This week, Item:Enso opens an installation at Colbo as part of NYCxDesign — an arrangement of lights, tables, and objects that speak in texture rather than volume. The collection is called SOFT GROUNDS, and on Saturday, May 17th, we’ll host a gathering in its honor.

Founded by Yuria Kailich and Joel Harding, Item:Enso is a Brooklyn-based studio deeply rooted in process and built slowly, piece by piece. Yuria and Joel share our passion for crafting every piece by hand here in New York with a focus on reclaimed materials - guided in their case by the feel of clay, slate, or steel in its raw form. 

Item:Enso was instrumental in our store’s pre-spring refresh (along with Sophie Randall of Fox Object) so their presence is familiar, and from May 15-21, their work takes center stage with an installation at 51 Orchard St.

Earlier this month, we spoke with Yuria and Joel about warped clay, nostalgic fabrics, and the simple joy of designing a really good trash can.

Tell us a bit about your latest collection. How does collection number two expand on your practice to date?

It’s been a whirlwind building Item: Enso! We met while working at LP Creative, a boutique interior design studio just down the street from here on Broome. In fact, our first collection debuted at Galerie Was, where we were piecing together small objects in our spare time—working nights and weekends outside of our full-time design jobs.

Those early pieces came from gaps we noticed in our interior work. Little objects that could transform a forgotten corner, or bring texture and feeling to a blank wall—like a metal candle holder cradling a found rock. The first collection focused on smaller sculptural pieces: candlesticks, incense holders, vases—made from ceramic, metal, and found natural materials like stones and wood.

For this second collection, we wanted to expand the scale and bring our ethos to pieces that live in the center of a room—table lamps, side tables, an ottoman. The first body of work was more about objects that float—things that hang from the wall or ceiling. This time, we were drawn to freestanding forms—things you can move, touch, live with.

We also introduced new materials: wood, slate, and fabric. Having worked in interiors for so long, we’ve built a close-knit community of vendors and makers—many of whom are now close friends—who’ve helped us shape this new direction. And Joel is truly a jack of all trades: sewing the Loquat Pendant and Fig Ottoman himself, using recycled fabrics that continue our ethos of giving new life to existing things.

That idea—that materials can be reformed and given a second life—is part of why we love working with clay. It can be reworked endlessly, reshaped again and again. In many ways, this new collection has been just that for us: a leap of faith, a total transformation. We both left our full-time jobs to give Item: Enso our all—and this body of work is the first full expression of that commitment.

You two often describe your work as "unpolished," and one of the wonderful results of that seems to be that the materials you work with are always fully visible; their origins and construction aren't hidden in the end result. Is that something that came to define the practice naturally, or was there a turning point where that became essential?

This was actually a fairly deliberate choice from the beginning of our practice. While we don’t identify as modernists in the strict sense, there’s a philosophy we share: a belief in letting materials speak for themselves. We’ve always been drawn to the raw, honest beauty of a material in its natural state—and we try to work with it, rather than against it.

There was definitely an “aha” moment early on. We were experimenting with how to mount one of our first pieces and ended up screwing a ceramic fastener into a raw steel plate. The contrast between the cold, industrial metal and the warmth of the hand-shaped clay just clicked. That pairing—hard and soft, rough and refined—felt like a direction worth following.

We’ve also learned to embrace what might feel like mistakes to others. Potters often say that “clay remembers”—a bit like the body. It holds onto every touch, every movement. Even when you think you've shaped it perfectly, it shifts in the firing process, returning to something more organic, more true to itself. There’s always warping, and we’ve come to love that.

Neither of us were trained in ceramics or metalwork—we’re self-taught. And that human hand, that lack of perfection, is central to what we do. We want the construction to be visible, the material’s origin to be felt.

We’re just finishing up a trash can for a group show in June—which has actually been a surprisingly joyful design challenge. Beyond that, we’ve been dreaming about designing a broom and dustpan, and honestly... a toilet brush. It’s something we’ve been trying to find a good version of for a while, and they’re all just so perfunctory. Why shouldn’t something so utilitarian also be beautiful?

We also have piles of sketches for bathroom hardware—robe hooks, cabinet knobs, towel bars. All these quiet little objects that are part of daily life, but rarely get thoughtful design attention. That’s the space we love inhabiting: elevating the mundane. There’s so much left to explore.

That said, we’re moving slowly and intentionally—production is expensive, and we’re still a small studio. But allergy season did just inspire us to start prototyping a tissue box cover, so who knows what's next.
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Absolutely. The relationship between old and new is something we think about constantly—it's woven into both our materials and our philosophy. We’ve used vintage fabrics and reclaimed wood in a number of our pieces. The Fig Ottoman currently on display at Colbo, for example, features a cushion made from vintage Japanese kimono silk. And the steel we use is intentionally left to patina, showing its age and wear—creating a beautiful tension when placed next to newly crafted wood or ceramic forms.

That juxtaposition is central to our ethos. It comes from our background in interior design, where blending eras and textures is second nature. We’re both incredibly nostalgic—drawn to past design movements and architectural histories—and those influences show up in the medieval, brutalist sensibilities that quietly shape our work. Our goal is to create objects that feel timeless but still undeniably of this moment.

Colbo has long embodied that balance so beautifully, which is why it felt like a natural fit for our Design Week event. The way you merge vintage and contemporary with such care, while cultivating a community that feels both fresh and rooted, is something we deeply admire. We’ve spent many afternoons in the shop over the years, drawn in by the collaborations, the energy, the people. It’s the kind of space we aspire to create with Item: Enso.
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Our favorite piece from this collection is the Carambola Table Lamp. We love the linked ceramic tiles and the way light filters through the spaces between them—it creates this soft, patterned glow that feels both structured and ethereal.

The inspiration came from a photograph we’ve obsessed over for years: a Paco Rabanne bedroom with a linked metal coverlet. We kept coming back to the idea of linking elements together, and eventually asked ourselves—how can we reinterpret that through the lens of Enso?

So much of our practice comes from this place: making pieces we wish existed, or wish we could afford, but couldn’t find. That’s how our partnership started, really—designing for ourselves first. The Carambola Table Lamp is a perfect example of that impulse. It’s a tribute to a shared reference point, reimagined in our Enso materials and language.

But yes - we do love all our children equally! 

SOFT GROUNDS will be on view at Colbo from May 15–21 as part of NYCxDesign, with works by Item:Enso thoughtfully integrated throughout the shop. We’ll celebrate the installation on Saturday, May 17, with food by Alimentari Flâneur, sake by Sake Bar Asoko, and music on vinyl from Theodore Jahng.

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