RDC/AAL’s design of the inaugural edition of Object & Thing, founded by Abby Bangser, represented a thoroughgoing reimagination of the traditional art and design fair. The design dispensed with the conventional infrastructure of such fairs wholesale: booths, etc., were altogether absent. Instead, the over 200 objects on display were placed together in a unified environment spanning the historic, 5,000-square-foot space of 99 Scott, a converted warehouse in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Furniture custom-designed by RDC/AAL was used for display throughout (complemented by pieces by Green River Project and food installation artist Laila Gohar). RDC/AAL’s furniture designs incorporated environmentally friendly materials — untreated plywood, cardboard sonotubes, and no fasteners — and simple modular forms enabling future reconfiguration and reuse. In another starkly unconventional gesture, the exhibition was exclusively naturally lit, which not only sumptuously enriched the experience by giving center stage to the play of sunlight, but minimized the fair’s carbon footprint. Crucially, RDC/AAL’s presentation eliminated any hierarchical distinction between art and design. The fair was organized around naturally occurring dialogues between the objects on display, and in order to present them as they might be found within a domestic setting. The result was a fair of atypical and stimulating intimacies: between art and design, and between audience and objects.