NEW YORK NOW: Day 2

We are now in full swing in New York at market and Sunday will be even more intense as several hundred more vendors will have opened their booths. The various exhibition halls have staggered openings this year, which is a real pain in the ba-joo-by.

Before I start on todays “finds”, I wanted to share with you an excellent restaurant where we had dinner Friday night. ROBERT, the restaurant on top of 'the MAD' (Museum of Art & Design) Building on Columbus Circle. The Executive Chef Luisa Fernandes prepares 'modern American fare', in a spectacular space overlooking Central Park West.

 

 

But, I couldn’t help but include the photo, below, of what unfortunately has become an all to typical young couple in 2013, engaged in…no not that… texting others while they’re out on a date together.

 

 

We started the day at Pier 94, where new and first designers and vendors were relegated to show for their debut at the NEW YORK NOW. We did see some fresh things, some good, many bad, and even picked a vendor or two for worst of show (but you’ll have to scroll down to the bottom of this article to see who and what it was!  

Our first find was carved wooden handbags. Sounds dreadful, I know, but there was something interesting about them. We didn’t buy them because we just weren’t quite sure as we contemplated your tastes, our valued and tasteful customers. You be the judge, and let me know what you think of them.

 

Then we found Sailormade a line of bracelets for men and woman woven of leathers, or marine ropes, with real marine hardware in solid brass or stainless steel. Super clean and very sharp. 

 

Next was Animana, an importer of South American Alpaca throws. The designs were simple, and the weaving and workmanship extraordinary. We bought ladies wraps, and throws for your sofa.

Last cool thing at the Pier was a new take on the "Jam Box", a couture portable stereo, disguised as a chic ladies handbag! Check out the pictures below. Alexander McQueen will be turning over in his grave when he sees what they’ve done to his designs! I did think they were neat, but we didn’t buy them as we don’t sell electronics. But if we did…

 

 

 

Sooner than we thought we were on the shuttle from the Piers to the Jacob Javitz Center. Again, not all of the exhibition halls were open today, only “Designer” (mostly semi-precious jewelers) and “Handmade” (mostly a lot of ‘kumbaya’ types).

We did find some things in both areas:

In Designer, we found this wonderful jewelry designer rom Paris, who made cast bronze jewelry, plated with 22kt. yellow or white gold. We did buy into this line for our hotel store, Away from Home at El Encanto Hotel in Santa Barbara. Beautifully detailed and perfectly scaled we loved this line.

 

Hand cast bronze jewelry, above, plated in 22 kt. yellow and white gold.

 

Next was glass blower LBK Studios, who did sculptural, blown glass sea urchins, piled high for a stunning look. She also did organic glass molded bowls sheathed in mouth blow stalactite looking shards. Her collection was fresh, and loved the color palette.  

I know, the last picture from LBK, above, looks a little phallic.

 

 

We met a good ‘ol Texas gal who had a very chic line of shagreen and alligator cuffs with interesting oversized clasps.

 

Loved these longer length necklaces that were micro-beaded with semi-precious metals and glass beads, below:

 

 

 

How about trading in your tired old Stainless & Gold Rolex, collecting dust in your dresser drawer, for a newer model made of Ebony wood or Sandalwood. Check these out:

 

Felted evening bags that can be dressed up or down with interchangeable pins (one included with each bag). Handmade by 12 older, retired woman who hand felt the wool and knit the bags. 

 

We also loved these side tables, suitable for indoor or outdoor use, artisan painted and high fired ceramic, each one of a kind painting. Approximately $2500 each.

 

In the Handmade Hall, we loved these colorful and finely needlepointed Throw Pillows from Peru, in fresh designs and colors.   

 

At 6:00 PM they threw us out because the show was over for the day. No sneaking around trying to get a jump on tomorrow! We hailed a cab and headed straight to the Nike Town Store on 5^th avenue to buy tennis shoes.

 

 

Yep, my Gucci’s are officially going to get a break, because tomorrow I’m wearing new Nike’s to market! I don’t care what they look like with my dress clothes! This store is a behemoth. Far bigger and much more dramatic than even the LA Nike Store in Beverly Hills. One of the neatest things was a laser light show surrounding the newest Nike styles, making their debut on pedestals as you entered this work out-wear palace. 

 

 

 

 
We ended the day at the Apple Store on 5^th Avenue, see the glass temple of knowledge, below:

 

 

Seems my newish IPhone 5 is not holding a charge, so had to belly up to the Genius Bar and have a look with a pro. Seems some file had corrupted my something or other and it need to be cleared and reset…egads…and lose all my stuff and pictures? No, not a chance with the genius I dealt with, who scheduled an appointment for me for 11:15 PM tonight for a “reset”. You see, this store is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It has over one-hundred-twenty employees and serves over 1200 customers per day. So, at 11:00 PM tonight I traipsed back down there and he did the reset, and I’m now home working on this article. God Bless the genius’!

