Fad*ish- fashion and design

Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be sober. This past Friday night was a prime example of this, when I found myself at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) and Design Within Reach (DWR) event. There I was staring bright-eyed into the drunken faces of my interior designer chums-- as they tried desperately to place where they knew me from.

Just further proving my theory that a design party and Stella Artois don’t mix, I felt as if I stumbled into a pub rather than an industry gathering. The designs that were meant to be the main event-- Eames® Lounge Chair & Ottoman-- were outshone by the heat (I guess air-conditioning took away from the ‘mood’) and littering of pale green glass bottles. The event sponsored by Domino® magazine-- and not the Belgian beer company-- was overcrowded, and at any moment I kept expecting a middle-aged man to jump on the table, kick off his Hogan loafers and start swinging his Prada bag over his head screaming “Herman Miller® rocks!”

Needless to say, I could feel the need for people to let go the tension of this past furniture market week, and maybe 10:00 on a Friday night was not the best time to discuss design theory. The crowd was a mix of out-of-towners and Europeans all in New York for the various furniture tradeshows at the Javits-- letting everybody know that designers can party like the best of them.

*Originally Posted on Word on the Street 5/22/06

Labels: Decor