Born Design was launched during the ICFF in New York City. The event was held at 50 Murray Street with an on site design exhibition introducing their major project to date, the Slimmy Chair. The founding partners of Born Design, Catherine Debackere and Frederic Debackere have come together to collaborate and present a complimentary source of inspiration. As a team, they combine design and art-related interests. Born Design hopes to create work that provokes optimism, beauty, and aesthetic appreciation. Frederic Debackere, was born in Gravelines near Dunkerque, France. He studied first at the School of Applied Art at the age of 17 in Roubaix and continued to the School of Art Decoratives in Strasbourg, France focusing on industrial design. He was chosen by Gaetano Pesce to develop his Open Sky and Fish Design resin line of objects in New York City (furniture, lamps, vases.). He also works with the artist, Dennis Oppenheim, to develop Public Art Commissions through scaled models by hand and with computer rendering. Since, that time Frederic has continued to design his own line of furniture, lamps, and home objects. A most recent project includes The Wave shelf design, created for The Greenporter Hotel and Spa in Greenport, Long Island, NY. Catherine Debackere has been an independent art curator and private art dealer in New York City since 1993. Her art background includes the launch of The Smithsonian's Native American Indian Museum in New York City. Her recent exhibitions have featured the work of Terry Haggerty, Lin-i Liu, John Newsom, Nancy Davidson, Richard Dupont, Seth McBride, Nicholas Papadakis, and Frederic Debackere. The Born Design event was mentioned in Wallpaper Magazine as one of the best things to see during ICFF, and they coined Slimmy as "the world's slimmest chair". Frederic Debackere, Born Design, and Slimmy were featured in the September issue of Flaunt Magazine and the Fall issue of Citizen K.