IKONstudio Launches With Collections of SOM and Louis Kahn Furniture

First look at the inaugural SOM line debuts within an immersive, Halston-inspired installation reframing Charles Pfister’s chair for Halston’s Olympic Tower office through a contemporary lens ​ presented at ​ Afternoon Light in collaboration with Rarify

All collections available from June 8; for information, visit IKONstudio.co

SOM79 Chair available for pre-order via Rarify.co from May 16

Press kit linked here

New York, NY (May 11, 2026) — This May, IKONstudio will launch its inaugural collections through two landmark presentations at NYCxDESIGN and Design Days in Chicago, marking the debut of a new platform dedicated to bringing iconic works of architectural furniture into contemporary life. With a first season featuring designs by Louis Kahn–the first time design pieces from the titan of modern architecture have ever been made available through contemporary production–and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the launch signals a broader ambition: to revisit architect-designed objects as components of total environments, bringing them into the present through contemporary reintroductions.

The inaugural collections—developed with the Louis Kahn Foundation and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, in collaboration with Form Portfolios—center on furniture originally conceived by leading midcentury American architects as extensions of architecture itself. Defined by structural clarity, proportion, and material integrity, these works reflect two distinct yet complementary philosophies: Kahn’s deeply humanist, spatially driven approach and SOM’s disciplined modernism. Through a process of careful ​ refinement, IKONstudio adapts these designs to meet contemporary expectations of comfort, performance, and scalability, while preserving their original design intent with exacting rigor—bringing a renewed sense of architectural presence into today’s workplaces and interiors.

At NYCxDESIGN, IKONstudio will make its first public presentation with an immersive, cinematic, Halston-inspired installation at Afternoon Light, created in partnership with Rarify. Positioned as the entry portal to the fair, the installation draws on Rarify’s archival research—instrumental in uncovering and contextualizing the original SOM Pfister designs—and centers on the return of Charles Pfister’s chair, originally created for Halston’s legendary Olympic Tower studio. Reintroduced within a dynamic contemporary context with sound, fashion, and design work from emerging talents iterating with similar ideas, forms, and materials, the piece signals not only the revival of an icon, but a bold reinvigoration of design history that underscores its enduring resonance and inspirations.

“IKONstudio is not about revisiting the past, but extending it,” said IKONstudio founder David Feldberg. “We’re drawn to architects globally who see furniture and objects as integral to a total spatial language—works that are often experimental, site-specific, and not originally designed for broad circulation, but present new and exciting ideas. Our role is to bring these concepts forward: in these first collections, collaborating with archives and estates to produce them through today’s materials and technologies, and exploring opportunities to continue to expand this lineage around the world. The debut during NYCxDESIGN of our reimaging of Charles Pfister’s chair with Rarify is one example—an object rooted in a specific moment, inspiring to a new generation of design leaders, and now reimagined as part of an ongoing, plural practice of making.”

Guided by David Feldberg, CEO of Teknion—a global leader in workplace furniture and architectural interiors—and a lifelong advocate for design, IKONstudio advances a more active, design-driven approach to history. Each piece is rebuilt with fidelity to the original design intent, retaining the typologies and materiality that distinguish the works, which evolving production with advanced technology,and sustainable processes. The studio reinforces the continued relevance of modernist thinking—bridging past and present, conserving resources, and expanding the role of furniture as both cultural artifact and functional tool for modern life.

​​The SOM Collection from IKONstudio brings together a tightly edited group of seating and tables rooted in one of modernism's most consequential design philosophies — from its earliest days, SOM operated under an approach called "total design," the conviction that architecture, structure, and interior should resolve as a single integrated whole. The furniture in this collection was conceived within that ethos: purely bespoke, designed for specific buildings and clients, never intended for mass production until now. The SOM79 Chair, designed for Halston's New York atelier, sits at the intersection of fashion and architecture — a cantilevered steel frame holding tension between hard and soft, industrial and sensual. The SOM76 Lounge Collection, originally conceived for IBM's World Headquarters, reflects corporate modernism at its most considered.

"From very early on, SOM designed from the scale of the building to the scale of an ashtray and everything in between," says Design Partner Chris Cooper.

The Louis Kahn Collection from IKONstudio comprises a focused group of furniture and textile works that translate the architect’s foundational ideas into objects for contemporary use. The collection, which was never fully realized as built work was crafted from Kahn’s drawings for the first time here, includes seating, tables, and rugs drawn from key moments in Kahn’s early and mid-career: furniture originally conceived for a private residence outside Philadelphia, the 1953 Radbill Oil Company building, and the M.L. Weiss House; ​ as well as rugs that extend Kahn’s spatial thinking into surface and atmosphere. Together, these pieces—spanning multiple typologies—reflect Kahn’s belief in the unity of architecture and furniture, bringing his signature language of geometry, proportion, and material presence into today’s interiors.

The Louis Kahn Collection will debut at both Teknion and Studio TK’s Chicago showroom during Design Days alongside the full SOM collection, introducing Kahn’s furniture to a contemporary audience for the very first time. The presentation brings forward a rarely seen dimension of his practice—extending his architectural philosophy into objects designed for everyday use.

“My grandfather’s work as an architect is well known, but the bespoke furniture he designed to support those spaces is a part of the story that remains untold until now,” said Gregory Kahn Melitonov, grandson of Louis I. Kahn. ​ “Working with IKONstudio allows for a new chapter of Kahn’s legacy to be brought to light.”

Following the debut of the inaugural collections, IKONstudio will continue to expand its program through new reintroductions, partnerships, and collaborations that bring overlooked icons of the modern era from around the world back into circulation—fostering a dialogue between past and present that not only preserves design history, but actively shapes its future.

Media Contact

Sara Griffin

sara@griffinprny.com

+1-917-656-6348