While working from Idee's Workstation as a guest designer, Stephen developed a collection of furniture for a hotel outside of Tokyo and the limited edition plywood room partition Woman for the Japanese market.

The Display shelving system is characterized by stainless steel cross bracing that supports uninterrupted surfaces of brake-formed powder-coated steel. A concealed stainless steel pin allows the cross bracing to give the impression of the structure caught in a moment of both tension and compression.

As part of his first collection to be shown in New York at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, Stephen developed the Endless Screen as an individual folded aluminum panel. Using a male and female integral hinge, multiple panels can be pinned together to form a room partition of varying length.

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Stephen's second product for Cappellini's more accessible accessories collection Progetto Oggetto, is a family of two-part ceramic vases available in three sizes that are intended to allow a stem flower arrangement from the tube and floating flower arrangement, or food service, from the base. They range in size from 12" to 24" in height.

The interior design and new marketing strategy developed for this new concept store integrated the founder's love of music and local artwork with the store's functionality and image. The "Vs." Project strategy suggested invited different artists to take over the store's interior with a site-specific installation every two months making it a 3-dimensional collage of design, fashion and art. The store's ceiling hangers, rolling t-shirt displays and cash wrap/dj booth were all designed to transform regularly in support of these in-store events.

In collaboration with the creative director of Triple Five Soul, Stephen art directed, designed and branded a new collection of streetwear inspired objects for the home including furniture covers made from sweatshirts, denim speaker pillows, a limited edition t-shirt series, dj crates and the Homeware identity.

The Workstation is the result of utilizing an innovative steel factory in Osaka
to make a new highly flexible small office system in steel. The system incorporates re-positional storage accessories suspended below the shelves, a light double-sided structure and work surfaces/shelves for home or office.

The Stations concept uses furniture and the Vitra miniatures as a metaphor for display, which places the product on rolling platforms boldly branded with informational graphics. The play on scale and presentation rethinks the functionality of the trade show booth into individual displays with integrated lighting and storage that focus on the product and not the architecture.

The Plank of Wood collection of home accessories was created out of a desire to make something useful from a simple wooden board that leaned against the wall. Complete with handle and nylon glides, the planks could take on enumerable functions depending on the laminate or hardware applied to the surface. From coat rack to speaker to lamp to chalk board, the Plank of Wood collection is a humorous take on all of the "other" things that make every house a home. In 2003 the planks were featured in the Victoria & Albert exhibition "Milan in a Van", as well as the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum design triennial exhibition, "Inside Design Now".

Organized by glass designer Emmanuel Babled the Smash project was a opportunity for nine designers, most of whom had never worked in glass before, to experiment and create with the masters of the Murano furnaces. Hand blown into a conical mold approximately 60cm in diameter at its largest, Crown is made from three parts separated in the cold process. The crown, ring and bowl can be used in combination with each other in any number of configurations, all of which reveal the surface they are place on.

For Mogu's first ever exhibition at the Milan furniture fair, Stephen in collaboration with Christian Kuypers developed the What Is Mogu? brand brochure giving the brand their first sense of identity in an international market.

The Not So Soft collection of table and chairs are injection-molded polypropylene that uses a single module or slice of a table or chair which pieces together to form the table or the chair.

While international art director for the former Japanese brand, Stephen proposed this collaboration between Mogu & Missoni as an extension of his Missoni patchwork concept.

In his capacity as international art director for Mogu, Stephen created the strategic collaboration between Missoni & Mogu to express the Mogu brand in the luxury goods market and create a playful environment for Missoni during the 2004 Milan Furniture Fair. The installation beautifully synthesized the Missoni Home collection in tableware and area rugs with the Missoni covered Mogu 2004 collection, as well as the Missoni Patchwork vases. The Missoni Mogu Fun Fun exhibition was coordinated by Readymade Projects, designed by Stephen in collaboration with the Missoni Home stylist Eva Gundersen and installed by AAAHHHAAA in Milan.

The Patchwork vases were commissioned by Angela Missoni, as part of the Missoni Mogu Fun Fun exhibition designed and coordinated by Readymade Projects. The vases were the result of months of experimentation with Missoni fabric cut-offs from the fashion collections as a kind of recycling project using the brand's one-of-a-kind woven fabrics adhered to existing vases sealed in a resin coating.

