My passion for design and making has always centered around environmental sustainability, adaptive reuse, and upcycling. I am fascinated by creating value from waste and by telling the story of a material through design. My goal is to produce beautifully crafted objects with the hope that they are used daily, cherished, and passed on to the next generation.
As an environmentalist and a maker, I have struggled with the notion of trying to save the earth by making more things, especially at a time when we need to drastically reduce consumption and our carbon footprint—it’s often felt like a huge contradiction.
We are in a crisis. How do we make less, with great attention and mindfulness?
Let the Biochar revolution begin.
PRESS
ARD - German TV - Das Erste - Welt Spiegel - 2020 New York: Stadtflucht oder das neue Landleben
Washington Post - 2020 Welcome to Woodstock 2020: Peace, love . . . and urban exiles fighting over real estate
Design Milk - 2017 https://design-milk.com/where-i-work-bill-hilgendorf-and-jason-horvath-of-uhuru-design/
1 Hotels - 2017 The Art of Brooklyn: Meet Uhuru Design
New York Times - 2016 Local Designs, Served Fresh
T Magazine - 2016 A Side Table with Character
Sight Unseen - 2016 A Brooklyn Furniture Studio Goes Minimal in Geometric Steel
New York Magazine - 2015 How a Converted Brooklyn Factory Turned Into a Family Home
Inc. - 2015 The Design Firm That Ups Silicon Alley’s Coolness
Polynate - 2015 http://polynate.org/2015/04/uhuru-design/
HORORS/AWARDS
Smithsonian American Art Museum - Cyclone Lounge - Permanent Collection
Brooklyn Museum of Art - Standard Chair - Permanent Collection
The Columbus Museum - Bilge Lounge - Permanent Collection
NYCXDESIGN AWARDS - May 1, 2019 - Finalist in the Outdoor Seating category for Tube Collection.
EXHIBITIONS
Milwaukee Art Museum - Green Furniture Design - November 12, 2009 - March 14, 2010
Brooklyn Museum of Art - Thinking Big: Recent Design Acquisitions - March 4, 2011- May 29 2011
Smithsonian American Museum of Art - Renwick Gallery 40 under 40: Craft Futures - July 19, 2012 - Febuary 3, 2013
The Columbus Museum Please have a seat: A Survey of American Chairs, 1820-2020 -September 14, 2019 - March 29, 2020
Architecture and Design Museum, Los Angeles, CA - Steven Kanner, FAIA: A Retrospective Exhibition - - November 2010
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York, NY - Design for a Living World: In collaboration with Maya Lin May 14, 2009 - January 4 2010
RISD
BIO
Bill Hilgendorf grew up in Boston MA, but fell in love with furniture design and interiors while living in Stockholm, Sweden, in search of his roots. After graduating from Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in industrial design he moved to Brooklyn and co-founded the multi-disciplinary firm Uhuru in 2003. For almost two decades Bill has employed design to tell the story of discarded objects and underutilized materials. In 2016 Bill co-founded Wilderkill a family retreat in the Catskill mountains as a place for small groups and families to connect with nature and learn more about their environmental impact. After at trip to Gothenburg to study innovation in sustainability, Bill stepped back from day to day operations at uhuru in 2020 to focus his energy more directly on the climate crisis. With a growing obsession with Biochar, he co-founded Eldr Six as a launchpad dedicated to developing and showcasing upcycled carbon negative materials and products. With the singular focus on localized material innovation around Biochar he is working on the next generation of carbon sequestration and net-zero products. Currently Bill lives and works in between Brooklyn and the Catskills with his wife and fellow designer Maria Cristina and their two children.