The Design World, Cubed: An Interview with Rarify's David Rosenwasser and Jeremy Bilotti
Their latest adventure? Cube One™, an original product in partnership with Gantri — launching this Saturday, 5/17 in New York with a special event curated by Studio Guapo.
By David Eardley
You may know them from their educational design videos on social media, maybe you've seen their contributions to the hit Apple TV show Severance; up until now, Rarify has been known as a curated yet down-to-earth, designer-led platform for collectible vintage and contemporary furniture—a breath of fresh air in the detached culture of the design world.
For the most part, their work has largely been focused on other people's work, whether through shortform content or sales, so when I heard that they were releasing their first original product, I was curious to see whether this would mark a more mainstream rebrand, or if they would actually be able to create something that somehow bridged the world of emerging design and their stake hold in iconic vintage resale.
The product is called Cube One™—a modular table lamp created in collaboration with Gantri, the California-based lighting manufacturer known for their accessible, 3D-printed designs. It’s built from a combination of new and vintage USM Haller parts (those super collectible, endlessly modular Swiss design components) and a custom biodegradable insert made by Gantri. The result is something that feels both retro and futuristic, super adaptable, and honestly, just really fun to live with.
I met with Rarify's founders David Rosenwasser and Jeremy Bilotti ahead of the launch to talk about how the piece came together and why now felt like the right time to make the leap from curation to creation. We got into all of it—greenwashing, obsessing over USM, and what it means to design something that’s actually built to last. This point in Rarify's story feels like a creative coming-of-age moment: a little scrappy, a little surprising, and full of care and growth—and something altogether Rarify.
Cube One™ officially debuts May 17, 6–9pm at 46 Hester Street, with a launch event curated by Studio Guapo. If you’re in town for NYCxDESIGN, stop by to experience it firsthand. Limited pre-orders will be available in-person for a lucky few - RSVP here to attend.
It's great to connect with you guys. I was just telling Matt (Studio Guapo) that I saw the feature (I forget which publication ran it) on you guys and the pieces you provided for Severance, and I was flipping the fuck out because I'm such a huge Severance fan.
DR: Yeah, thanks. Yeah, it was funny—we worked on it for almost three years, since 2022. And season two was, I don’t know... to some degree, it was even more of a design challenge than season one, especially from a curation perspective. But it was very cool to forget about the stuff we’d worked on with them for a while—and then suddenly see the crib in Cold Harbor!
So cool. A very special opportunity.
I want to start by asking how you feel about releasing your first product that’s an original concept.
JB: I feel great. I’m really excited and thrilled to be doing this—because David and I weren’t even planning to release a Rarify-designed product–or an original product at all–this year. But we ended up having this opportunity fall into our laps, almost by accident. And this was always something we wanted to do. We’ve always wanted to produce our own furniture and lighting design work.
Our ethos has always been: remain independent, build the business from the ground up, don’t take venture capital. So we have been sort of holding back, waiting for the business to grow to a point where we could afford to invest in our own product development.
The opportunity to create this piece was very serendipitous. We were able to work with Gantri, using new technology that made it possible to develop a product with relatively low upfront costs—which is amazing for independent designers and companies like us.
DR: Yeah, I’m excited too. But I’d also say I’m feeling nervous—and kind of humbled.
Like JB said, when we started the company in 2021, we had a lot of deep, soul-searching conversations. We were entering into this sort of business marriage, and taking a lot of financial and career sacrifices to build something we believed in.
We made a conscious decision not to take outside investment—even when it was offered—so that we could retain creative freedom. If we wanted to focus on education and push the design ethos we believed in, we didn’t want to have someone else breathing down our necks.
And the reason I feel nervous now is because this is happening years earlier than we thought it would. We didn’t expect to be able to release a Rarify-branded product for a long time.
We also both agreed early on that we were okay setting aside ego. We both were lucky enough to go to “fancy” architecture schools and the traditional path would have been to work for a prestigious architecture firm and pat ourselves on the back. That’s great for some, but we chose to start our own company, make Instagram videos about Eames chairs, and educate people about other designers, rather than focusing on developing our own product design work until now.
Even in our dream scenarios of running a business that made enough extra to fund product development, we always imagined that the products would highlight other designers—not ourselves. So yeah, it’s exciting that it’s happening, but also kind of surreal.
