Ombre translucent curtains, alien-like ceramics and a merry-go-round dining table are among US editor Dan Howarth's picks from the Collective Design fair currently open in New York.

Opening to the public today, this year's edition of the annual fair is taking place two months early – moving from May to coincide with the city's Armory art week.

The showcase has also relocated to a new space upstairs in the Skylight Clarkson Square exhibition complex, where galleries, designers and artists are displaying work in booths or as freestanding installations.

Trends we spotted at the fair included a plethora of deep, rich hues used for furniture and upholstery – a move away from recently popular pastel tones like millennial pink – and gradient colour patterns on fabrics and ceramics.

Collective Design runs from 9 to 11 March 2018. See our highlights below:

Harry Nuriev

Russian designer Harry Nuriev is presenting a bright purple dining table with seats that revolve around it like a piece of playground equipment. Wallpaper lining the booth is printed with images of the housing estate in where he grew up, linking back to the theme of childhood.

Fernando Mastrangelo

Brooklyn artist and designer Fernando Mastrangelo used this year's fair to showcase the breadth of work he produces. Every item in his booth installation was created by his studio – from black sand-cast walls and red built-in shelving, to textured indigo carpet and a crimson sofa with cashmere-upholstered cushions.

Justin Morin

One of the largest and most impactful installations at this year's Collective is a series of translucent curtains by Justin Morin, arranged in perpendicular lines to create pathways in between. Each of the curtains is patterned with coloured gradients that blend from black to orange, green to yellow and pink to white across the delicate partitions.

Objects of Common Interest and LOT Office for Architecture

For the VIP lounge, Objects of Common Interest teamed up with LOT Office for Architecture to create a series of experimental furniture. Pairing glass blocks with glossy colourful laminates, the seating and counters are dispersed across a brightly day-lit space and contrast with the former industrial building's exposed concrete surfaces.

Linda Lopez

Of the unusual vessels and trinkets presented by Mindy Solomon Gallery from Miami, the pieces by Linda Lopez stand out for their shells covered in small sausage-like elements and blended colour fades. The otherworldly ceramics are also decorated with chunks of polished stone and metal, adding to their bizarre yet cute appearance.

Azadeh Shladovsky

Braille formed the starting point for LA-based artist Azadeh Shladovsky's chairs with shapes based on the letter "k", named Void, and mirrors modelled on the textured alphabet's "a", called Skeptic. Created in a variety of rich hues like plum, teal and rust, these surround a solid marble table carved with embossed braille dots spelling out a poem across its top.

Gradual

The creators of lighting brand Stickbulb are debuting a new brand of lamps, named Gradual, which display the passing of time through light effects. Each cylindrical design is built up from layers of paper and velum. Arrays of LEDs housed inside are programmed to "drop" beads of light down the tubes at different time intervals, filling up to measure minutes, hours, days or years depending on the design, then refreshing once full.

Sam Stewart

Manhattan gallery Fort Gansevoort is showcasing a series of work by Sam Stewart, coinciding with an exhibition of the artist's pieces at its space in the Meatpacking district. The Rep Range designs at Collective look like cartoon versions of dumbbells and barbells used for weightlifting, which have been warped into curved and snaking shapes.