Live@ICFF, Editor’s Pick:  Black + Blum’s Dish Rack

Sometimes the best designs at ICFF aren’t furniture. Case in point: Black + Blum’s considered High&Dry dish rack, which is as close to beautiful as such a quotidian object can get. According to Martin Blum, he and his co-designer, Dan Black, wanted to create a dish rack that would be at home in a high-end, minimalist kitchen, where such accessories are generally tucked out of sight. So they turned to modern architecture for inspiration and specifically the work of the Santiago Calatrava. Indeed, the polypropylene-and-stainless-steel rack, which unfolds into a flexible wave of spikes to hold glasses, resembles the Spanish architect’s design for the WTC transportation hub. (It can also fold flat for storage or a rinse in the dishwasher.) The tray is free of any flat surfaces or construction lines that might trap grime and features an ingenious drainage spout that can be flipped up when not positioned by a sink.