Heron Preston's L.E.D. Studio Homeware Brings the NYC Streets Inside
In collaboration with designer Rishi Assar, the collaborative pieces transform authentic D.O.T. street signage into functional design objects.
Summary
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Independent designer Rishi Assar linked up with Heron Preston’s creative hub for a specialized furniture capsule shown at Lichen
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The collection repurposes authentic NYC Department of Transportation infrastructure into functional seating
Heron Preston‘s L.E.D. Studio partnered with Emerging designer Rishi Assar to debut a collaborative furniture collection composed entirely from reclaimed municipal property of New York City. Leaning away from traditional materials, the design project focuses on a collection of chairs/stools from NYC’s regulatory road signs.
The collaborative project marks an intentional continuation of the ongoing design initiatives housed under Heron Preston’s L.E.D. Studio banner. Positioning the urban landscape itself as a raw material source, the unconventional approach reflects L.E.D.’s ethos of being a “less environmentally destructive” practice.
By treating the metropolis as an active design archive, the duo highlights the artistic utility hidden within objects that millions of New Yorkers and global visitors interact with daily. The concept echoes what Heron Preston became known for in his namesake label: a mixture of contemporary style and industrial aesthetics. Engineered with architectural integrity, each seating piece utilizes actual locally sourced traffic signs that once directed NYC traffic and pedestrians. Recognizable iconography—ranging from standard stop signs and school crossing notices to detours, speed bump warnings, and speed limit markers—becomes a collage of different fragments, each boasting a unique weathered character.
See the images above for a closer look at Heron Preston L.E.D. Studio’s collaboration with Rishi Assar.
