Steven Haulenbeek has been selected by WantedDesign co-founders Claire Pijoulat and Odile Hainaut, and Jerry Helling, President of Bernhardt Design. As part of the American Design Honors program, Haulenbeek has been invited to create an installation at the entrance of WantedDesign at the Terminal Stores building to showcase his work. - See more at: Wanted Design

Launched in 2015 at WantedDesign, American Design Honors recognizes talented young American designers who demonstrate outstanding creative and entrepreneurial skills, who already have a solid body of work, an original design language and are pioneering a new design business model. As an ambassador of American design, this initiative will support and give International exposure to the honoree.. These young professionals have also demonstrated an ability to create innovative processes and products. American Design Honors has been established as a platform for the recipient to develop their practice. Through this program, Bernhardt Design and WantedDesign aim to promote American Design internationally and support the designers who are on the verge of getting to the next step in their professional path. 

I was very fortunate to be invited to Meisenthal France to work with the Centre International D'Art Verrier to work with the glass artisans of the 300 year old company to produce an experimental blown glass object. The Transatlantic Creative Exchange program was created by Wanted Design NYC and the results of the collaboration will be exhibited at Wanted Design in Manhattan, May 2016. 

I'm very happy to be a part of the CHGO DSGN satellite exhibition at Expo Chicago. My Ice Cast Bronze Table #1 for Casati Gallery will be on display along with a great selection of work by other Chicago Designers. The work will be on display from September 19 to 21 on Navy Pier, 600 E Grand Ave. Chicago IL 60611

www.expochicago.com

I am very happy to have been asked to contribute several pieces to this incredible exhibition of important, current Chicago design work: CHGO DSGN. 

CHGO DSGN, a major exhibition of Recent Object and Graphic Design by 100+ of the city’s leading designers, is open May 31 through November 2 at Exhibit Hall in the Chicago Cultural Center. Chicago has long been regarded as an international center for design, and this retrospective celebrates the region’s creative and innovative spirit.

CHGO DSGN is curated by Rick Valicenti, 2011 recipient of the prestigious Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award, with displays designed by Tim Parsons, Associate Professor of Designed Objects at the School of the Art Institute.

Chicago has been called the most American of American big cities. The design work coming out of Chicagoland, in the same vein, is also perhaps the most American. Today, the collaboration between designers and manufacturers in the Chicago area make for a stronger local – and ultimately national – economy and community, a drive with ties to the Good Design movement following the Second World War.

Chicago has a long history of manufacturing, led largely by it’s central location within the US. Despite obvious challenges, employment in manufacturing is currently growing, accounting for 9.5% of all Chicago-area jobs. Those producing fabricated metal products hold 16% of these jobs – 1.52 x the number of similar positions nationwide – while manufacturing which includes furniture and wood products takes another 13% of the pie. By utilizing the knowledge and long-learned expertise of local manufacturers, Chicagoland designers are able to realize new solutions for their ideas and ensure high quality in their final product. With a focus on truth to material, exploration of high technology outputs, and the creation of work  that will be passed down through generations, Chicagoland designers are keeping it local while adding to an American design tradition.

Chicagoland will showcase new work by AKMD, Steven Haulenbeek, Sung Jang Laboratory, Chilab, Manifold, Materious, studioBA and Collection WEST. 

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CHICAGOLAND is an exhibition of design work, created and executed in the Chicago area, by local designers and manufacturers. CHICAGOLAND will be on view in New York City during New York Design Week – the largest design market in the US. By showing our work during Design Week we will connect with design enthusiasts, collectors, retailers and other manufacturers and designers from across the country. Our goal is to engage this community for press exposure, product licenses and other exhibition opportunities, as well as drive sales and bring business back to the Midwest. 

Exhibiting work in New York is expensive. By supporting Chicagoland you will help pay for the venue rental, event insurance, shipping costs, building materials for the exhibition display, and printing costs for the takeaway – all of which come to nearly $10,000. Designers are responsible for any costs associated with prototyping and manufacturing as well as their own travel and accommodation while in New York, which means every dollar you give goes directly to exhibition expenses.