Stephen was chosen as one of forty international designers invited by the Ecole Cantonale D'art de Lausanne to re-imagine the conductor's stick. His gold plated simple baton and its assumed motion were part of the collections traveling exhibitions.

Nature, by design, is perfect. Its inherent geometric systems coexist with one another from the molecular level to the global level. In everything we find structure, the basis for stability and form. If we explore our surroundings, the beauty and lessons of nature will be revealed. Within the contexts of art, design and architecture the possibilities for inspiration are endless. July 2006.

The stainless steel frame of the Ambrogio book stand becomes a simple yet functional towel rack without the wooden trough.

"A young American designer who has found in Europe the partners he needed to make his name known internationally"

The Light Frame is a kind of kit-of-parts chandelier. Its 18 planes of acrylic and polycarbonate cylinder give it volume and distribute the warm glow of light through its frozen form.

"Things We Love. Fresh talents who have turned their hands to timeless crafts: Stephen Burks and his fabric covered vases"

As part of the historic company's 50th anniversary collection, the Ambrogio is a study of horizontal rather than vertical storage systems. The molded plywood trough accepts books, magazines or documents in various orientations suspended on a steel frame.

The Restless stools are based on the repetition of a wire frame profile in various dimensions, with and without a rocking base, with leather or upholstered seats. Two series of prototypes were produced, exhibited and promoted at the Milan furniture fair by Moroso.

Alone Together is a hybrid product uniquely suited to both small interiors and public spaces. It combines a series of three surfaces that can serve as side tables or desks for multiple users
with a central column of three coat racks.

"The Design Crusader: Burks is the first African-American to make an impression on the rarefied world of international industrial design"

"Stephen Burks, the young creative American, moves design forward with products like functional puzzles."

For its 20th anniversary installation,
the premier French design magazine, Intramuros, chose Stephen and his team to create a show stopping, albeit low budget presentation of 20 chairs by 20 French designers. The designer chairs were contrasted on 50 chairs found in the streets of New York painted white.

Stephen revisited the Light Frame project with the addition of a removable nylon shade that allows the clear acrylic frame to take on the hue of the shade.

Features Stephen Burks Q&A interview on design, pg. 255, and the Light Frame pendant lamp, published by Laurence King, London, England, 2006.

The Cup chairs two-part upholstered seating system allows for variations in fabric and color. A lounge chair, dining chair and two-seater contract sofa are options of the collection in development.

"Things We Love. Fresh talents who have turned their hands to timeless crafts: Stephen Burks and his fabric covered vases"

Under the recommendation of Angela Missoni, Stephen was chosen as the designer of the new Missoni Profumi, the first Missoni fragrance in 17 years. Working closely with Estee Lauder, Stephen developed the concept for the new beauty brand including the primary and secondary packaging.

This is the first solo exhibition of the work of Stephen Burks and Readymade Projects. The exhibition, designed by Readymade Projects, features a blackboard wall of press quotes, as well as the Frame tables as exhibition platforms for the rest of the work. October 20, 2006 - January 28, 2007.

Engineered in both solid aluminum and hollow standard extruded sections, these prototypes are the beginnings of a study of the large open span table. They are each 1m x 4m in dimension and disassemble to ship flat.

This lacquered medium-density-fiberboard shelving system has an expandable accordion-like frame for
ease of assembly and rubber coated accessories. It can be free standing
and used from all sides. Parallel is distributed in the U.S. by DWR, Design Within Reach, and in Europe by Habitat under the name Para.

In Zimbabwe's Shona dialect, TaTu means 'three'. While on assignment in South Africa for Aid to Artisans as part of Artecnica's Design with Conscience project, Stephen challenged a local souvenir artisan working by hand in wire to try to make something larger. The resulting collaboration is TaTu, an airy, visually pliant and weather resilient modular collection of accessories, side tables and coffee tables. Each table breaks down into a tray, a bowl and a basket. A one piece stacking stool compliments the collection providing the required seating.

Of the 12 or so artisan groups Stephen collaborated with in South Africa in 2005, only one resonated with Artecnica and went immediately into production for international distribution. Tatu, a series of wire accessories, was developed in collaboration with Willard Musarurwa, a young wire artisan from one of the poorest townships in Cape Town. Today Willard employs six people and has his own studio.

