StokkeAustad - "The Woods"; Image courtesy of Maria Larsson / Home in the Woods

It's always nice to be pleasantly surprised by a serendipitous visit to a strong exhibition, especially during a week when there happen to be dozens of events to visit. (With the launch of NYCxDesign, New York's annual design week was as supersaturated as ever, what with the ICFF expanding into Javits North and Wanted Design nearly overflowing with exhibitors.) As with Field and Various Projects' Here & There, an unassuming exhibition was well worth the visit, and even though most of last weekend exhibitions have been broken down, packed and shipped by now, Home in the Woods will remain on view at 29 Mercer St in Soho (albeit by appointment only).

However, unlike Jonah Takagi's effort, Maria Larsson's exhibition is brimming with New Nordic and Swedish Modern quality, including vintage pieces by Bruno Mathsson and Sven Markelius along with works of art and design. As the sole organizer of the exhibition, Larsson readily admits that her role went far beyond simply curating the exhibition: an architect by training, she oversaw the buildout of the gallery space, as well as the PR and marketing.

Vintage table and chairs by Bruno Mathsson; leather goods by Tigerklo; stool by Lith Lith Lundin

Home in the Woods is organized into eight sylvan or otherwise ecological scenes, featuring furniture and design objects accompanied by photos by Larsson and sculptures by Sara Möller. The narrative is a bit superficial at times, but not in a bad way: the juxtaposition of certain colors, patterns and materials serves to simplify the rich arrangements. Since each and every object would be beautiful on its own, the motifs make sense of the dense harmonies.

Scene 3: Kol (Coal)

This is a selection of the work on display; the exhibition website enumerates the objects in each scene with plenty of images.

Lukas Dahlén - "Mirro"; Daphne Zuilhof - "Spin" stool / Sven Markelius - Pythagoras textile; Sami Kallio - Y5 chair

Scene 5: Aska (Ashes)

Tableware by Lillian de Souza: the conventional wares on the right are hybridized to form the conceptual ones on the left

de Souza works with Martin Altwegg as Nooktu; these boxes reminded me of traditional steamer trays

Experimental leather blanket by Lars Beller Fjetland

Detail of the interlocking leather 'tiles.'

Detail of Gemma Lord's previously-seen "Mitosis" table

Woytek Weidne - "Bird's Nest" stool/lamp (after Matthias Pliessnig); Daniel Rybakken & Andreas Engesvik - "Light Tray"; Stokke Austad - "Howdy Owl"

"Re-Turned" bird sculptures by Lars Beller Fjetland for Discipline; Lith Lith Lundin's locally-sourced tensegrity furniture

Sami Kallio's pendant lamps feature a counterweight (visible at left) to ballast the off-center shade

Scene 7: Grönska (Growth)