Lookout at Colony in Tribeca, NYC: Coil + Drift Debuts Touch and Strut Lighting

Colony, the Tribeca design gallery at 196 West Broadway, presented Lookout, an exhibition of new lighting by Coil + Drift, from October 9 to 21. It was open Monday through Friday, noon to 6 p.m., and brought together two collections launched together, Touch and Strut.

Coil + Drift is led by John Sorensen-Jolink, a modern dancer turned designer who founded the studio in 2016. It is based in New York's Catskill Mountains and works with brass, sand-cast metal, hand-blown glass and sustainably sourced domestic hardwoods. The studio describes design as choreographing objects and space, and every piece is made by its in-house artisans and local craftspeople.

The show was built around two contrasting experiences of light: one that directs the eye to a single point, and another that expands and envelops its surroundings. The studio framed Touch as an exploration of clarity and direction, and Strut as an embrace of warmth and atmosphere. The title plays on the word itself, which can mean the act of watching and searching from a vantage point, or a place that invites pause and reflection. The fixtures were sculptural, pairing brass or steel with wood and finishing with linen shades, so they read as objects as well as lights.

An opening fête on Thursday, October 8, ran from 6 to 9 p.m. with a live dance performance by Jodi Melnick and food and drinks by Comparti. According to Coil + Drift's account, the evening was warm enough that Colony's large glass doors were thrown open and the party spilled onto the street. Melnick began on the sidewalk, moving along the storefront as though the gallery were the audience and the city the stage, then went inside and danced in and around Touch and Strut. She used the beams of light to pick out her gestures and her shoes, and ended with her silhouette on the floor beneath the Touch Chandelier.

Coil + Drift also joined Colony's permanent roster of designers with the exhibition. Colony founder Jean Lin welcomed the studio, saying she had watched Sorensen-Jolink push it into new creative territory over the many years she has known him. The full Coil + Drift collection is shown on Colony's website.