And as technology and design nerds, it’s pretty amazing that 3D printing helped us do this sooner than expected. So we can kind of thank the product development and innovation gods for making this possible at this particular moment in time.
It’s so fascinating, because I don’t know if anyone could’ve picked a better combo of brands than USM and Gantri for this product.
They both feel really representative of the design spirit you espouse with Rarify. With USM, it’s all about timelessness—there’s a kind of no-frills quality, but not in the sense that things can’t be decorative. More that furniture should feel relatable and important in our everyday lives. USM really centers that.
And then Gantri, to me, represents the future of design—the kind of future I like. It’s sustainable, more financially accessible, and it uplifts emerging designers. That’s also something USM has leaned into—my good friend Holly Rollins, a designer in London, recently did a project with USM where she built a lamp into a seating unit, using their system.
But yeah, this combo feels like a match made in heaven. I’d love to hear what you both see in these two brands. What is it about them that speaks to you? I know Matt mentioned that USM doesn’t usually officially put their name on things, but in incorporating them into this piece, what did they represent to you?
JB: I think you nailed it. For our debut product, we wanted to encapsulate what Rarify is all about—and part of that is honoring certain dualities.
Like you mentioned, there’s the past and the future. With our curation, we carry everything from 20th-century design to contemporary work. We wanted this one product to reflect that spectrum.
USM is a design icon with roots in modernism and Bauhaus architecture—very much aligned with the way we were educated as designers. We relate to it deeply.
And then Gantri really represents the future for us. They create sustainable, biodegradable products that are low-impact but still high-quality and beautifully designed. Plus, they engage with a new generation of designers.
Bringing those two together shows that these aren’t opposing forces. They’re part of a continuum—and that’s what we’ve always tried to communicate with Rarify. That’s what we’re trying to do with this product too.
Also, one of the coolest things about USM is its modularity. That system has had incredible longevity, especially in the U.S., because it’s so adaptable. Designers and customers can really engage with it—they can participate in the design of their own USM setups in a way most brands don’t allow.
So we’re saying: this lamp isn’t just a one-off product—it’s part of a larger system. It’s something you can build on, customize, adapt. And that idea is baked into the DNA of both brands—and ours too.
DR: And we try to live what we preach. Right now, I’m speaking to you from a big yellow USM desk that wraps around the room. It’s custom-fit to account for a window on one side and an old chimney on the other.
What’s exciting to us is finding ways to create products that have cultural resonance—but not in a purely formalist way.
This lamp is something we’d want to live with ourselves. It fits into our existing USM systems—and yes, we’re USM addicts.
Also, something I find interesting is how Gantri is sometimes overlooked by design snobs. It doesn’t yet have the same collectible cachet as something like USM. The designers who’ve worked with them—aside from Karim Rashid and a few others—aren’t necessarily showing up at auction houses yet.
That might change, but in the meantime, we’re excited to associate Gantri with something like USM, which is seen as more highbrow. We want to bring both into the same conversation.
And by doing that, we’re making USM more accessible too. Not everyone can afford a full credenza, but they might be able to afford a lamp cube—and then build onto it over time.
This lamp becomes a way in for people. And hopefully, it also gets Gantri more visibility in a context that signals longevity and value.
Well said. Thank you both.
It really comes down to curation. You’re curating a blend between USM and Gantri—two worlds that feel distinct, but also deeply connected. And that’s at the heart of what Rarify does: curating an intentional, well-thought-out collection of vintage and iconic pieces.
Even though this is a product, it still reflects your curatorial sensibility. So I’m curious—can you walk me through the development process? And also, were there any particular challenges—design-wise or otherwise—that you had to overcome?
JB: Overall, we tried to keep the design process relatively simple, especially because the timeline was tight.
The only way it was going to work was by keeping the steps clear and manageable. We were working with the USM system, so we started by drawing on our knowledge of all the different tube lengths and components.
We decided to build the core module as a cube—175 millimeters, roughly seven inches. There are different USM tube lengths—seven-inch, ten-inch, fourteen-inch—and some are more common than others. So there were nuances to consider, like availability, part cost, and how accessible we could make the final product to consumers.
We had to think about how easily we could source parts from Switzerland or the U.S., what we already had in vintage stock, and how easy it would be to assemble for sale.
