We interviewed the founder of Model Citizens last year, when the show was it its infancy. Even in its first year, in a basement gallery near the Javitz center, it was an extraordinary success, showcasing work from young designers.

This year, Model Citizens has grown tremendously. In a huge gallery, gleaming white walls and natural light, many young designers showed the freshest design work I’ve seen in a while. Here’s a breakdown of our favorites.

The Model Citizen
How cute are these Model Citizen dolls?

B.Light Design
All of Ben Light’s pieces have so much personality.
See more of his work at blightdesign.com

BangBang
BangBang launched their first collection, ‘Domestic Weaponry,’ at Model Citizens.
More at lovebangbang.com

Michiel Cornelissen
Michiel Cornelissen is a Dutch designer – we particularly loved his jewelry. At just $15 (!) his Happy Bird pendants are a total steal.

Niels Cosman
Niels is a Brooklyn-based designer who does very interesting things with glass and wood. More at nielscosman.com

Directives
Carla Diana is a senior designer at Smart Design, who debuted her “Directives” line of furniture at Model Citizens. More at carladiana.com

Future Retrieval
I’m not at all sure what’s going on here, but I like it. Also, their website doesn’t appear to work, adding to the mystery.

Lara Knutson
Reflective necklaces from Lara Knutson. I will always be sucker for shiny things. More at laraknutson.com

Catherine Merrick
Catherine designed these uber-fun bent-glass-tube candleholders.

Brendan Ravenhill
Brendan showed these fun bent-metal pendant lights.
More at brendanravenhill.com

Lauren Vanessa Tickle
Necklaces made from finely-cut dollar bills. An unabashed flaunting of wealth. We like it. More at laurentickle.com. (Also, how great is Tickle as a last name?!)