Apparatus Act V: Afsaneh Collection

Apparatus Studio, the New York design house, has released Act V: Afsaneh, its first collection in five years. It comprises four series of lighting, furniture and objects, plus an incense, and the full range can be browsed on the studio's website.

Afsaneh is the Persian word for fable, and it is also the name of the mother of Gabriel, who signs the collection's opening letter. He writes that he looked for a new way of working: shaping curves with a pen again and again until forms appeared as though they had always existed. The collection's rhythm comes from cycles — creation and destruction, separation from the self and the return to it, the seed becoming the flower. At the center, he says, is the divine feminine.

The setting is a temple in the sky, brought to life through the distilled movement language of Martha Graham, often called the mother of modern dance. The incense carries notes of Damask Rose, Oud and Frankincense, offered as a gesture of protection and potential.

The site is organized into lighting (ceiling, wall, table and floor), furniture, rugs, objects, incense and editions, and it also lists galleries that carry the work. Orders placed online are final: the studio does not accept cancellations, refunds, returns or exchanges. For anyone who follows New York design, this is the studio's first new body of work since 2021 and worth a slow scroll.