Fourth Street

Rukaiya Daud started Fourth Street out of a lifelong interest in universal forms and the objects she picked up while living in New York, before the brand grew into small-batch pieces made with artisans in places including India and New Zealand. The recurring Egg is the clearest sign of that interest, showing up here in obsidian, aventurine, quartz and lapis lazuli, plus versions in brass and limestone. Each material changes the weight and the read of the same basic shape, which is the point.

The point is not to fill every surface, but to give a console, desk or bedside table one object with enough shape to hold its own. The Tear wood vide poche and the Heart silver-tone paperweight work the same way in a different register, less about the egg motif and more about a single strange outline sitting where you would expect something plainer. The Ripple wood catchall and Puddle steel catchall bring the same instinct to something you can actually use for keys or change.

Daud's brand began with objects discovered on her travels and now makes its own pieces in small batches, and the candleholders are where that instinct meets actual use. The Spiral silver-tone candleholder and the Drip set of nine gold-tone candleholders both turn a simple function into a shape worth looking at even before it is lit. The Leaf set of five brass candleholders spreads the same idea across a row rather than one object. A canvas, wood and metal backgammon set and the Dancing Duo iron candlesticks pull the collection back toward things you actually handle, which keeps the more sculptural pieces, like the Egg brass and Egg limestone ornaments, from feeling like gallery props once they are in a room.

Fourth Street works best when you resist the urge to make a matching set out of everything on a shelf. The Egg sculptures vary enormously by material and price, from the Egg aventurine or Egg obsidian paperweight at $200 up to the Egg quartz paperweight at $1,620, so there is real range depending on how much presence you want in one object. Skip buying multiples of the same egg just to fill a tray. Pick one sculptural piece for stillness or one candleholder for atmosphere, then leave the rest of the surface quiet. Buy the piece that changes the room from the corner of your eye, not the one that simply matches the coffee table.