Brooklyn’s creative community bands together for a weekend of presentations and vending at BKLYN DESIGNS. The annual showcase brings together the borough’s most talented artists and designers to share one roof — the Brooklyn Expo Center on 72 Noble St. in Greenpoint from May 8-10.
The exhibit features the cream of the crop as far as furniture, lighting and home accessory designs are concerened; all made in borough of Brooklyn. The exhibiton serves as the official kick-off for the NYCxDESIGN initiative, featuring three days of pop-up shows, demos, presentations and more.
“BKLYN DESIGNS is Brooklyn’s premier design event showcasing a cross section of design, architecture and art. Founded by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce in 2003, it was one of the first design fairs to shine a spotlight on the creative economy in Brooklyn and serves as an incubator for emerging designers as well as a platform for established brands producing a range of creative products across furniture, lighting, tableware, art, textiles and jewelry,” according to BKLYN DESIGNS website. bklyn
Along with the various furniture and lighting exhibitions are spotlights on other local brands and eateries including food trucks representing different cultures parked outside. Serving as the only Caribbean brand featured in this premiere event is the non-profit organization, CaribBeing. www.carib
“It really shows everyone in Brooklyn and in the design community that we’re taking our products seriously and to be the only Caribbean voice here, of course Caribbean is a huge part of Brooklyn and New York City. So I also felt personally more vested in being here to let the design community know that Caribbean is here,” Shelley Worrell, founder and principal of CaribBeing, said.
Selling their latest tea towels, stationary and signature tote bags, Worrell’s table attracts interested passerbys with their “I Can’t Keep Calm I’m CARIBBEING” postage and beautifully designed towels. This is the first year CaribBeing is participating in the event.
“This is our first year and first design show ever. We chose this one because it is all Brooklyn based products so I thought it was important because we’re made in Brooklyn and 100 percent Caribbean,” she said.
BKLYN DESIGNS is providing free shuttle buses on Saturday, May 9 and Sunday, May 10, running between the Brooklyn Expo Center, Industry City and Brooklyn Museum. Their website lists a detailed schedule for shuttle times as well as the participating vendors. The show is $15 for the general public.