Many of the 12 artisan groups Stephen collaborated with in South Africa in 2005 never produced a final product, but created very fruitful experiments. Mr. Recycles and his team attempted to make lamps from strips of recycled soda cans cut with scissors and woven onto a wire frame. Although the project had a lot of potential, the artisans could not afford the time to develop it fully.

A single sheet of folded aluminum cut from a flat pattern and treated with a special soft-touch paint gives shape to Part, a set of three nesting or stackable occasional tables. Part comes in three sizes and two sets of colors, one varying from white to grey to black, the other in orange, red and yellow. Part is Stephen's first product for B&B Italia and is sold as part of the new 2007 Object Collection.

Line is a collection of 12 bathroom accessories in bent, satin finished, stainless steel. Various functions from towel rack to toilet paper holder to soap dish, etc. are defined by the curve of the line. Solid surfaces are added to create shelves where necessary Line is Stephen's first product for Boffi.

An extension to the successful floor standing shelving system debuted in 2006, Parallel wall shelving and desk are lacquered mdf with ingral hinges. Each cnc contoured shelf sits snugly in the profiled uprights offering a simple and sesthetically light presence.

"& Fork" represents the best in international product design with the most comprehensive selection of 100 important young product designers working today selected by 10 key figures from the design world. Tom Dixon introduces Stephen's work on page 74.

Beginning from flat patterns cut from paper sheets, Stephen and his studio transformed colored foam core into structurally supportive forms. The resulting tables, chairs and stools were then coated in a uv protective coating with woven glass fiber added for strength making them suitable for indoor or outdoor use. Handmade was presented during the ICFF in collaboration with 23 Suite Studio.

Hot Properties. Shimmering copper, graphic wood grain, cool marble. This season it's all on the surface. Part occasional tables for B&B Italia by Stephen Burks. Pg. 148

From November 25, 2007 - January 13, 2008, Vivid Gallery in Rotterdam hosted the first solo exhibition of Artecnica's Design With Conscience collection featuring the work of Tord Boontje & Emma Woffenden, Stephen Burks, Fernando & Humberto Campana and Hella Jongerius.

CK IN2U is the first CK fragrance since the globally successful CK One. The assignment to package the new men´s and women´s fragrance for the millenial generation is fulfilled in the form of an iconic bottle shape that combines traditional glass with an innovative injection molded plastic skin cut-thru with the brand´s logo. When it launched in the spring of 2007, CK IN2U was the number one fragrance in Europe and the factory produced one million bottles per month.

CK In2u featured in the New York Times, Thursday Styles, How To Bottle A Generation, March 8, 2007, as the first fragrance for the techno-sexual generation. "A sequal to CK One for a new generation, the so-called millineals"

Originally designed as limited edition holiday packaging for the more accessible Missoni Acqua fragrance, this handmade fringe 'dressing' of the bottle was so successful as an extension of the Missoni brand vocabulary that it is now available year round.

Stephen Burks & B&B Italia Part occasional tables featured in Wallpaper, Next Generation issue. "While the incomplete Howick Place sprang the odd leak, U.S. designer Burks' career seems watertight." Stephen Burks portrait by Dana Lixenberg, pg. 120, 123, 130, January, 2008

In February 2008, the Stockholm Furniture Fair invited Stephen to exhibit his craft-based projects from around the world in the entrance hall of the fair opposite Giulio Cappellini, the fair's guest of honor. Stephen chose pieces from Peru and South Africa, as well as his Missoni Patchwork vases and his new customized David Design Light Frames, as well as the Domestic Recycling workshop from Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design. Special thanks to Charlotte Wiking, Jonathan Olivares, Ewa Kumlin, Artecnica, Peter Andersson and all of the students from Konstfack!

Stephen Burks & Cappellini Love prototype tables featured in Suddeutsche Zeitung Magazine, Das Design Special, Woran Arbeiten Sie Gerade?, pg. 18 & 19, April 11, 2008

The Pleats sofa was designed from the fabric up in response to the sensation of the surface of the sofa. Stephen was interested in bringing attention to what people would feel when they sat on the sofa. Artisanal kilt makers in the U.K. were sourced to develop the innovative hand-pleated fabric.

As a consultant to Aid To Artisans, in collaboration with Artecnica Inc.s Design With Conscience project, Stephen & Enrico Bressan (CEO of Artecnica) created a new model for product development in the developing world that combines artisans, designers and distributors.

