Monday, August 19, 2013

Day 3: New York - NOW (formerly the New York International Gift Show)




It is 11:53 PM Sunday night in NYC, and we just walked in the door after having walked all the way from the Jacob Javitz Center. To put that in perspective, we’re staying on Central Park South (59th Street), between 6th and 7th Avenues, the Javitz Center is on West 34th Street and 11th Avenue. That means we walked 4 blocks to the east and 25 blocks to the north. After ten hours at market, it felt like we’d walked a thousand blocks. Why’d we walk you ask? Well after a huge meal topped off with a stop at Coldstone Creamery we felt we just had to do it. Now that we’re home, we’re both nursing our feet.



I have a cold bottle of cranberry juice wedged between my bare feet while I’m typing this post.



But, on the way home from dinner and desert, we got nabbed on a corner by a huckster that sold us two tickets for $30 bucks (a savings of $30) to see the Broadway Comedy Club. Okay there are first rate comedy clubs and third rate, and this one fell somewhere in between.




What possessed me to talk Caroline into seeing this show can be blamed on my delirious condition. It was a B- show at best, but certainly a distraction from all of the objects flying around in our head from the today's market! Just so you know, I looked on line to learn more about this club ( I know, I already told you I was delirious) and the face value of our bargain ticket is only $20 bucks, so the huckster did "huck" us!).




We did enjoy Brian Scott McFadden, above, a very funny man. 

 
At this hour, we’re just going to have a lot of pictures and a little commentary!
First stop: We came across the AMDC (the American Design Club), whose vision statement states: “The American Design Club exists to encourage and promote the efforts of emerging designers in the United States. We foster camaraderie and connections between designers, and we create a platform for the sharing of inspiration, ideas and resources.”




Kudos to the management of the NY NOW Show for including them in this years show. We met some amazing, mostly under 30, designers of several interesting categories:

We met AMDC member Gotham Smith, a one man operation that created metal cuff links made on a 3d printer from powdered steel and bronze! I know, amazing isn’t it. For more info on 3d printing, go to http://publicknowledge.org/issues/3d-printing



Another member, artist Adam Frank, showed his super cool LUCID MIRROR which shows sun rays illuminating clouds behind the plane of the reflective surface (the mirror glass). Viewers can ‘touch’ the illusion with their reflected image. Frank noted that the work functions as an ambient light source, mirror and unique artwork simultaneously, and is used in architectural installations and at almost any scale to create truly unique reflective displays. Also his product, REVEAL, a new type of ambient interior lighting (similar to a GOBO that uses light to cast a shadow) that creates the impression of sunlight streaming through a window and casting the exterior shadows and light onto an interior wall. He notes that it is particular nice in small rooms without a lot of natural light, such as a New York apartment.


 

Next was a stop at OPIARY (clever take on the word topiary), makers of outdoor concrete furniture and planters that were very exciting. The Dining table, below, had a marble top with the center cut out for a planting garden, and a base in the style of a Saarinen table. Very interesting indeed.

 

Below: OPIARY’s console table with planting areas just below the table top, at the top of the legs, and a set of tall cylindrical planters which were terribly original.




 
We spent the next several minutes at  Armand Diradorian, the venerable house of everything cashmere, where we found a fresh take on the Cashmere Throw created for the GYPset crowd (see the Assouline book titled Gypset Style (Jet Set + Gypsy = Gypset)). Now the Cashmere Throw comes in an alligator case (Alligator embossed leather), to further protect your sussie while traveling in your private jet. We bought the set in brown gator with a Cashmere blanket your choice of three colors: Green, Camel or Orange.



 We loved our stop at Klein-Reid, designers and makers of very chic ceramics. We bought of their uniquely shaped bowls, some on custom walnut risers, and a wonderfully proportioned lamp in a warm grey ceramic tone.



 

At Taschen Books we selected, Her Majesty, the tome that chronicle’s the reign of England’s Queen Elizabeth. We passed on the over sized limited edition version, with a cloth cover designed by famed London designer Vivian Westwood, but it was so wonderful I wanted to show it to you.


