Photo by Jason Whalen of Agency Charlie

I didn’t have to go driving around Brooklyn to catch up with David Scott of DESU Design — he’s in the same building, and I’m lucky to be surrounded all day by the beautiful DESU home accessories, like the Symbol Coat Rack and the 1-Line Spice Rack, that decorate the office walls. Dave’s aesthetic is part nature, part geometry, and the result is highly compelling pieces with integrity of form and surprising detail: a beveled edge here, a splash of color there.

DESU Design has several pieces, including the SWAY Table above, in the ongoing Summer Design Sale at Gallery 1889. The sale is still up throughout the weekend. Come by 1066 Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn to see DESU’s and everyone else’s work!

I got completely turned-around-backwards when I was trying to meet William Couig of furthurdesign. Thankfully William answered my phone call – it turned out I was very close – and I had a chance to see all his pieces in person. The pieces that he makes as furthurdesign are incredible — modern glass objects with a timeless quality yet an unexpected silhouette.

William Couig is one of the many designers taking part in Gallery 1889’s Summer Design Sale, which starts in just a couple of days. Take a moment out of your weekend and come to Greenpoint to see all the brilliant work we’ve collected for this sale. Open hours will be 3-8 on Friday and 12-6 on Saturday and Sunday. We hope to see you there!

We navigated the labyrinthine Navy Yard to make it to the space Diane Ruengsorn of Domestic Aesthetic shares with half a dozen other designers, architects and creative types in North Brooklyn. The whole studio has a great, collaborative feel — the space is open and feels like you might overhear a cross-disciplinary conversation at any time. Diane herself met us to show her beautiful, carved kitchen pieces.

One of the best parts of Diane’s work is that it’s very eco-conscious and sustainably produced — as she says on her site, “By considering the social and ecological ramifications of a product and its development, Domestic Aesthetic aims to provide well-designed, affordable options that are currently lacking in the marketplace.” Diane’s mahogany spice blocks, for example, are made out of reclaimed wood that was discarded because the pieces were too small for the projects the wood was originally intended for. Diane took this beautiful material and turned it into something both striking and functional.

Gallery 1889 will feature several different pieces by Domestic Aesthetic at the Summer Design Sale — which is coming up this weekend! We’ll kick off on Friday at 3PM, so be sure to swing by 1066 Manhattan Avenue on your way home from work.

Amy Adams met us in Red Hook, in her space, which is (cheerfully) located in a key lime pie shop by the water. The day was sunshiny and really emphasized the location, which provides a harmonious and appropriate background for the colorful, adorable ceramic pieces that she makes as perch! design. Amy’s work has been a constant presence on design blogs and in decorating magazines alike for awhile now.

We have many unique items from Perch! on hand for next week, so if you’re a fan of Amy Adams and her ceramic work, please do stop by Gallery 1889 on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday!

That’s right, I’m writing about the ladies that write about everybody. When they’re not designing timely, witty, incredibly buzzworthy objects like the Dow Jones Hanky and the Crude Necklace, Liz and Kegan travel around Brooklyn, interviewing designers and other entrepreneurs about how they got started in their particular business. Then they post the finished articles on their blog at Design Glut — and this blog has become an invaluable resource for young artists all over town. (It’s also an entertaining read.) As they themselves put it, “We interview creative entrepreneurs about how they got started and what they’ve learned along the way.”

We went to visit Liz and Kegan in their Bushwick work digs. The space is huge — the advantages of being located in Bushwick — and loaded with Design Glut goodies, as you can see from the picture. We at Gallery 1889 are excited to feature some unique items from Design Glut next weekend (July 24th-26th) at our Summer Design Sale. If you’re in Greenpoint, come by 1066 Manhattan Avenue and see our selection!

When I met Andrea, I asked her about when her company ALS DESIGNS got started. She told me she just debuted her collection at this year’s BKLYN DESIGNS, and I was amazed; her pieces have such a presence and sense of a developed, personal aesthetic that I had assumed she’d been around for awhile and I just had recently learned of her work.

