Palo Samko

Sinewy surrealism handcrafted from reclaimed Brooklyn wood

Woodworker Palo Samko‘s impressive showing at ICFF has created a high level of buzz, and rightly so. Working out of his Brooklyn Navy Yard studio, Samko has been hand-crafting furniture and other housewares for years, lately turning out a whole new array of clocks, lamps and mirrors. By integrating metal with wood in several of his creations, Samko brings an intriguing element to woodworking and …

Trim The Waste of Fashion

Competition-led innovation pushes positive social change

Like Kickstarter for socially-minded projects, Yoxi (pronounced yo-see), an online platform to propose solutions to social issues, encourages activism by introducing a competitive element. After teams create pitch videos on Yoxi-identified problems—they launched with “Reinvent Fast Food“—the voting starts. Industry experts serve as judges, but their opinions only function to create dialog about the team ideas. Social game playing ultimately selects the winners, who can …

Chicken Co-Op

Luxury living for the urban hen

The team at NYC’s multi-disciplinary studio RAAD have re-invented the urban chicken residence. The Chicken Co-Op is a multi-level living space for city dwelling poultry. Designed from the bottom up to be at “the forefront of sustainability,” the Co-Ops are composed of acrylic sheets and exterior grade plywood, which separates the three floors—each catering to a specific lifestyle. The ground floor comprises the “Run Area,” …