Saturday, 3 PM: Neri & Hu makes a splash

Checked out housewares brand Neri & Hu to see what the deafening buzz was about. The snug wire-mesh booth offered a succinct survey of the company’s expanding portfolio, including an architectonic sofa, an intriguing glass floor lamp, and the Zisha tea project—a slicked-up version of traditional ceramic tea sets made from clay native to Jiangsu province. Neri & Hu’s high-concept pieces are both reverent of Chinese culture and quietly subversive, too. Most subversive of all, however, is Rosanna Hu and Lyndon Neri’s approach to growing the company: the visionary duo plans to expand slowly and deliberately, basing their brand on quality and integrity. They want to take it slow so they have time to think through their ideas and seek out the right manufacturing partners—an especially daunting task here, since most factories aren’t keen to work with small-scale brands. It’s the big irony of designing in China: all those manufacturing facilities, so few truly at the upscale designer’s disposal.

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