The second part was designing the lamp insert. That was the fun part—we got to collaborate with Gantri, and they were fantastic to work with.
Both USM and Gantri have been dream partners. USM’s North America team has always supported our creative projects, and Gantri is super forward-thinking and tech-forward. Their facilities are near San Francisco, so we could pass digital 3D models back and forth over email and get physical prototypes printed really quickly.
The key element of the lamp design (the 3D-printed insert) doesn’t connect mechanically to the USM system. It’s just held in place by a USM “cage”. So none of the USM components are altered or damaged—they remain completely intact. That means they can be taken apart and reused later, and the insert itself is a single mono-material shell that can be discarded, recycled, or can biodegrade.So we were thinking through the full life cycle of the product from the beginning. After that, it was just a matter of iterating and refining the 3D models to land on the final design.
I think a lot about greenwashing. It’s this ever-present buzzword in design—and has been for a while. Back when I was in undergrad, I minored in what was then called “Interdisciplinary Sustainability Studies”. That was the first time I heard the word “greenwashing”, and it’s wild how much harder it’s gotten to identify what’s truly sustainable.
Part of it is the rise of emerging technologies. For most people, the language around these materials isn’t always clear. And so it becomes difficult—even for people who care—to know what’s genuinely sustainable and what’s just good marketing.
What’s exciting about your lamp is that it isn’t just sustainable by happenstance. It’s deliberately, materially sustainable. It’s not just that one part can be recycled—it’s that another part retains its value. That feels meaningful.
To me, that’s also the logic behind investing in vintage furniture. It’s not just nostalgia. It’s about value—buying something that holds up over time, maybe even appreciates.
Would you say that was a guiding idea from the start?
DR: Yeah—I love that you brought that up. I think what you’re touching on is something that, at least in my soul, feels spiritual.
It’s what we believe in. It goes back to what I’d call an Eamesian view of sustainability—before the term “sustainability” was even a thing.
I think the Eames quote is: “way-it-should-be-ness.” Charles and Ray Eames designed furniture that was affordable for post-war American families—but also durable, meant to last a lifetime. Even something like a fiberglass shell chair was intended to be passed down.
I think that principle really shaped our thinking. We engage with the full life cycle of design every day—as vintage dealers, collectors, restorers. Not just because it’s good business, but because we’re passionate about it.
JB: David hit the nail on the head.
I’ll add something that came up for me a couple of years ago. I had the opportunity to teach a course at MIT with Skylar Tibbits, who runs the Self-Assembly Lab, and with Emeco, the furniture company based out of Pennsylvania.
It was a product design course—focused specifically on furniture. Jaye Buchbinder, who co-taught the class with me, brought in her father, Gregg Buchbinder (he’s the owner and chairperson of Emeco), for the final reviews. It was an amazing experience. I’m still so grateful for it—and for the chance to work with such smart, thoughtful students.
The theme of the class was the future of furniture design. And the students—who were undergrads and grad students—were thinking a lot about the same questions you just raised: What does sustainability actually mean? How do I create physical products responsibly? What does it mean to put more physical stuff into the world—and how do I do it with intention?
By the end of the course, three core themes kept rising to the top. Most of the students gravitated toward one or more of them in their final work:
Longevity of materials
Adaptability of design
New and bio-based materials
So when David and I were designing this lamp, we really tried to incorporate all three.
Longevity is baked into the USM system. It’s been around for decades—and it’s proven that it holds up. There’s no arguing with that track record.
Adaptability comes from the lamp’s modularity. This isn’t just a static object—it’s a system. It connects to the broader USM system, which is already modular, and it adapts to people’s lives as they change.
And then there’s the biomaterial element. The illuminated shell from Gantri could’ve been made from a bunch of different materials. We could’ve painted it, or used something more traditional.
But instead, we opted for the simplest possible version: a single, unpainted, 3D-printed biodegradable material. One mono-material. That way, it’s easy to remove and easy to dispose of—or recycle—responsibly.
So yeah, we didn’t sit down and say, “Let’s hit all three of these.” It just came naturally. These ideas are so deeply baked into what we’ve been doing for years—what we’ve learned from mentors, from the objects we admire, from the practices we believe in. It was just instinctual.
And I really hope that shows. We want to put something responsible into the world—not just more junk.