For 2020, Sight Unseen Offsite will become Offsite Online, as the editors take their acclaimed spring design fair into the digital space

New York, NY – April 29, 2020: This spring, the influential online magazine Sight Unseen will launch its first-ever entirely digital design fair: Offsite Online. A curated, web-based presentation of new furniture and objects by 57 designers and brands, Offsite Online will launch May 18 on sightunseen.com, and will be followed by four weeks of related programming across Sight Unseen’s channels. The project will also have a presence on 1stdibs and in Dezeen’s Virtual Design Fair.

The aim of Offsite Online is to provide support to designers in a time when, due to the global pandemic, they find themselves cut off from nearly all avenues for sales and promotion. Many were ready to launch their 2020 collections when retail stores were shuttered and design fairs canceled for the foreseeable future. Sight Unseen’s own 2020 Offsite fair, scheduled to take place in May at Skylight Modern in Manhattan, was put on indefinite hold, inspiring the editors to pivot to a digital exhibition model instead — harnessing the visibility of their existing online platform to create a much-needed creative and commercial outlet for the design community.

Offsite Online will debut as its own dedicated page within sightunseen.com, on which collections of new releases from each participating designer will be viewable. All designer presentations will feature a slideshow of 2-12 pieces, a written collection description, and an audio clip of the designer sharing the concept of and inspirations behind their work. While the entire fair will be available to explore starting May 18, Sight Unseen’s editors will be producing more in-depth editorial stories about each collection, published daily over the course of four weeks and supplemented with special content such as Instagram Live talks.

Sight Unseen has also partnered with 1stdibs and Dezeen to broaden the reach of the fair. 1stdibs — on which Sight Unseen has had a storefront since 2018 — will be Offsite Online’s official sales partner, hosting a dedicated landing page through which 1stdibs users can discover and shop the fair. Dezeen will also host a special Sight Unseen landing page as part of its Virtual Design Fair, where select Offsite Online exhibitors will showcase their work.

One particularly novel aspect of Offsite Online will be the use of 3-D renderings to bring some of the featured designs to life in the absence of a physical fair presentation — as well as in many cases, the inability to produce a styled photo shoot during the quarantine. Sight Unseen brought in two of the design world’s most up-and-coming digital artists, Stefano Giacomello (@stefo_rotolo) and Charlotte Talyor (@charlottetaylr), to create 3-D rendered “photo shoots” of several of the collections in the show. That said, though some products will be displayed as renderings, Offsite Online is not an exhibition of conceptual works — every single piece in the fair either exists as a real object, or will exist as soon as the pandemic ebbs and production starts back up again.

The lineup for Offsite Online 2020 will include the launch of Collections by the following designers and brands:
Atelier de Troupe Bari Ziperstein Brett Miller Christopher Norman Coil and Drift Cuff Home Estudio Persona Farrah Sit Field Tiles In Common With Joris Poggioli Kalon Studios Lambert & Fils Lland Nazara Lazaro Nicholas Hamilton Holmes Pieces RISD School of the Art Institute of Chicago Seer Studio Simon Johns Studio Poa Supaform Tantuvi

As in Sight Unseen’s physical fairs, Offsite Online will also include a Selects section, showcasing 1-2 pieces each by the following designers and brands:
A Space Anahit Pogosian Andrew Algier Another Human Arcana Bronsin Ablon Christopher Campbell Daniel Nikolovski Elise McMahon Format Fine Goods Garza Studio Gaspard Graulich Hannah Bigeleisen Hayden Richer Ian Cochran James Dieter Kompaniet Konekt Laun Martina Guandalini Mike Ruiz Objects & Ideas Ordinal Indicator Pedro Paulo Venzon Raina Lee Richard Clarkson Soft Geometry Steven Bukowski Studio Mignone Trevor Carreon Upstate Vissio Winston Cuevas

About Sight Unseen Offsite and Offsite Online
A curated design exhibition produced by Sight Unseen founders Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer during New York Design Week, Sight Unseen Offsite provides a platform for the most directional, cutting-edge ideas in contemporary furniture design, with a special emphasis on independent studios and the best and brightest American talents. Each year, Sight Unseen’s editors put together a mix of brands and designers that are at the vanguard of the industry, from rising talents like Ladies & Gentlemen and Bower to established companies such as Tai Ping and Umbra Shift. Offsite Online is the first entirely digital version of the fair.

About Sight Unseen
Jill Singer and Monica Khemsurov are the co-founders of Sight Unseen, an online magazine dedicated to discovering what’s new and next in contemporary design. They founded Sight Unseen in 2009, and Sight Unseen OFFSITE in 2010, and through both endeavors have helped launch and foster the careers of some of design’s most influential talents. The pair also curate exhibitions, produce and co-host events, and provide marketing and editorial services for a variety of clients, including Sonos, HotelTonight, Everlane, Arper, Herman Miller, Iittala, Ford, The Ace Hotel, Refinery29, Creatures of Comfort, the Standard East Village, Urban Outfitters, Lincoln, and Shinola.