In Summer of 2005, Stephen & his former assistant Jonathan Olivares travelled to South Africa for the first time to work with local artisans as consultants to Aid To Artisans. In a collaboration with Mandela Mosaics, they developed a proprietary 'reverse slip-casting' technique of hand applying silicone and recycled glass tiles over existing forms to create new objects.

The Cappellini Love collection is Cappellini's new eco-conscious label created by Giulio Cappellini in collaboration with Stephen Burks. The first products include these silicone and mosaic tile bowls handmade using a proprietary process developed by Stephen in a ladies community center in South Africa in the same township of Nelson Mandela's birth.

In the February of 2008, Stephen developed two prototypes that were shown at the Craft Cafe installation in Stockholm during the furniture fair made from shredded recycled magazines. Giulio Cappellini saw those pieces and commissioned Readymade Projects to develop the Cappellini Love tables.

The Cappellini Love collection is Cappellini's new eco-conscious label created by Giulio Cappellini in collaboration with Stephen Burks. The first products include these silicone and mosaic tile vases handmade using a proprietary process developed by Stephen in a ladies community center in South Africa in the same township of Nelson Mandela's birth.

The Cappellini Love collection is Cappellini's new eco-conscious label created by Giulio Cappellini in collaboration with Stephen Burks. The first products include these tables made from shredded recycled magazines and a non-toxic hardener. Like papier mache, the technique of layering the paper strips by hand allows great variation in density, color and pattern. The production of the tables will be outsourced to artisan groups in South Africa.

From the chapter Fragiles In Transition: "More often than not, these conceptual pieces betray their origin as flea market finds, soup-bowl lamps, and tea cup nightlights, or hide their (dis)similarities under seminal knits (Stephen Burks' Missoni Vases). One of America's foremost industrial designers, Stephen Burks and his New York studio Readymade Projects not only give shape to the vision of international style, furniture, and fashion brands, but also pursue the concept of reuse and recycling, as can be seen in his Missoni patchwork vases."

The Cappellini Love collection is Cappellini's new eco-conscious label created by Giulio Cappellini in collaboration with Stephen Burks. The first products include these tables made from shredded recycled magazines and a non-toxic hardener. Like papier mache, the technique of layering the paper strips by hand allows great variation in density, color and pattern. The production of the tables will be outsourced to artisan groups in South Africa.

Window Feats. Stephen Burks Looking At Tod’s commissioned window display concept, Horizon, as seen in Wallpaper* issue 112, “Designers In The Frame, The international talent creating Tod’s windows for the remainder of 2008. Featured among the world’s most wanted young designers in our Next Generation issue earlier this year (W*106), Burks, already prominent in the US, has been busy making 2008 his year for world domination..”, pgs. 39 & 40. Also of note is the Cappellini Love inspired cover ; )

As part of the Looking At Tod's project initiated by Giulio Cappellini and Diego della Valle, Stephen was chosen as one of six Cappellini designers to create a unique window display concept to be installed in all 20 Tod's flagship stores around the world this summer. Stephen's Horizon installations attempt to allow passersby to not only focus on the product in the window, but also see into the store beyond. Horizon will be on display with the Tod's Fall/Winter 2008 collection from summer thru fall.

As part of the Looking At Tod's project initiated by Giulio Cappellini and Diego della Valle, Stephen was chosen as one of six Cappellini designers to create a unique window display concept to be installed in all 20 Tod's flagship stores around the world this summer. Stephen's Horizon installations attempt to allow passersby to not only focus on the product in the window, but also see into the store beyond. Horizon will be on display with the Tod's Fall/Winter 2008 collection from summer thru fall.

For its 54th annual international design review, I.D. magazine once again asked Stephen to be one of its jurors. This time Stephen juried the packaging category with Paulina Reyes and Kevin Smith, with Greg Lindsay as moderator. "The packages that either became a product or embodied a product were the ones that we felt strongest about," said Burks.

While speaking at a design conference in New York, Stephen was approached by a young entrepreneur from India. The two created a new company together around the idea of producing a collection of hand made artisanal textiles for the home made entirely of silk. In March 2008, Stephen traveled to India and worked with artisans to design and develop the collection. The new brand Rajboori will be presented to the international market in New York in January 2009.