SUSTAINABILITY
"Make it nice. Keep it longer."

A wardrobe system that looks like a board game, a cabinet with sawtooth fittings or a table with a different colour on each side - the designs created by the Nice Condo Studio are often tongue-in-cheek, but always have a sustainable component. The studio is run by Chris Held and Sara Graham, who are partners both professionally and privately.

Chris Held began his studies in woodworking at the now-closed Oregon College of Art and Craft and graduated with a master's degree from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He has now been working in furniture design for over 15 years. From 2007 to 2013, he was part of a design studio in Oregon until he moved to New York and founded Nice Condo in 2019. Sara Graham, who works in fashion and marketing, would officially join the studio in 2023. However, she had been working in the background for a long time. "I organised and styled the editorial shoots for Nice Condo from the beginning and wrote the product texts, simply because it was fun. With my background, it was a natural fit for me to lead the creative marketing and sales areas," says Graham. The design and realisation is largely Held's area of responsibility. "However, we always share ideas and our mutual love of puns is often the source of new designs - both good and bad," she adds with a laugh.

Even though Nice Condo's furniture often has a stubborn character, Held emphasises that he does not want to create sculptures. Rather, his designs are intended to be stages for everyday life and grow with their owners.

A special feature of the studio is its preference for combining high-quality craftsmanship with simple materials. Nice Condo's portfolio consists exclusively of domestic hardwoods, high-quality plywood, powder-coated steel and aluminium. The "Colorway" table, for example, which is characterised by clear lines and playful curves, is made of birch plywood and coated with different coloured linoleum. Or the "Camp Chair", a lounge chair that is so simple in its form that its construction is clearly visible, is made of ash wood and aluminium. The focus is not on expensive materials, but on design and craftsmanship. "Our work is very proletarian in this respect, in my opinion it's a kind of punk," says Held. "For me, it's important to recognise that we have a responsibility when we create objects for others. When craftsmanship is at the centre of our work, both we and the buyers take a step away from the throwaway culture," says Graham. It is no coincidence that one of the studio's guiding principles is: "Make it nice. Keep it longer." Each piece is made to order in their studio in Philadelphia, where Held and Graham recently moved. However, they are still connected to New York City. This is also because Held is co-founder and curator of "JONALDDUDD", an exhibition at NYC Design Week, which takes place there in May.

NYC x DESIGN
May 16th-23rd