ICFF has returned and with it Design Week NYC. It’s actually unclear when Design Week starts and ends but events hover around the duration of ICFF which is from May 19-22. Pop Up shops, temporary showrooms and galleries are all happening during the 5 plus days. Most of the attention will be surrounding the third annual NoHo Design District organized by Sight Unseen’s Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer. Here are some of the highlights.

- Roll & Hill temporary showroom at 2 Cooper Square
- Hotel California at The Standard East Village
- Mondocane presents an exhibition of historically relevant children’s chairs at Partners & Spade.
- Areaware at 22 Bond

Other events in the area also include Makeshift (May 15-19). A series of workshops that include Alabama Chanin, Billy Reid, Krrb, Hugo & Marie, Partners & Spade, Maria Cornejo & CFDA.

If that’s not enough, Core 77 will also be in the area with The First Annual Core77 Open (May 18-22). It will feature 5 designers from the 5 boroughs exhibiting 25 pieces in all.

And just as they do every year, Core 77 has a list of all the other events happening throughout the city for Design Week.

Though Carl Auböck is widely known and admired in the design world, we’ve been wondering when he would receive the attention that has been bestowed on Dieter Rams or the Eames. As product designers, Rams and the Eames have reached the recognition on a mass market level. Maybe that’s because their products are so adaptable to today’s environments, or that their products are still being manufactured and are so widely emulated. Auböck’s designs on the other hand are more classical, the materials he used, brass, leather, wood and horn, can’t be updated with plastics. His popularity may soon change as powerHouse Books is about to release a book based on Auböck’s body of work from 1930–1970. The book takes us into three generations of the Auböcks and showcases many rare pieces that are no longer manufactured. Carl Auböck: The Workshop, 1930–1970 is set to be released this fall.

Daniel To and Emma Aiston are the duo behind D.E, a design studio founded in London that now resides in their native Australia. Their work has been featured in numerous publications in the last couple of years with the most prominent being their office supply collection. Simple, colorful and restrained, these functional objects double as desktop sculptures. The shapes and use of color sees influence from Memphis Design without the Post Modern / 1980’s association. The collection currently consists of 9 pieces including a cork cone display that resembles an inverted ice cream cone. Prices range from $65-$220. You can purchase them directly from D.E.

Call these ships what you will, sculptures, models or toys, we just think they’re incredibly cool. Our good friend Erik Marinovich, one fourth of Friends of Type, turned us onto these “Wooden Giants” designed by Martin Postler & Ian Ferguson of Postlerferguson. The Emma Maersk, Arctic Princess and TI Asia are vessels modeled after the largest cargo ships in the world. They’ve all been scaled down, spanning 12"-16," with each packaged and ready to be assembled. These former prototypes are now in production and can be purchased through Papa Foxtrot.

If you’re woken up in the middle of the night by an intruder, what is the first thing you do? Grab an object of any sort to defend yourself. Like most of us, it’s likely not a gun. Maybe it’s a bat, a hammer, or even a lamp. Whatever it is, its not usually used for protection. A new exhibition from The American Design Club titled, THREAT: Objects of Defense and Protection., explores objects with the sole purpose of protecting one from harm. Submissions have been coming in since October of last year and the result should be an interesting one. Will we see sleek design objects that look more sculptural than weapon-like? THREAT opens Friday, March 9th at Present Company in Williamsburg, 29 Wythe St, Brooklyn.

Geoff McFetridge and Heath Ceramics are up to something. Earlier this week, McFetridge previewed a few interesting photos on Instagram. His childlike hand drawings were applied to unfinished ceramic plates, a cup and a teapot. He later revealed that he will be showing at Heath’s LA Showroom on November 12th – Heath has yet to post any information on their website. For now, have a look at some of the upcoming products he has produced for Heath and random photos of his life and work on Instagram.