Sales are down, and it feels like they’ve shifted from supporting makers and dealers to focusing solely on interior designers. What used to be enough with a $200/month fee now requires an ad budget or constant new listings, which fits more with an antique dealer model, not mine.”

Deb’s showroom pop-up in Westhampton became an alternative to participating in a trade show. Initially planned as a short-term, months-long experiment, she ended up staying for a year. Photo courtesy of the designer.

Other furniture designers we spoke with lamented the platform’s lack of flexibility when communicating with clients during the development phase. Bespoke work requires a lot of back-and-forth, and when the platform insists on keeping all purchases and communications strictly on-site, it makes it challenging to manage details efficiently, build client relationships, and ensure the final product meets expectations.

So what other platforms are helping?

Adorno, a platform dedicated to discovering emerging design, has been a strong supporter of young designer-artists, though it hasn’t quite positioned itself as a resource for mid-career independent designers. Unlike volume-driven platforms, Adorno focuses on curation, storytelling, and matching the right audience with the right design. We spoke with founder Martin Clausen about how Adorno’s sales are performing, whether designers are truly benefiting from the exposure of listing on the site, and - like 1stDibs- whether they feel pressured to keep their sales within the platform.

Martin tells us that Adorno has seen significant sales growth in recent years, with increasing demand for limited-production pieces from international buyers. He says that the platform handles quoting, shipping, insurance, and customization inquiries - services small studios often struggle to manage. This professional support has helped designers secure trade orders, exhibition opportunities, and connections with galleries.

The platform focuses on editorial content, exhibitions, and collaborations to introduce designers to new markets, with most sales stemming from organic traffic and social media rather than heavy reliance on ads. The platform is also introducing stricter curatorial measures, ensuring that listed studios remain active, engaged, and aligned with Adorno’s standards for quality and relevance.

Still, there doesn’t seem to be a platform specifically dedicated to mid-career designers, which, to us, underscores the importance of physical fairs, and why marketing dollars should be strategically invested in your show of choice, where visibility, connections, and industry recognition can have a lasting impact.

We spoke to some furniture designers about their 2025 marketing strategies, and a few interior designers to better understand their approach to discovering and sourcing new design talent.

Detroit-based furniture designer Ayako Aratani tells us that she primarily discovers new furniture designers through design fairs, offsite events, and word of mouth from fellow designers who often recommend emerging talent or standout students. While she occasionally browses 1stDibs if a search leads her there, she hasn’t made a purchase in over two years, preferring auction houses like Wright20 and Phillips. Her annual fair rotation includes ICFF and Design Miami, with international events like Salone and Art Basel playing a larger role pre-pandemic. Recently, 3daysofdesign in Copenhagen proved especially valuable, helping her connect with cabinet makers and manufacturers in person. Though she’s attended BDNY, she found it more hospitality-focused and less relevant to her residential work, though it offered some useful design-build contacts to recommend to colleagues.

Chloe Valette, based in the French Alps, is an interior designer and curator known for founding Husk, an editorial platform dedicated to uncovering the best interior projects and collectible furniture, which she sold a few years ago. Her goal with Husk was to provide a space for underrepresented designers, those who couldn’t afford the high costs of trade shows, to gain visibility early in their careers.

Now, as her focus is interior designing, for sourcing design she often turns to The Invisible Collection for high-end, quality furniture. In terms of design weeks and trade shows, Milan and Stockholm have yielded some of her best discoveries, and she’s recently taken an interest in Paris Déco Off, which focuses on French furniture and fabrics. For collectible design, PAD Paris and London remain top-tier events.

Most of her sourcing happens online, with Artemest, a contemporary, Italy-focused alternative to 1stDibs, as a go-to for furnishing entire homes, offering a range including renowned Italian brands and independent craftspeople. She also browses Pamono and Selency for vintage finds and statement pieces.

Instagram is still another valuable tool for Chloe to uncover unique decor and furniture from independent makers but she acknowledges that sourcing on Instagram can be challenging. Sometimes the algorithm works in her favor, surfacing interesting pieces directly in her feed. However, when searching for something specific, the process often feels like honing in image by image, much like Pinterest, which she also finds useful, though not necessarily for discovering independent designers. For more organic discoveries, she relies on scrolling for fun, simply searching for inspiration. Instagram Stories can also be a great tool, especially when galleries use them to highlight noteworthy pieces, however, she finds the platform oversaturated with noise, making it difficult to filter out irrelevant content. In her view, Instagram would benefit from designated categories, like a dedicated design section, to streamline the discovery process.

Reflecting on furniture-selling platforms, Chloe sees the challenge in catering to a niche audience. In her experience, platforms need a mix of accessible, everyday pieces, alongside more collectible designs, as those smaller purchases often lead clients toward investment-worthy pieces they might not have considered otherwise. This balance, she believes, is why 1stDibs remains so widely used and appreciated. For interior designers, these platforms can be particularly useful; she recalls a client who wanted exclusively Italian furniture and found it invaluable to source everything through a single website.

Amy Brandhorst, a designer with residential and hospitality projects in the UK and Berlin, finds Salone the most valuable fair for project sourcing due to its international mix of suppliers, especially independent brands discovered in offsite exhibits rather than the main trade fair. Amy found London Design Fair 2024 surprisingly valuable, discovering numerous small independent designers. Beyond fairs, she sources from trusted Italian and Scandinavian suppliers, discovers new vendors through targeted searches, and values strong communication for product details. For larger items, she often opts for bespoke pieces from Europe and Asia and relies on vintage platforms like Selency for unique finds.

While it seems as though trade shows are regaining their place in the industry, designers who once relied on them have adapted to alternative platforms - some finding success, others frustrated by shifting algorithms and pay-to-play models. Social media, once an essential tool for connection, now demands performance for visibility. Online marketplaces that once promised exposure have become overwhelmed with inventory, and have also turned to pay-to-play models.

Yet, the value of physical fairs remains, in my opinion, undeniable, and now it’s about finding the right fit among the new (and older) fairs. As the industry continues to evolve, independent designers must navigate a landscape that demands visibility. Success lies in striking a balance: leveraging new digital platforms while reaffirming the importance of real-world connections through trade shows and in-person networking.