Karl Zahn

Karl Zahn is a product and furniture designer based in Brooklyn, New York. His work recalls a Danish influence, with its stark minimalism and functional ingenuity - and includes lighting, household products, decorative and experimental objects.

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As a child growing up in rural Vermont, Zahn would experiment with household objects - including paper and  toothpicks - to create models that reflected the environment around them. After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design, he studied metalworking San Francisco, before returning to New York to set up his own design shop.

Zahn first gained critical acclaim for a collaboration with Hotel Wallpaper*, in which he created grand European hotel keys, cast in bronze. Shaped like gazelles and alligators, the keys were both playful and functional, able to fitted for any lock.

His 2014 ‘Momentum’ collection, which debuted during NYCxDesign week, combined his childhood obsessions with natural elements into simple, tabletop pieces, which later showed at US Design store Matter. His next collection, ‘Rise,’ was a series of ornamental objects -- polished brass, wooden pendulums, and metal plates that hang delicately and purposefully in custom hardware vitrines. Composed out of Lindsey Adelman’s studio, the 16-piece collection is a feat of modern elegance and manufacturing.

Zahn has worked with companies such as Artecnica, AREAWARE, Teroforma, Lindsey Adelman Studio and Roll & Hill. His work has been featured in Wallpaper*, T Magazine, DesignCurial, Dezeen, Designboom, Areaware and elsewhere.
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Exhibitions:

2021 Salon Art + Design Fair Exhibition

2021 Salon Art + Design Fair

Ian Collings, Karl Zahn & Chen Chen & Kai Williams
Nov 2021
Launch of The Goldwyn House Exhibition

Launch of The Goldwyn House

Los Angeles, Sep 2022 - Oct 2022
2022 Salon Art + Design Fair Exhibition

2022 Salon Art + Design Fair

Nov 2022

C.V.

Education

2003  BID – Industrial Design, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI

2002  Furniture Design, Denmark’s Design School

Exhibitions 

2019  “Warriors & Weather” – E.R. Butler Showroom, New York, NY

2019  “The Chair” – The Future Perfect, New York, NY

2018  “Weather Experiments” – Roll & Hill Showroom, New York, NY

2017  “Outlines” – The Future Perfect, New York, NY

2017  “Afterglow” – Lindsey Adelman Studio, Kingdom Collection, New York, NY

2016  “Hotel Wallpaper* / Handmade” – Milan, IT

2016  “Demeter and Atlas” – Roll & Hill Showroom, New York, NY

2015  “Rise” – E.R. Butler Showroom, New York, NY

2015  “Cora and Bounce” – Roll & Hill Showroom, New York, NY

2014  “Momentum” – MATTER, New York, NY

2009  “M+D+F” – Vladimir Mirror, Design Within Reach, New York, NY

Career 

2009-2019  Lindsey Adelman Studio

2004-2007  Sand Studios / South Park Fabricators