Below is the apple store at 11:00 PM at night!

 

 

 

On the way back to the Hotel, I had to take these shots of Tiffany, right next door to Nike. Tiffany has such extraordinary window dressers.

 

Then from elegant to Avant, across the street is Louis Vuiiton, the venerable fashion house that seems to always push the envelope with their 5^th Avenue windows. This season they feature huge silver plated dinosaurs, making off with their namesake handbags, as chicly dressed stoic mannequins look beyond the chaos in a cool gaze.

 

And in the next block, I couldn’t resist photographing these two windows at Bergdorf Men’s Store on 5^th. See below:

 

 

Above: Save a horse, ride an cowboy ostrictch!

 

Above: Go where?

Worst in Show:

The very first booth, as soon as we walked into the first building this morning featured cute little Teddy Bears emblazoned with… well you can read it for yourself. I mean really, is there a market for this?

 

Next there was a hat just a few paces away at another booth, featuring altered lyrics from Katy Perry’s smash hit, “I kissed a Girl…” This hat one celebrates “I Kissed a Dog and I…” Whatever!!

 

Lastly there was what looked like a leprechaun to me, dressed in a blue coat trimmed in bright white, with bright green pants. Well top of the morning to you Mister?

 

 

 
All for tonight. It’s late and Sunday will be an early and very long day.

 

 

Good night moon.  

NEW YORK NOW 2013 (formerly The New York International Gift Show)

 

New York Market next week! August in New York… and, yes it’s in Manhattan and unfortunately not in The Hamptons.

Same Market, new name: The New York International Gift Show has changed its name to “NY Now 365.”
We’re here to see the latest and greatest, and News flash…there is no hot flash…  it’s 82 degrees in Manhattan, in August! Yea!

The market used to be more spread out with Vendors in the cavernous Jacob Javitz Center and a large portion of it was in the decrepit old Piers on the West side of the city. Now, supposedly it’s all going to be virtually under one roof. Most all of the Vendors are temporary vendors, meaning they only have showrooms in New York for this one week. For some of them, mostly European vendors, they do not have any US representation so if we want to see them we either see them at this show or we see them at the Paris show (oh, darn!).    

Why We Go

Since the show is made up of temporary vendors, it means that this is where we seek out those vendors that do not have representation in the markets that we regularly attend, such as the Atlanta, Dallas, High Point, or San Francisco markets. The shows promoters tout 2800 Vendors representing over 100,000 lines in 400 categories.   

We’ve met some of our most important resources at this show. Every important residential designer and manufacturer comes to this show to present their newest designs, collections, and products…you see it here first. We feel that our clientele deserves nothing less than the best of the best in design, fashion, selection and price. We find that at this show.

Emerging Design: We love the section reserved for “The Young Designers’ Platform”, which showcases emerging designers and products (Designers, in business for one year or less).Always a great source of energy and inspiration!

 

Also in New York…business wise

There are of course the permanent showrooms of some of the better known lines such as Ralph Laruen Home, Hermes, Calvin Klein, Donna Karen Home, etc… These are much more dignified venues in that they are professionally staged and housed in somewhat elaborate digs such as the Ralph Lauren Home Collection located in one of his spectacular vintage Eastside mansion cum showrooms, or Hermes from the upper reaches of a Skyscraper overlooking Manhattan.
 

 

Ralph Lauren's Showroom at the Rhinelander Mansion in New York's Upper East Side

Yes, yes, yes, glamour, glamour, everywhere… well not exactly! After a day traipsing around Manhattan, we are a bit bedraggled and are more interested in a comfy chair and a cool glass of water than our surroundings. We are here after all to work, and that we do. We take this opportunity very seriously, and make the most of every minute in the day. By night fall, we can little more than fall into bed and order room service. So much for hitting the latest restaurants!

 

Flowers in the lobby of our hotel, The Essex House

 

The Front Desk at the Essex House, clad in Lalique Crystal

 

Confessions!    

We must confess that we do go in a day or two early to shop the stores on the avenues, mostly 5^th, and Madison, and venture as far south as SOHO and the Meat Packing District. It’s important to see what’s showing in the stores, sensing the trends for color and style emanating from these fantastical store window displays. It is really is a visual orgy, especially the windows at Bergdorf’s.

 

Yellow Cabs on 5th Avenue, far cheaper than Pedi-Cabs!

 

Another confession: We take in the Museum shows: So far we've seen the James Turrell Show at the Guggenheim, and experienced the centerpiece of the show, Aten Reign, a monumental piece placed above the center atrium of the spiral museum.

 

 

Also the Ken Price show at The MET, below:

 

 

And the Le Corbusier Show MOMA, below:

 Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye, above, at Poissy-sur-Seine, France. 1929. Wood, aluminum, plastic.