ALS DESIGNS, in Andrea’s own words, is “a Brooklyn based furniture design company specializing in innovative designs with environmentally friendly materials and practices.” Her benches (which could also serve as low tables) are made of bamboo, a notoriously sustainable material — and they’re treated with Tung Oil, which was one of the first “green” furniture finishes.

The Bella and Structure benches appear simultaneously delicate and sturdy, and the playful Angle shelves were a crowd favorite at BKLYN DESIGNS. We’ll have several ALS items on hand at this month’s Summer Design Sale @ Gallery 1889, so be sure to come by and take a look.

Says UM Project on its website: “Our company is integrated and nimble, a hybrid between a workshop for fabrication, a laboratory for discovery and a consulting practice for design.” When we went to visit Francois Chambard of UM Project on location in Gowanus, this statement about hybridity was illuminated in many ways — for starters, they have a tremendous amount of space. This becomes important because UM Project needs space to actualize projects of all scales, ranging from small home accessories to entire rooms.

One thing that stands out about UM Project is their love of detail. The stools pictured here are among their most well-known (and loved) products, and the precise paint detail on the legs is what makes them so memorable. UM Project’s aesthetic fuses old-world craftsmanship with a clean modern sensibility, and their designs have been featured at BKLYN DESIGNS and many other places.

At Gallery 1889’s Summer Design Sale, we’ll have some pieces by UM Project on hand — come visit us from July 24th to July 26th to see which.

It would be easy to pass by DYAD Studio’s Red Hook space on a day when Douglas Fanning is not there — the neighborhood is industrial and fairly nondescript.  But on the day we drove by, the door was open, and we could clearly see Doug’s logo-emblazoned airplane, which he told us he wheels out on nice days.  The airplane segment contains a barbecue, a swiveling table, and a lounge seat.  We’re sure it creates quite a sight on the street, though he had it inside on the day we visited.

After completing his Master of Architecture degree at Columbia University School of Architecture and spending several years working at architectural firms in Manhattan, Doug established DYAD Studio in 1994; since then he’s been creating products of lasting craftsmanship and integrity.  He’s been located in his space in Red Hook since 2004, and the space is very spacious and well laid out.  Check out more pictures on our photostream.

We’ll feature several pieces from DYAD Studio at the Gallery 1889 Design Summer Sale on July 24th-26th.  Doug also has some pieces on permanent display at VOOS Furniture, the Brooklyn design hub located on North 3rd Street just off Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg.

Jean Pelle is a designer based in Gowanus, Brooklyn.  Her beautiful collection of tabletop accessories includes a variety of decorative handcrafted wooden objects such as candleholders. She told us that she’s also working on a series of mixed media pieces titled “Assemblages.”  Here’s a photo of Jean with some of her work at her Gowanus space on the day that we went out to meet with her.

Her pieces all have a simple silhouette combined with a striking and unique feature — a distinctive wood grain pattern, for example, or a gold leaf detail, or a deep crack filled in with white to create a compelling visual whole. Check out her candleholders page for pictures of some of her work in more detail.

Jean has featured her work at ICFF, among other places, and you may have also seen her on the many design blogs that have loved her pieces, such as Design*Sponge.  Jean is one of the twelve designers whose work will be featured at the Gallery 1889 Summer Design Sale.  Keep checking back for more intros!

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been trekking all over this hard-working borough.  We went everywhere from the labyrinthine Navy Yard to bustling Bushwick to the industrial district of Gowanus, meeting designers and seeing the variety of work spaces they inhabit.  Some design in tiny studios; others have cavernous lofts; still others work in shared spaces with a gamut of other creative professionals.  But despite their different surroundings, the thing all these designers have in common is their amazing work.

And now, we’ve almost finalized the list of designers that will be participating in Gallery 1889’s Summer Design Sale.  Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be presenting the designers here on our news blog; please stay tuned as we begin to introduce them and show a sneak peek of some of their work spaces.  The sale itself will be taking place on the weekend of July 24th-26th at Gallery 1889 on 1066 Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint.  We’ll also be previewing some of the sale items at Ft. Greene’s Brooklyn Flea the weekend before.

To stay informed of when we post these updates, please follow us on Twitter!