Day 4: NEW YORK – NOW (formerly the New York International Gift Show)

The last day of market always starts in high gear, so much so that we sometimes spilt up trying to conquer more of the massive Javitz Center before the end of the show. Today was no exception!

First buy of the day was from a supplier to our hotel store, “…away from home”, that we’ve had the most success with. They are the maker of our “tortoise shell” (actually buffalo horn) necklaces and bracelets, as well as bone jewelry, and Shagreen jewelry and hand bags. This is the kind of vendor where all their products look great so you really have to try and cut things out of the buy because everything is just so wonderful. Great quality, beautiful design, and exotic materials.

 

Shagreen (pronounced Sha – grin) handbags in great colors and some with patterns printed over the color.

 

 

 

The handbag can be used with its built-in chain or tuck it away and carry it as a clutch (not my words, hers!) 

 

 
 

 

Buffalo Horn link bracelets in Tortoise Shell coloration's, carved cuffs with cutouts and applied jewels.

 

Over sized Buffalo Horn links create long length necklaces that can be doubled or tripled for a multiple layer look.
 

Next was POKKET, the maker of a miniature mixing station for the budding disc jockey inside you! Designed by a young hipster from Berlin, I know, this is just random, but we actually did buy these tiny devices in hopes that they would be a hit with the young set shopping with their parents at our stores. They are available in ten colors and four patterns. If they’re not a hit, then our daughter and her friends may see them under their Christmas trees.

 

 
 

 

We were first attracted to the speaker where a huge sound was pulsating from and approached the POKKET booth to check it out. Turns out, the speaker case and speakers are made from up-cycled old leather suitcases by yet another Los Angles designer.

 

For you techies, here’s how the diagram for how it works, below

 

 

Clear trends were hard to spot at this show. No definitive color trend was evident, even the “color of the year”, Emerald Green as declared by the good folks at PANTONE had petered out. If I had to state a color trend from this show I would say it was a combination of multiple greens, blues, green-blues, and blue-greens.

Just when it felt safe to say that Lilac and Berry colors were beginning to emerge as a trend, we received the proclamation that it was Emerald Green that would be “the” color. Regardless of the forecasters, this forecaster says that Lilac and Berry will continue to emerge in both runway and home design textiles, while blues, greens, aqua’s remain popular but are starting to cool a bit.

 

Above, cool Lilacs reign at one of our favorite designers, Aviva Stanoff Designs. Viva is well known for her textiles, made by a process where she takes wet velvet and presses a branch or leaf into the fabric, thereby creating the “pattern”.

 
A trend that seems to be gaining steam is the use of natural minerals as accessories in the home. Large geodes of natural Amethyst, Citrine, and Rock Crystal, some too exotic to name. We saw the minerals from small table top size to stand alone behemoths.

 

The geodes in various minerals were shown spilt in- half, slices of agates, and clusters of crystals left in their natural state, or made into lamps, boxes, and tables.

Katherine McCoy Rock Crystal lamp, above, available at “…away from home (at El Encanto Hotel, Santa Barbara)”

 

Agate encrusted boxes and tray, above.

We stopped at Rizzoli and picked up a few tomes, namely the new coffee table books by Los Angeles designer Barbara Barry, and Washington, D.C. based Thomas Pheasant. Both of these designers are creators of their own lines for Baker Furniture, which we sell in all Cabana Home locations.

 

Barbara Barry’s iconic X-Back Chair, below, in stock at Cabana Home Santa Barbara.

 

 

Thomas Pheasant’s iconic Paris Sofa, below, in stock at Cabana Home Santa Barbara.

 

Loved this find, an over sized leather bucket with braided handles.

 

Another mini-trend: Wooden accessories in boxes, drinking cups, trays, lamps and more. Most of it rendered in the mid-century style, but some of it crossed over into the traditional realm. 

Walnut wood Table Lamp, with honed finish and white Carrera marble detailing,, below:

 

 

Tray made in herringbone pattern of inlaid wood, below

 

 

 

 

Cowhide on everything, remains a strong category. Here applied to a contemporary chrome bench., below.

 

A sculpture gallery from Berlin (yes, the Germans were there in force…I mean lots of vendors from Germany were present), which represented several sculptors who work primarily in bronze. We loved the Giacometti inspired 6ft. tall sculptures. We will see them with much more product next month at the Masion & Objet Show in Paris.

 

From one of our favorite vendors of everything fabulous that is inlaid with bone, there is no one that compares to this man (he is also the maker of the agate encrusted box and tray (in the paragraph on minerals, above). Here he shows for the first time a material created with crushed and ground malachite and resin. I knew there had to be some story to it because he cost of Malachite alone would make these tables virtually unaffordable even to the upper reaches of the well-heeled.

 

He also developed this great looking resin based tray, below, in a great reddy-rust (not a Pantone color!)

 

A beautiful inlay of wood and bone creates a stunning geometric pattern on this Occasional Table / Stool.

 

We loved this mirror he made with inlaid natural bone and grey. Standing over 7 ft. tall, this piece is a centerpiece for any room.

 

Indian silver is finely sheathed over carved mirror frame. We’ve rarely seen this technique as finely done as it was on this mirror, below.

 

 

 

We were happy to see once again the line of woven leather throw pillows and rugs that we had seen last year at market.
 

The leather is woven in the style of Bottega Veneta, the Italian fashion leather house that specializes in woven leather goods.

We loved this line last year, and bought in to it his year. We ordered woven leather and finely scaled suede throw pillows as well as a bench with woven leather tip...

 

 
 

 

and... we ordered woven leather handbags, very Bottega like, below:

We met an Argentine woman who imports fine “sheeps” to the USA. She meant sheep skins, sheep rugs, pillows, etc… She did have a great eye for interpreting sheep in a fresh manner. Expensive, but well done.

 

And while we’re on the subject of hides and skins, we met a new source for intricate hair-on-hide rugs. Think Kyle Bunting, but at ¼ the price! Rugs in standard and custom sizes and colors.

 

Custom and stock throw pillows also available, below:

 

 
 

 

 

As the day wore on, we saw the lights being turned out starting at the far end of the exhibition hall, but did we turn and leave the hall?  Uh, no! We just walked faster in our race to finish the show. We raced down the aisles with determination. We were now stopping at only the extraordinary, and we stopped at a booth offering Middle Eastern woven fabrics, made into throw pillows. These rich covers were colorful and uniquely woven textiles.  

 

One of our bed linen designers debuted new patterns and colors in bed linens, below:

 

New table top and bath linens in sophisticated shapes and stripes, below:

 

 

Do you think we packed it in? So here we are at the last post for the New York NOW Show. It is always interesting to be in New York, and to attend this market. It gets us jazzed up for the upcoming Maison & Object Show in Paris which we will be attending next month.

One more thing: Worst in Show!

These figures, below, are so weird, I can't even project what they are supposed to be. Just trying to figure out why they're here!

How about this: A metal chair frame with a spot for you to store your kick ball. I wondered why this vendor wasn't kicked out of the show! Lordy!

All for now.

 

Good Night Moon

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 (59^th Street), between 6^th and 7^th Avenues, the Javitz Center is on West 34^th Street and 11^th 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 21^st 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