Last night, The Real Deal attended Architectural Digest’s “Favorite Finds” event at the New York Design Center. We enjoyed getting to see and touch AD’s favorite finds — and to get on top of NYC’s latest home fashions — in a multi-floored showroom crawl. Designers included: Hickory Chair and Pearson, McGuire, Baker Knapp & Tubbs, Arteriors Home, Porcelanosa, Dennis Miller Associates, SA Baxter and Christopher Guy.
High points: We loved that so many designers had merchandise that was so tactile. We went around touching fur, suede and silk like a mental patient. The very best part was the proliferation of velvet throughout all the home furnishings. There is nothing we like better than to be ensconced in velvet.
We also loved that AD put hearts on the floors for the design crawl in the elevator buttons.
AD also had a Twitter contest: Tweet your favorite piece using the hashtag #adloves200lex along with @archdigest and @nydc, and one lucky Tweeter wins a prize. You can check out the entries on Twitter.
Low point: With all the eating, drinking and traipsing through the spaces, it was bound to happen: spillage! (Wasn’t us.)
So pour yourself a glass of champagne and peruse a few highlights from the show:
At the Christopher Gray showroom, we learned what was reiterated from a recent episode of “Million Dollar Listing New York”: mirrors, leather and lacquer will seduce you with their smooth surfaces and come-hither glows, inciting you to think, “This apartment looks amazing. This apartment smells like sex.” We learned that art involving nudes (including pastie-clad women) and amorous coupling add to the mix.
Christopher Gray also taught us the “go big when you go home” approach to chairs is the future. And large mirrors make for the best at-home selfies.
And whether in a pet-friendly building or not, it’s mandatory to have animals reside atop the furniture.
At SA Baxter we learned hardware can be sexy. We saw fixtures and knobs displayed like museum style artifacts in the most fetish-evoking way possible.
At Dennis Miller Associates, we learned that, despite the name, design is no joke. Wood grains are standouts for the coming season.
Arteriors Home stuck with the animals-should-be-on-the-furniture theme and presented us with these little gems, along with some other an assortment of small sculpted body parts.
McGuire got us in the mood for summer with their Outdoor Collection.
Things were decidedly more sedate at Hickory Chair and Pearson, with more muted colors and neutral tones.
They also held a book signing with copies of “Kentucky: Historic Houses and Horse Farms of Bluegrass Country” on hand.
But overall, Hickory Chair and Pearson, this $18,500 Marilyn stole the show!
