Introducing our new series, which shines light on the creativity and resilience of designers around the world as they confront the challenges wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic. Working with contributing editors across eleven global territories, we reach out to creative talents to ponder the power of design in difficult times and share messages of hope. Our New York editor Pei-Ru Keh catches up with Meyer Davis, Pelle, Lindsey Adelman, Todd Bracher and Egg Collective on home manufacturing, the merits of assisted reality, social impact, and drawing as meditation.

Few cities have been as hard-hit by the pandemic as New York. The coronavirus is consuming all five boroughs at a staggering rate, and a statewide stay-at-home order shows no sign of being lifted. With life as we know it stood at a halt, the resourcefulness and creative thinking of our designers has been put to the test.

Plans for presenting new collections at Milan Design Week – a significant undertaking for Americans, involving transatlantic travel and shipping – have long been abandoned. Designers have also had to rethink their strategies on home turf, with NYCxDesign tentatively pushed to October, and the International Contemporary Furniture Fair skipping a year.

Among those having to take things on the chin is Meyer Davis, a studio specialising in hospitality, retail, workplace and residential projects. They had planned on launching their new product label, William Gray, on both sides of the Atlantic, combining new and existing furniture, lighting, bath products and home accessories. ‘2020 will still be the year of William Gray, but the products will be experienced differently now,’ says the firm’s Gray Davis. His fellow principal, Will Meyer, explains that their prototypes were ready to be sent to Italy. ‘We basically had to decide whether to load them on ships or not, right as our office was transitioning to working remotely, without knowing what the rest of the year would look like,’ he recalls.

A sketch of the Varick sofa from William Gray, a new product label that design firm Meyer Davis were hoping to launch at Milan Design Week and NYCxDesign this spring

Lighting and furniture design studio Pelle has also faced similar disappointment. ‘We were excited to show new lighting with Rossana Orlandi for the first time,’ says Oliver Pelle, who runs the studio with his wife Jean. ‘Here in New York, we planned to launch a new collection in our own showroom in May, along with participating in some great group shows. All of those design events have been cancelled or postponed.’

The Pelles have had to navigate these professional challenges while homeschooling their two school-age daughters, now that schools are closed. ‘Trying to keep them engaged and somewhat busy throughout the day proves to be a full-time endeavour,’ says Pelle, ‘We don’t feel that we’ve nailed the balance of schooling, domestic work and professional work yet.’

Still, the Pelles have found encouragement in the team they have built. ‘We were touched to see our crew literally take work home with them - bedrooms have become production benches and mini lighting assembly studios. ‘We love them for that.’

Husband-and-wife duo Oliver and Jean Pelle are juggling work with homeschooling their two young children

That enterprising, self-starter spirit – a distinctly American trait – is also being embraced at Lindsey Adelman’s studio, which had been poised to launch 35 new fixtures at her Noho showroom in May.

She credits her team for keeping production moving. ‘There are many details and processes that can still be done in their homes and private workshops – some glassblowers even have small-scale facilities in the same building where they live,’ she reveals. ‘It has been incredible to see how much they care about each other and about manifesting the ideas.’

Adelman has also quickly embraced the digital realm: ‘Introducing a new collection to each client in their home virtually is potentially quite intimate and powerful,’ she reflects. ‘I am starting to appreciate how something virtual and unreal holds the same value as something real. It is the effect it has on an audience that matters: how does it make you feel? Is it a new experience? Is it still charming? Does it shift what you assumed before you saw it?’