Header: Courtesy of Josh Owen
There are just a few more days left to visit the ongoing exhibition Unboxed: the topography of Josh Owen, which remains open until 20 September 2026. Bringing together instructional, utilitarian objects that outline the work and observations of the designer, educator, and author, the show offers a complete look at his creative history. Following its run at RIT City Art Space, the exhibition will travel early in 2027 to San Francisco as the inaugural show for Limn’s new 5,000 square foot showroom at 501 3rd Street in the South Beach design corridor.
The remaining schedule includes a free gallery walk and talk with Josh Owen on Saturday, 19 September, at 6:00 pm.
The designer behind the work
Born in the United States in 1970, Josh Owen is a designer, educator, and author. He holds a BFA in Sculpture and a BA in Visual Studies from Cornell University, alongside an MFA in Furniture Design from the Rhode Island School of Design, having also studied at Tel Aviv University and Cornell University’s program in Rome. Today, he lives and operates his studio practice, Josh Owen LLC, in a small village a few miles down the Erie Canal from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). At RIT, Owen serves as the Vignelli Distinguished Professor of Design and Director of the Vignelli Center for Design Studies, having previously served as Director of the Industrial Design Department, where he continues to teach his Metaproject course. His commercial projects are produced by major manufacturers and have won many awards. Works by Owen are held in permanent collections worldwide, including the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Chicago Athenaeum, the Red Dot Design Museum, the Design Museum Brussels, the Corning Museum of Glass, the Denver Art Museum, the Museum of American Jewish History, the Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal, and the Taiwan Design Museum. He is also the author of Lenses for Design.
A landscape built from modular boxes
The inaugural edition of the show, titled JO.55, is a modular, travelling installation project created in collaboration with Canadian architect and artist RZLBD (Reza Aliabadi, Toronto) and ARBR Studios (Rochester, NY). The project uses excavation as its main metaphor, laying out 55 modular plywood boxes across the gallery floor to form a topographical landscape. The number 55 represents one box for each year of Owen’s life, allowing the installation to act as an evolving snapshot of his career. These wooden units serve a double purpose as both display boxes and shipping crates, which lets the display adapt to different venues.
Organised through colour and meaning
To structure the display, the items inside the boxes are divided into three clear categories using colour-coded trays: white for Professional work, black for Pedagogical projects, and red for Phenomenological items. Instead of hanging individual items separately on walls, the objects are gathered together on the floor in a single collective layout. This setup highlights how life and work connect, showing design as a lens to explore physical and emotional experiences. As RZLBD notes:
“At its core, the installation explores excavation—not only as a physical process but as an intellectual and emotional search for the roots of creativity.”
