A large green object sitting in the middle of a desert.
Photography by Courtesy Of Laine + Alliage.

December 16, 2025

Words: Lisa Di Venuta

A New Generation Defining the Future of American Design

Look to a rising generation of U.S.-based talent reshaping furniture design through material intelligence, experimentation, and innovation.

U.S.-Based Designers Changing The Scene

Jackson Schwartz of Hennepin Made

A man in a gray shirt standing in front of a clock.
Photography by Ryan Lodermeier.
A white tooth.
Photography courtesy of Hennepin Made.

Product: Emerson
Standout: Named for the American Transcendentalist philosopher/poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, this wet-rated Minneapolis-made sconce in cast Swedish glass (and various metal finishes) by Hennepin Made is a study in suspended motion.

Louis Venturelli of Louis Venturelli

A man with a bald hair and a black shirt.
Photography by Sam Pickart.
A blue chair with a yellow seat.
Photography by Joe Kramm.

Product: The Painted Chair
Standout: Brooklyn-based painter Louis Venturelli three-dimensionalizes his abstract language by way of a solid-maple chair, crafted with fourth-generation New York builder Mark Jupiter, that’s finished in blue lacquer.

Tania Leipold of Laine + Alliage

A woman in a white sweater and black pants.
Photography courtesy of Laine + Aliliage.
A large green object sitting in the middle of a desert.
Photography by Courtesy of Laine + Alliage.

Product: Archipelago
Standout: Gypsum dunes and cacti were among Brooklyn-based French designer Tania Leipold of Laine + Alliage’s muses for a grass-cloth wallcovering whose color-blocked forms, digitally printed in Connecticut, are based on her own paintings. 

Johannes Pauwen and Michaele Simmering of Kalon

A man and woman standing in front of a door.
Photography by Katrina Dickson.
A bed with a vase of flowers on top of it.
Photography courtesy of Kalon.

Product: Elemental
Standout: Informed by American modernist design, Los Angeles studio Kalon’s floating side table of sustainably harvested Douglas fir and brushed aluminum celebrates tailored proportions and material restraint.

Jacob and Chelsie Starley of Astraeus Clarke

A man and woman sitting on a couch.
Photography by Chelsie Starley.
white table
Photography courtesy of Astraeus Clarke.

Product: Vesper
Standout: Crafted in the Astraeus Clarke’s New York workshop, this solid-mahogany dining table—cloaked in clear or colored gloss lacquer and punctuated with lathed-steel joinery—conjures old Hollywood glamour. 

Emma Gardner of Emma Gardner Design

A woman with curly hair.
Photography by Molly Haas.
A large, colorful, abstract painting on a beige background.
Photography courtesy of Emma Gardner.

Product: Scatter
Standout: Play, a hand-knotted rug collection by Emma Gardner that tweaks classic genres like plaids and florals, posits a self-posed question, “What can be more American than reinvention?”

Justin Nelson of Fernweh Woodworking

A man with a beard smiles at the camera.
Photography by Ben Edwards.
A chair with a wooden seat and a wooden chair with a leather sea.
Photography courtesy of Fernweh Woodworking.

Product: Oxbend Windsor
Standout: The Bend, Oregon, Fernweh Woodworking founder’s experimentations with steam-bent greenwood (i.e. not kiln-dried) resulted in a shapely dining chair, with optional leather seat pad and backrest, that doubles as a valet stand. 

Annie Downing of Annie Downing Interiors

A woman sitting on a chair next to a sculpture.
Photography by Cydney Cosette.
Two small blue and white bowls with octopus heads.
Photography courtesy of Annie Downing.

Product: Micro Lotus
Standout: As a kid, interior designer Annie Downing spent holidays painting alongside her grandmother at their Texas ranch; now, she launches her first wallpaper collection, featuring dainty details rendered in fibrous nonwoven paper or grass cloth. 

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