The Green Goblin, Norwegian Black Metal, SpongeBob: Up-and-Coming Designer Clay Brown’s References Run the Gamut

Clay Brown’s work is shot through with an imaginative sense of play that is, quite simply, fun — but that’s not all it is. Somehow his pieces come off as minimal and spare yet highly referential and evocative, like his resin Island lamps, which call to mind cake domes; the Formica and birch I’m Ready cabinet, which could be a “mini-bar or maybe a wardrobe for a toddler;” and the jagged yet precise aluminum 1234567 bookcase, which is sharp but not at all forbidding. His Stave cabinet, part of the Sight Unseen collection, rises to a steep peak in darkly moody colors but it’s also… friendly. With its oxblood Thumbprint pull by Sam Stewart — with whom Brown has worked on several projects — it’s like a classic wooden toy scaled up to human proportions.
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SPOTLIGHT: Everything We Loved at This Year’s 2026 Frieze Week in LA

Despite being in LA in February once again for my annual winter sojourn, I promised myself this year that I would finally take it easy during Frieze week, not run around so much, maybe pick three new artists to spotlight in my newsletter rather than trying to digest it all. Well, dear readers, I failed at that task — hence this extensive roundup of everything I loved.
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Announcing the 2025 American Design Hot List

Welcome to the 13th annual American Design Hot List, Sight Unseen’s unapologetically subjective award for the names to know now in American design. Founded in 2013, the ADHL serves as a guide to the US (born or based) talents influencing the design landscape in any given year, whether through standout launches, must-see exhibitions, or just our innate sense that they’re ones to watch. Considering we’ve recently changed almost everything else about the way we present Sight Unseen to the world, we decided to do things a little differently this year.
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