Called the L.E.D. KARTN chairs, the project extends Preston’s continuing interest in reuse and urban residue – an approach that has quietly threaded through his work for years. Perhaps Most notably, invitations for his FW23 New York Fashion Week presentation were assembled from discarded materials collected directly off city streets.
Here, stop signs, detour markers, school crossing warnings, speed bump notifications, and other city-issued regulatory signage are dismantled and reconstructed into functional seating objects. Familiar graphics and typography remain visible throughout the pieces, turning everyday infrastructure into something between collectible design and public artifact.
The process itself is heavily industrial. Assar sourced the reclaimed aluminum signs locally before the materials were cut and perforated using an OMAX abrasive waterjet system, a precision machine typically used for complex metal fabrication. Individual components were then assembled within the studio, with each chair hand-fastened using solid rivets and hydraulic riveting tools more commonly associated with aviation than furniture production.
The collection will be available through Sunday at Lichen before remaining pieces move online via L.E.D. Studio.
