{ "title": "IKONstudio x Rarify: New Icons at Afternoon Light", "modified_at": "2026-05-18 18:53:13", "published_at": "2026-05-18 18:53:00", "url": "https://griffin.prezly.com/ikonstudio-x-rarify-new-icons-at-afternoon-light", "short_url": "http://prez.ly/EYGd", "culture": "en", "language": "EN", "subtitle": "IKONstudio x Rarify: New Icons, an immersive installation by Rarify and IKONstudio marks the launch of the IKONstudio brand, grounded in a shared ethos around the evolution of modern design and its place in contemporary life and creativity. Positioned as a gateway to the Afternoon Light fair, New Icons centers on IKONstudio\u2019s reintroduction of the SOM79 chair\u2014part of its inaugural collection of archival architect-designed furniture, including works by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Louis Kahn.", "slug": "ikonstudio-x-rarify-new-icons-at-afternoon-light", "body": "

Originally designed by Charles Pfister at SOM for Halston’s Olympic Tower studio in the 1970s, the SOM79 chair sits at a unique intersection of fashion and architecture. \u200b The installation reframes the chair within a contemporary cultural context—bridging glamour, history, and architectural rigor. Its original context was Halston’s 21st-floor studio in Olympic Tower, an SOM-designed skyscraper: a mirrored, immersive environment, where floor-to-ceiling glass framed the Manhattan skyline and a saturated red palette defined an atmosphere of intimacy and spectacle.

David Feldberg, founder of IKONstudio, commented on the impetus for the project: "There's so much to be gained from slowing down and entering into a genuine conversation with work that was built out of decades of experience and craft — but that's not really the world we live in anymore. At IKONstudio, we're trying to create space for that kind of deep engagement. It's not about nostalgia or revival for its own sake — it's about recognizing that great work has more to say, and that giving it a second life and real relevance today is actually one of the more meaningful things a studio can do right now."

Rather than replicating Halston’s studio, New Icons takes the space, its history, and core features of modern design as a jumping off point to create a living environment where past and present actively inform one another. Within this framework, classic forms are revisited through an avant-garde and contemporary lens—embracing experimentation, and design as a multidisciplinary language. Familiar silhouettes are revisited with a sense of edge, resistance, and coded joy, creating a dialogue that is both timeless and radical.

As both portal and threshold, Rarify's installation opens into a space of inspiration, collaboration, and creative exchange. IKONstudio’s reintroduction of the chair incorporates updated materials and production possibilities that enhance durability, structural performance, and sustainability while remaining faithful to the original design. In parallel, Rarify channels the energy of Halston’s studio, bringing together contemporary creatives to reinterpret its spirit within a present-day context - a context that is more diverse, more global, more technologically advanced, and more open than the modern era.

"As an emerging design and curatorial platform, Rarify is excited to partner with IKONstudio as the team at Teknion launches a brand rooted in a shared commitment to design history, storytelling, and boundary-pushing designers across eras. It’s especially meaningful to collaborate with a partner that brings such depth of experience in manufacturing and production, while carving out a new direction that supports and expands possibilities for contemporary design,” noted David Rosenwasser, founder of Rarify. "What felt especially rewarding was the opportunity to work creatively and collaboratively in creating New Icons—not only to reintroduce an iconic piece like the SOM79 chair, but to give it new life within a contemporary cultural context. For us, this project is about opening things up: shining a light on works that haven’t always been fully seen, while also creating space for new voices and perspectives. It’s that balance between honoring the past and pushing things forward that feels especially energizing right now.”

Conceived as a runway-like environment, New Icons functions as both stage and spatial narrative, where visibility, performance, and design converge. Fashion by Gabriel Salcedo offers a contemporary, subversive take on classic silhouettes, while a soundscape by Malloy James anchors the experience, translating the energy of Halston’s studio into an immersive, contemporary soundscape. Lighting by Shiva Farrokhi further extends the dialogue through a sensorial approach that resonates with the spirit and material presence of the SOM79 chair.

Together, these elements form an environment that is celebratory, disruptive, and fun—extending the legacy of modern design while pushing its possibilities forward into a space of contemporary engagement, life, and joy.

The SOM79 chair will be available for sale via Rarify from May 16 for $1,350.

About IKONstudio

IKONstudio is a design platform dedicated to bringing iconic works of architectural furniture back into contemporary life. Founded by David Feldberg, CEO of Teknion, the studio develops collections in close collaboration with estates, foundations, and archives—adapting designs originally conceived by leading architects as extensions of their spatial thinking.

Its inaugural collections feature works by Louis Kahn and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, each piece reintroduced with fidelity to the original design intent while meeting contemporary expectations of comfort, performance, and craft. IKONstudio's approach is not preservation for its own sake, but active extension—bringing forward objects that were often experimental, site-specific, or never fully realized, and reintroducing them through today's materials, technologies, and contexts.

With an expanding program of reintroductions and collaborations, the studio positions furniture as both cultural artifact and functional tool, fostering an ongoing dialogue between modernist thinking and the spaces we inhabit today.

 

 

 

 

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