July 20, 2026
8 New Products Leaning into Craft
The term “craft” gets thrown around a lot. Too often, it signifies nostalgia—the fetishization of set-in-stone practices. However, for these age-old processes to truly survive and remain relevant, they need to be boldly yet respectfully adapted, continuously updated but without losing their essence. Today’s crop of inventive independent designers and versatile manufacturers are retooling long-established trades, experimenting with fresh techniques, mixing and matching typological applications, and implementing materials in unexpected ways. In this respect, ever-evolving crafts can be as powerful as emergent technologies in driving innovation. More and more, the perceivably divergent methodologies of digital fabrication and the handmade are converging, being implemented as allied and fused, rather than opposing, forces. The following projects, products, and solutions demonstrate this mindset in everything from hand-painted wallcoverings and knotted rugs to 3D-printed and crinkled-paper lighting fixtures.
MAAP by Erwan Bouroullec
FLOS
The new MAAP sconce concept by French designer Erwan Bouroullec for Italian manufacturer FLOS invites the user to be the maker. Composed of a single sheet of hyperdurable, semitranslucent, and backlit Tyvek, the luminaire takes shape when crumpled by the user. Its ripples and folds help to diffuse and contain the light. It can be re-formed time and again.
Prorůstání / Growing Into by Tadeáš Podracký and Heirloom Naga Centre, Shakti Design Residency
SHAKTI DESIGN RESIDENCY
As part of the second Shakti Design Residency program—pairing promising talents from around the world with Indian craftspeople—Czech designer Tadeáš Podracký developed the Prorůstání / Growing Into bench with artisans from the Konyak tribe in the Nagaland state, in India. Demonstrating how their distinctive wood-carving and woven-cane traditions could be applied in a new form, the one-off piece translates Konyak know-how in a new way—through the designer’s experimental, organically sculptural style—all while respecting the cultural significance these practices carry.
INTRECCI DI LUCE by Jozeph Forakis and Lorenzo Palmeri
FOSCARINI
3D-printed knitted textiles are an emerging field, one rooted in both age-old handicrafts and advanced technologies. Working on this research project sponsored by Italian lighting brand Foscarini, Milan-based designers Jozeph Forakis and Lorenzo Palmeri investigated how this technique could be translated into a new type of luminaire that captures and refracts the immaterial element in flexible, open-structure compositions.
STUDIO LOOP
MANNINGTON COMMERCIAL
Bringing the once widely practiced craft tradition of punch-needle rug hooking to durable, mass-produced products, flooring brand Mannington Commercial has ensured its renewed relevance. The structural and visual quality of this delicate technique was translated into a layered carpet tile available in four patterns—Loopfield, Amble, Grooveform, and Sketchflow—and suited for high-traffic environments.
TIERRA, MAR, Y AIRE
FARO BARCELONA
In Spain, Héctor Serrano is treating additive 3D-printing as a handicraft capable of bespoke outcomes. The designer’s Tierra, Mar, y Aire lamp concept for lighting brand Faro Barcelona “successfully reconciles craftsmanship with digital manufacturing.” Made to order using recycled plastics and bioplastics, each lamp is unique. The ovoidal pendants come in three colorways inspired by—as the product’s name says—land, sea, and air.
AMBIENT COMPASS by Henrik Pedersen
GLOSTER
With a handwoven burlap or umber wool shade and a frame assembled out of hand-finished, sustainably sourced teak panels, Gloster’s new Ambient Compass luminaire is both pared back and idiosyncratic, demonstrating how craft techniques can be scaled and implemented in serial production. Crafted by Danish furniture designer Henrik Pedersen and available in three sizes, the portable lantern is meant to serve as a guiding beacon.
TILE TABLE
ARTEK x HEATH CERAMICS
The bentwood prowess of heritage Finnish furniture brand Artek and the proprietary expertise of emblematic Californian ceramic-tile producer Heath Ceramics complement each other in this expanded Tile Table collection. Cladding the top of iconic Alvar Aalto designs in several variations and patterns imbues the furnishings with new, clever functions (such as playing a match with the Artek + Heath–designed Chess Set). Each tiled tabletop is available in a range of reds, greens, and whites, and unique keystone tiles highlight the handmade nature of each table.
SORU by Young Huh
FROMENTAL
Often, the best solutions derive from the needs of a specific project. When bespoke wallcoverings producer Fromental and New York–based interior designer Young Huh set out to create a new line inspired by the Joseon-era, Korean age-old practice of minhwa folk painting, it made sense that it was destined for her own home. And yet the hand-painted silk product—adorned in the traditional motifs of peach trees, pipe-smoking rabbits, and tigers—has resonance with a wider audience looking to imbue its homes with detail and historical resonance.
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