On June 27, 2026, Around Gallery presented Around Brooklyn, a seasonal pop-up exhibition held at St. Lydia’s (304 Bond Street) in Brooklyn, New York. Centered on independent creative practice, the exhibition brought together graphic designers, product designers, illustrators, and multidisciplinary creatives whose personal artistic work extends beyond their full-time professional careers. Through prints, textiles, ceramics, jewelry, and other handmade objects, the exhibition highlighted the diverse ways contemporary designers continue to develop independent creative practices outside of commercial commissions.
Among the featured participants was Brooklyn-based graphic designer and art director Zitong Zhao, who presented a collection of original graphic prints alongside handmade knitted hats, crochet coasters, and handcrafted silver rings. The exhibition reflected Zhao’s multidisciplinary approach, combining graphic design with textile and object-making to explore how visual language can exist across both printed and functional forms.
Founded in Singapore, Around Gallery is an artist-run gallery that organizes seasonal exhibitions connecting emerging and established creatives across different disciplines. While the gallery has traditionally focused on printmaking, its Brooklyn edition expanded the conversation by presenting graphic works alongside handcrafted objects, creating a broader dialogue between contemporary design, craft, and everyday materials.
Known professionally for her work with companies including Apple, Robinhood, Nike, Microsoft, Wieden+Kennedy, Gretel, Koto, JKR New York, and &Walsh, Zhao’s commercial practice centers on visual identity, brand systems, and art direction. Her independent work, however, draws from daily observations made throughout Brooklyn, where photographs of overlooked plants, streetscapes, and ordinary moments become the starting point for personal creative exploration. These observations are translated into graphic compositions as well as handcrafted objects produced through knitting, crochet, and jewelry making.
At Around Brooklyn, Zhao presented these different forms together as a single body of work, demonstrating how graphic design can extend beyond two-dimensional communication into tactile, functional objects. Rather than separating commercial design from personal artistic practice, the exhibition illustrated how both inform one another through a shared interest in composition, material, and visual storytelling.
The exhibition also emphasized direct engagement between artists and visitors. All works were available for purchase, allowing audiences to collect pieces that move beyond the gallery setting into everyday life. Zhao’s prints, wearable textiles, and handmade objects reflected the exhibition’s broader theme of independent creative practice while offering visitors multiple ways to experience contemporary graphic design through both visual and physical forms.
By presenting this self-produced collection in Brooklyn, the city where she lives and works, Zhao reinforced the connection between her local environment and her multidisciplinary creative practice. Her participation in Around Brooklyn demonstrated how contemporary graphic designers increasingly expand their practices beyond commercial work, using independent exhibitions to explore new materials, processes, and forms of artistic expression.
