Visibility & Noidoi – Sight Unseen Offsite 2017

America and Norway are surprisingly similar when it comes to design — both countries have far more skilled young talents than opportunities for manufacturing their work. Yet while the American design scene has shifted in the past 10 years towards independent studios, designers as entrepreneurs, and a more DIY approach, Norwegian designers by and large still rely on brands to make and distribute their products. After traveling to Oslo last year, Sight Unseen’s editors set up a cross-cultural exchange pairing five entrepreneurial American studios with five up-and-coming Norwegian studios, who together spent six months working long-distance on objects that utilize an American workshop for fabrication and that can be independently manufactured for future sales. The result is Norway x New York, a collection of collaborative furniture and lighting debuting at Sight Unseen OFFSITE.