Following the series of design fairs that abound in the early part of every year around the world - Cologne, Paris, Stockholm and Milan, spring has sprung and it is now New York's turn to strut its stuff... The scent of cherry blossoms and urban decay combine to create a lasting sensory experience.. And this years ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair) was no exception.  This was the 17th annual pilgrimage to New York of design fanatics who were rewarded with a plethora of events both inside and outside the Javits Center in Manhattan.   

From the kick-off events on Friday evening.. Conran's 2,000 plus crowd to the Apartments "apartment" to the educationally endowed presentation of Swedish Design + Architecture sponsored by Exhibitions International and the Consulate General of Sweden in New York. With our very own MOD crew supplying the design for the exhibition from Swedish manufacturers Offecct, David Design and Asplund - the highlight of the evening was the portable inflatable "Cloud" environment designed by Monica Forster.. Friday was happening and everyone was in fine form - anticipating the upcoming rolling party scene and hours of trolling not only the vast environs of the Javits Center but now as well the Italian pavilion on the Westside piers...  

Saturday morning started in a very congenial way with a nice breakfast to celebrate "Orange Alert: Dutch Design in New York 2005" at the Chelsea townhouse of Jeanne Wikler, the General Director for Cultural Affairs at the Dutch Consulate here in New York... good coffee and conversation in the garden with such Dutch luminaries as Li Edelkoort and John Thackara (who was signing copies of his new book "In the Bubble"), made for a nice precursor to the events the rest of the day (and night) had to offer.... After which we made a short stroll to "Downtown" the design event that moved this year from the Chelsea Hotel to Drive-in studios' spacious Westside white space.  Downtown offered some interesting exhibitors, but unfortunately few surprises.  Billing itself as a resource for young up and coming talent, Downtown lacked, with a few standout exceptions, much in the way of any memorable talent and could benefit from a juried system of accepting entries.. An admirable effort non-the-less as we are sure that trying to organize an "alternative" event in conjunction with the ICFF is nothing short of suicidal.  A few of the notable entries were: Niels van Eijk & Miriam van der Lubbe (Dutch designers of course) Lyx, the Stockholm based design group that won our hearts with super cool designs tested by NASA and certified by The Space Foundation...the real standout was a presentation by students from the Sheridan Institute of Ontario Canada... approximately 60 students worked together to create about a dozen projects that intertwined the various disciplines taught at the school.. It is good to see that our education system (even if it is in Canada) is doing something right..

After a short run through the ICFF (more on that later), and a short nap, we started to hit the various events and see who shined and who didn't.... first off we stopped at the Target Corp's presentation on Grand Street of five prefab houses designed by one of our favorite designer/architects Christopher Deam and decorated by various Target design teams....Well.....what ever happened to “less-is-more”?.. What started as nice, understated, well-designed living units (as evidenced by the make over video playing in the central "garden" area) Deam’s mobile dwellings were turned into a “more-is-more” Disneyland-esque over the top, over decorated theme rooms, something just wasn't right...(maybe the winter was exceptionally long this year in Minneapolis and the designers couldn’t help themselves??) . Now we realize that Target's target market is probably suburban moms with a couple of young kids tagging along but hey c'mon guys this is a design show in New York City! The kids in attendance did seem to enjoy the decor however, or it might have just been the sugar rush supplied by the Hostess Ho Ho's being doled out by Target staffers with glee...

Well enough sugar let's get on to the spice... our next stop was the Moss Gallery opening on Greene Street where we viewed "Fertile Garden" an installation created by artist Josef Wackerle - pretty cool but a bit wacky (no pun intended –not!).  Murray certainly has a point of view and his new gallery format offers it up in ways we could never imagine.. Somehow it all comes together with the experience at once exhilarating in a good and tasteful way while at the same time riddled with subtle twists and turns that gave us intimate insight into Moss' esoteric mind...or it could have just been the Danish grogg smuggled into the States by Marten Claesson of CKR we had on the ride over…. Moss the store showed the Philippe Starck designed Domestic Lighting collection for Flos.... a project of not particular social relevance and frankly just boring - Starck has said that "design is dead" and he is certainly helping it along with this collection of gold-plate guns used as lamp bases...but then again who said design has to be meaningful? We do damnit!

Next we move on to Wooster Street, courtesy of course, of our Mobile VIP Lounge - the vintage 70’s Dodge motor home that our friend Andre chauffeured us around in... think it is the same one Charles Kuralt took cross-country.. Anyway, Wooster was hopping! With parties at Cappellini, Poltrona Frau, DWR etc... The block was raging!  OK, we love Guilio Cappellini and his incredible eye for design and spotting new talent around the globe but who designed the store?  We are very happy that Cappellini once again has a presence in New York but the "red" theme has got to go.. It was bad enough in Milan but in lower Manhattan it totally doesn't work.. The amazing design offered up was lost in seeing red.. Oh well, maybe it was just a stopgap to the real store design coming later this summer.... please Guilio please... Design guru Ross Lovegrove and his lovely wife were in attendance for the ceremonial cake cutting.. and the space was filled with all the pertinent hipsters looking for free drinks... down at DWR a presentation of Marcel Wanders work was on display – Mooi – Mr. Wanders was working the crowd with his dancer girlfriend Nanine - unfortunately she wasn't bartending whilst hanging up-side-down from the ceiling like in Milan.. maybe Marcel figured she was attracting too much attention away from the design... can't blame him...

Anyway, after a nice dinner Barmarche in Nolita with Artifort designer Patrick Norguet, who wowed everyone in Milan for the fourth year in a row - we decided to check out our favorite designers in the whole world Claesson, Koivisto, Rune at the presentation of their "Super Furniture" installation for Dune..  Called LUNA, the furniture as environment was very dramatic in the cavernous Skylight Gallery space on Hudson Street.  And the turn out was great!  Dwell sponsored the event and publisher Lara Hedberg Deam was on hand to welcome the magazines many, many supporters... now this is good design!  

So after a night of experiencing artistic posturing, a bad mix of guns and red, and annoying design groupies, finally we get to see something fantastic!  After greeting all the old friends we only see at these design savvy events including several members of the G7 crew – remember them? The then, too loud, pumping DJ got to us so we grabbed a few designers and headed back to the "vehicle" where we headed north on Westside Highway to Hiro – of course our friend Meagan was at the door and we slid right in... yes it was a "bridge and tunnel" night but hey ICFF only happens once a year... more updates coming soon..