 
We bought the book Genesis, a Taschen financed photographic project of places and people on the globe that have virtually been untouched by the outside world, as seen through the eyes of photographer Sebastiao Salgado, which made its debut on the market today in New York.






 
We saw a collection of “Lunettes” (glasses) from France. These hand held reading glasses were tethered to stands with strings so you couldn’t walk off with them and then forget where you left them. You simply had to use them where they are installed. Sad but true, these make sense.


 
 
Several glass makers in attendance:
SKLO, one of our vendors had an interesting new ‘disc’ vase with thick glass walls and a very low profile, below.


 
 

Mexican glass blower PABLO, had wonderful faceted glass vases and vessels, each cut or plane was highly over sized, below.


 
At RadLabs, we saw a stunning console with the largest pieces of sliced Agate we’ve seen in the marketplace, priced at $19,000. Approx. 44 inches wide, 26 inches deep, and 30 inches high on a polished nickel base. This stunning piece is currently available, so please email me to reserve yours, but do hurry as there were only three consoles made.
 



 
 
At Central Station we purchased this fabulous demilune, with iron Giacometti-style legs and reclaimed antique teak top.
 
 
 
Loved his new Dining Table design, oval walnut top on mid-century style legs, and his over sized disc sconces in Yves Klein Blue.








We loved the over sized wall mounted light fixture with a 50’s European flair. So fresh it really makes the over sized wall fixtures at that Hardware store look passé.

 

We happened on this trip of excitingly colored and over scaled ceramic vessels, that we snapped up thinking that they’ll make incredibly unique lamps. Look for them at CH Santa Barbara in early November.

 


And lastly, we liked this cocktail table at OLY. Again a take on a 50’s design, with a bronze (painted aluminum) base, and a thick parchment top (resin), it was right on in both scale and coloration's.

 


A new vendor, and one of our favorites, brings traditional print making from the 1600-1700’s into the 21st century. Letter pressed images in clear colors on stark white paper, then framed between thick Plexiglas framed with stainless steel fittings. Also had matching stationary! Very cool and fresh.








At Villa, a new type of outdoor rug in a textile that is both weather and fade resistant in a new and proprietary textile unlike any outdoor rug we’ve seen. This rug will be great underfoot and very unlike those currently on the market.



At V, we were thrilled to see this designer and his progress. This guy has come so far in both the breadth of his styles, but his color combinations as well as his patterns. We bought a wonderful series of custom made ottomans that we are very, very excited about that will be in CH stores in late November.







 
Lastly, there is Tommy Mitchell, a supremely talented artist who has been working in the botanical genre employing fine art painting on tin (I can’t stand to call this tole painting).


For years we’ve looked at his exquisite work with its unparalleled detail, and have not seen the right thing for the CH customer… until this year. Tommy has developed a line of framed tin work flowers that artful in two artful ways: One was a series of tables, both cocktail and chairside, in a style reminding the me of the Yves Klein cocktail table, but with sculptural flowers or butterflies rendered in tin instead of blue pigment. The cutouts placed in Plexiglas boxes on simple steel frames in multiple finishes from rusticated metal to burnished gilded finishes.
 
 




     

 
On the way out we spotted this fun headboard tucked at the side of a booth.

 

Worst in show:

Pig with a Pac-Man cowboy at the reigns, with a giant Pac-Man rider with Phyllis Diller hair. Why is this here?

 

Or how about this handbag in the form of a Chicken with two heads (or is the frog head on a different nearby handbag?).
 
 
 
 
 
Worst Dressed at show:



Worst Dressed, above, is a indeed a highly competitive category here at the show, so this is the only one I could photograph without the unknowing contestant catching me in the act!
 

Weird at Show: Why is this here again? For the fourth year in a row, this vendor makes the list. Lol.





Why at this show?:


Breakfast treats and deserts, above, made of waxed candles. It would be much less expensive to burn your own food, and more tasteful.   


Lastly, a funny:

 
 
 
Finally, a long day and night comes to an end.
 
 
 
Good night moon
 
 


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