NUTS + BOLTS Is The Group Exhbition Democratizing DIY Design

Summary

• On view at Available Items until October 5, NUTS + BOLTS is a design exhibition challenging artists to create furniture and objects with a DIY approach.
• The group show in Tivoli, NY features over 24 designers, including Fort Standard and Office of Tangible Space.

Back for its second annual show, Available Items‘ NUTS + BOLTS exhibition is a group design show centered on a challenge of ingenuity. Inspired by the democratic spirit of DIY (do-it-yourself) culture, the Tivoli, NY-based show calls on its exhibitors to create furniture or objects from readily available, off-the-shelf parts from a local hardware store.

Chad Phillips, co-founder of Available Items, shared that at its core, the exhibition is about “design thinking” and “an approach to making” through the vernacular of hardware. “In fact, many people have told us it’s a fun challenge that reminds them of the briefs they received in design school,” he added.

Among more than 24 exhibitors are rising names like Fort Standard, Christian Borger, Office of Tangible Space, and outgoing, as well as emerging designers. Ranging from seating constructed from chain link fence gates and PVC pipes, to mirrors incorporating gutter parts, and a workwear pillow case, each artist mobilized their distinct creative visions to transform everyday objects into new utilitarian collectibles.

Each completed work was limited to a minimal amount of dimensional lumber, and no 3D printing or online sources were allowed in the process. With free rein to interpret the prompt with their own vision, unexpected materials and underutilized parts are in a whole new light.

Brooklyn-based furniture maker Fort Standard, known better for its joinery and cabinets, created the “Catch & Release” floor lamp by combining a soil tamper, tube clamps, and a fishing net with a light bulb. Elsewhere, Office of Tangible Space, an NYC architecture and design firm, created the “rigid stool/side table” crafted from deconstructed street brooms.

While many pieces retain the recognizability of their diverse components, the DIY character is less obvious in others. For example, Christian Borger’s “Louver lamp” is a modular floor lamp that vertically arranges standard ceiling panels and hardware. In textiles, Lauren Hirsh’s “White Work (Painter’s Pants)” reimagines Dickies painter’s work pants as a patchworked pillow cover. Though deconstructed and rebuilt, the cleanly assembled throw pillow is easily imaginable as part of a speculative Dickies home line.

NUTS & BOLTS will remain on view until October 5 at Available Items — open to the public Friday through Sunday from 12-5pm at 64 Broadway in Tivoli, NY. Stay tuned to Hypebeast for the latest design insights.

See the full list of participating designers:  Aaron Getman-Pickering, Audrey Louise Reynolds, Chad Phillips, Christian Borger, Fort Standard, Glue Obelisk, Huy Bui, Isaac Gamboa, Jake Coan, Jed Heuer, Jaime Viñas, Kieran Kinsella, Kump Studio, Lauren Hirsch, Neal Hollinger, Nick Ceglia, Office of Tangible Space, outgoing, Overt Cove, Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman, Skiff Creative Studio, Tristan Fitch, True Bend Studio, we r happy people inc.