New York: ICFF and Wanted Design have been canceled

New York’s design week cancels its events due to the spread of COVID-19

In a situation that is involving the whole world, New York too cancels its Design Week. In particular ICFF and Wanted Design Brooklyn and Manhattan have been eliminated, while NYCxDESIGN has postponed its festival to October 2020, which is the month of architecture, with new programs

WantedDesign Brooklyn a Industry City
WantedDesign Brooklyn, Industry City

In New York, on lockdown since Sunday 22 March 2020, with Governor Cuomo urging people to “shelter in place,” staying home is not just a categorical imperative, but also an attitude of total respect for those battling against the Coronavirus on the front lines. Museums have closed until further notice – as have schools, stores, art galleries, restaurants (some offering only take-out) and all non-essential activities – as well as the High Line. Manhattan is surreal, and all events have been canceled, so the announcement of the elimination of ICFF and Wanted Design comes as no surprise.

Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat, co-fondatrici di WantedDesign
Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat WantedDesign

Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulet – co-founders of Wanted Design – announced the change of program: “Following declarations of emergency at the national, NY state and New York City levels, and the growing escalation of the COVID-19 situation around the world and in the United States which directly impact many of our exhibitors and partners, we have concluded that we will not be able to deliver the quality show exhibitors and attendees expect and deserve. Together with the Industry City and ICFF-Emerald teams, we are sad to announce that the May 2020 WantedDesign Manhattan, WantedDesign Brooklyn and IC Design Festival exhibits and programming are cancelled. Having anticipated celebrating our 10th anniversary with our dear NYC friends and international design community, we are genuinely disappointed not to be able to proceed with our May exhibitions in Manhattan and Brooklyn as planned. We have aligned our decisions regarding both shows, WantedDesign Brooklyn and WantedDesign Manhattan, with our closest partners. We want to thank all our partners, sponsors, exhibitors, attendees and the media for their support. We remain committed to fostering the Industry City design community and the industry at large, and are already working on creative ways to work with and support our network of partners, brands and design schools in the coming months. We look forward to sharing our upcoming plans, as well as sharing the 2021 dates. Stay well and safe.”

WantedDesign Store ©Alexander Baretto
WantedDesign Store ©Alexander Baretto

NYCxDESIGN has instead chosen to suspend the festival, postponing it to October 2020, with new programming in line with other important events planned in New York: Cooper Hewitt, National Design Week, National Design Museum, Archtober, Architecture and Design Film Festival (ADFF) and Open House New York.

Edward Hogikyan @ NYCxDESIGN
Edward Hogikyan @ NYCxDESIGN

NYCxDESIGN is meant to bring New York together, to celebrate the incredible talent of the city and extraordinary examples of international design,” says Edward Hogikyan, vice-president and executive director of NYCxDESIGN. “To gather our community around design is a central purpose of our work, and given the grave concerns raised by COVID-19 we have decided to postpone our annual festival until the fall.” In the month of May, NYCxDESIGN awards will be announced in a digital ceremony, followed by a live event in October.