 

 

And another confession: We also take in one Broadway play every year. Last night we saw Kinky Boots, this year’s Tony Award winning Best Musical, starring music from Cyndi Lauper. From what I saw watching the Tony’s, it’s not your grandma’s musical soap opera, and from what I saw last night this is one of the most incredible musical’s I’ve ever seen. High energy and outstanding  performances by the two male leads, a straight one (Stark Sands as Charlie), and a drag Queen (Billy Porter as Lola- the winner of this years Tony Award Winner for Best Actor in a Musical). What a great show, sweet story with a happy ending, is not to be missed.    

 

 

 

Photos above:
Top: Lola and her drag queen ensemble, the Angles;
Bottom: Charlie in the finale with Lola and the factory works

Preview

Here are some of the vendor teaser emails that I’ve received prior to the show. Not saying they are the best or the worst (okay there is one in the worst in show category), but these are the teasers we’ve received so far.

 

 

 

Grotto Shell Work

 

 

 

 

Dining Table with iron base and reclaimed wood top

 

 

 

 

Wood carved and lacquered Hamptons style Candelabra

 

 



Mosaic and Walnut Doors on a Buffet 

 

 

 

Jonathan Adler gets into the Bedding act 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful scaled ceramics with restrained designs from Klein-Reid

 

 

 

 

Carved polished buffalo horn Bracelet with red lacquer

 

 

 

 

 

An homage to Robsjohn Gibbings, lacquered Beside Chest with cast brass hardware and legs 

 

 

 

 Cast Brass electric wall sconce

 

 

All righty now, its late and I'm going to bed, but I can't sign off without giving you a taste of the "Worst in Show", below:

 

 

Extendable Mistle-toe, touted as "the hit of your holiday party!" HaHa!

 

 

Good night moon 

HIGH POINT FURNITURE MARKET, Day 4, Part II

You might be wondering why it took so long to post Part II of Day 4, and I’m not sure either. All I can tell you is that our business has been terrific and we are so grateful for that. Business first, then the blog!

The afternoon began with an appointment at Pearson (The Clyde Pearson Company for you old timers) where color was king. Move over Pantone Tangerine, last year’s much heralded color of the year, because here come’s Emerald Green on an upholstered bed lurking over the shoulder of a tangerine upholstered bench. 

Though I’ve been convinced that some form of berry/lilac/purple was bound to be on the top of color forecasters lists for 2013, it appears now that it’s Emerald Green, at least by the folks over at Pantone.

Who is Pantone you ask?

According to Wikipedia, Pantone started as a printing company in the 1950’s that systematized and simplified the company's stock of pigments and production of colored inks. Their primary products include the Pantone Guides which allow designers to "color match" specific colors when a design enters production stage, regardless of the equipment used to produce the color.

The Pantone Color Matching System is a standardized color reproduction system, which allows different manufacturers in different locations to refer to the Pantone system to make sure colors match without direct contact with one another.

Pantone colors have even found their way into government legislation and military standards (to describe the colors of flags and seals).

Annually Pantone declares a particular color "Color of the Year". Twice a year the company hosts, in a European capital, a secret meeting of representatives from various nations' color standards groups. After two days of presentations and debate, they choose a color for the following year and sell it in a book for $750 to fashion designers, florists, etc...to help guide their designs and planning for future products.

There… more than you wanted to know? Okay, so back to the business at hand. Pearson has always been known as one of the finest upholstery houses, and they are indeed among the best. Notice the detail on the sofa, below.

Of late, Pearson has added some beautiful casegoods (furniture other than upholstered furniture), with the same level of detailing for which they’re known.

Above: We loved the pieces in Shagreen (most often from Stingray skin), detailed with inlaid brass and silver leafed wood trim. We also loved their take on the classic “waterfall” table, upholstered in Raffia.

A highly detailed Slipper Chair with a shaped front, curved back, on tapered legs.

The chaise lounge upholstered in stylized velvet Greek Key pattern.

A pair of Occasional Chairs upholstered in a vivid stripe that was a great example of this company’s skill and expertise.

We also liked the simple barrel back Chair with Dressmaker Skirt,

 and the beautifully proportioned chair and ottoman with sleek, flat tufting, below.

We thought the pair of little “Perch” Chairs was interesting… I didn’t say we liked them, but they were interesting and could be an alternative to a small stool without a back. 

We liked Pearson’s version of the classic “Thebes” Chair and Ottoman.

There was one other table I wanted to show you, one that was made with Macassar Ebony, trimmed top and bottom with Ivory lacquer. You can use the table alone, or put four of them together to make a very interesting cocktail table

And lastly, the cleanliness of a tight back, English Arm Chair upholstered in sophisticated wool sateen with decorative woven trim around the skirt bottom.  

All right, it’s late here in California, so all for now. I invite you to look for High Point Market Day 5…. I know, there’s one more day of this show that you haven’t seen, so look for it soon!

Good Night Moon