Dezeen Magazine

Furniture by Micah Rosenblatt

Micah Rosenblatt creates steel furniture based on the cityscape of New York

Local designer Micah Rosenblatt has debuted a collection of steel furniture covered in light green automotive paint that was informed by the architectural styles found throughout New York City.

The City Block collection encompasses 16 pieces of furniture, including a dining room table, chairs, sculptural floor lamps, and a loveseat, all predominantly made of steel and glass bricks.

Long table with steel chairs
Micah Rosenblatt has debuted a collection of furniture informed by New York City

"[The expressions] are based on the cityscape and my relationship to it," Rosenblatt told Dezeen. "It's the forms that you would look out and see on your horizon via whatever time period you're in."

"I'm primarily a metalworker," he continued. "So [I used] metal as the language to play with that both as a construction material, but also as the decorative elements as well."

Sculptural lighting pieces
It encompasses a total of 16 pieces

Rosenblatt said the pieces translate the city's forms into a smaller, domestic scale.

Viewed together, the lamps in the collection create a mini skyline and are made up of simple geometric forms including a slim rectangle and a right triangle.

Chair with glass backing
It includes floor lamps, a dining table, and chairs

They were created with stacked glass bricks encased within steel frames and illuminated throughout. The Volute Lamp is topped with the capital of an Ionic column imprinted within its steel cap.

The column-like pattern can be found again in the Column and High Rise Column chairs that complete an eight-person dining set.

Glass column with integrated lighting
The pieces are made predominately of steel and glass bricks

The chairs sit on cage-like blackened steel frames with a back made of metal rods topped with the same curled capital form as their counterpart lamp.

Sea-green satin cushions lined with a black trim were placed on each trapezoidal seat.

One of the largest pieces in the collection, the Forum dining table, sits on four steel legs, which was made by stacking several slices of steel cylinders atop one another, parted slightly by a central pole that holds them together.

A central trough running down the top of the table can be filled with an assortment of displays, such as plants – or it can be covered with glass.

Right angle sculptural piece
They are intended to translate the city skyline into a domestic scale

The piece represents Rosenblatt's interest in the qualities of metal, which despite its strength and weight can be used to create "delicate" looking objects.

"That's such a joy when I play around with metal – [letting] its strength shine through in the most delicate of ways," Rosenblatt told Dezeen.

Chair made with steel backings
It combines architectural styles found throughout the city

Other pieces in the collection include the Glass Block chair, which is backed with glass bricks and topped with four steel spheres and the Orbital Plane loveseat, where similar spheres sit beneath its armrest.

Micah Rosenblatt is a metalworker and designer based in Brooklyn, New York. His work combines "industrial forms with a whimsical edge" and has been featured in the A24 film Problemista.

Other furniture made predominantly with metal was featured in a small show at Lyle Gallery in New York. Dezeen reported on the prominence of metal furniture this year's Milan design week.

The images are by Marco Galloway

The City Block collection is on show at the Front Gallery in Manhattan until 23 June.  See Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week. 

More images

Long table with steel chairs
Steel table with column legs
Glass column with integrated lighting
Chair made with steel backings
Sculpture with right angle and glass blocks