Pretty Little Green Things

Archive for the ‘Shows and markets’ Category

I spent an inspiring and exhausting day walking around the New York International Gift Fair today.  The NYIGF is not just a show full of gifts – all sorts of products are on display for retailers to order for their stores.  I went to see furniture, lighting, decorative cushions, tabletop goods, and other accessories, but baby products, jewelry, fragrances, stationary and more are available.  This show is so large that it fills up the entire Javits Center and spills over to Pier 94 and 92 in New York City.  Walking the aisles of beautiful offerings always makes me want to open up a retail shop just so I’ll have an excuse to buy all the home goods and accessories on display.  But as that is not going to happen anytime soon, I’ll just have to stick to walking around and taking pictures and drooling.

What I specifically went looking for were eco-friendly products and vendors.  My first stop was Pier 94, which houses the “At Home” section of the show.  My next stop was the Javits Center, but you’ll have to wait till tomorrow to see my picks from there.

One thing I did notice at Pier 94 was the prevalence of vintage design.  While a lot of these products weren’t truly vintage, it was great to see it as a theme.  Hopefully it will convince more people to buy used!  The vendors above are Blue Ocean Traders, Vagabond Vintage & Peddlers Home Design.

These gorgeous tables are handmade by Brian Foster from Groundwork.  The tabletops and bases are completely interchangeable – the website is just a jumping off point for a final design.  And you can also find Groundwork furniture at ABC Home on the 2nd Floor if you want to take a look in person. I have to say my pictures don’t do the beautiful materials he uses justice, but you get the idea.

Next, I came upon Audrey and her lovely team from Audrey Sterk Design.  They make eco-friendly wallpaper, fabric, floor coverings, furniture and more from her colorful and graphic patterns.  Each one comes in a range of colors or is totally customizable according to the Pantone fan deck.  They even took a picture of me for their ‘Smiles’ board, so if you stop by make sure to take a peek at my mug!

At Vagabond Vintage, I totally fell in love with these quilts made from recycled saris.  They are super soft and oh so colorful.

Dryads Home & Garden makes really interesting mirrors frames out of recycled ceiling tin, reclaimed wood or used corrugated metal.  I love how they mix different colors, textures and patterns together for a very unique look.

I next visited the always lovely Stacy from Dunes and Duchess.  I’m absolutely in love with her beautiful candelabras and was so happy to see that she’s branched out to bright lacquered colors (like this gorgeous blue shown here), lamps, sconces and mirrors.  All of their products are handmade in New York.  Plus Stacy is an absolute joy to follow on Twitter.

You can probably guess that I love antique maps and prints.  The texture and history of these pieces is just something you can’t get with new, so I was happy to stumble upon Foreign Affair.  They have a great selection of vintage maps that I could have stopped and rifled through all day.

Okay, I didn’t totally research the whole story on these really cool yarn balls, but they looked like the string was woven out of fabric remnants.  I really loved the variated colors and oversized scale of these pieces.  They come from Go Home, which was another home accessory vendor rocking the vintage vibe.

Jamie Young always has a beautiful collection of lighting and lamps so I was so excited to hear that many of these same products are made from renewable materials.  They use everything from cork and burlap for lampshades (pictured on the left) and recycled glass (left) and driftwood for the bases (right).

While the gorgeous pillows from Kevin O’Brien Studio aren’t necessarily green, their waste policy totally is.  Instead of throwing away all the remnant pieces of fabric from the production process, they fashion those leftovers into the most adorable stuffed animals.  I can’t wait to have an excuse to buy a few of these as gifts!

Made Goods is another one of those booths where I wanted to buy everything in sight.  Don’t worry, I didn’t.  But I was very happy to see that they have quite a few products made from renewable or recycled materials.  The mirror frame on the left is made from rapidly renewable abaca, the stool in the center is made from recycled saris (are you seeing a theme here?) and the mirror on the right is made from railroad ties (if you look really close, you can see me taking that picture!)

How beautiful is that rug hanging in the Patrick Charles booth?  All of his products are made from carpet remnants and are totally gorgeous.  I was loving the brightly dyed vintage rugs as well as the tiny stools upholstered in antique kilims.  I purposely not showing you pictures of everything in the booth so I can save something for a later post.  Stay tuned…

And lastly, but certainly not least this is Tempo.  The colors, textures and luminescence of these glass pendants were just beautiful.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more eco-chic goods from the Javits Center.  Stay tuned…

Okay, this one is not technically eco-friendly but it is for a good cause.  Plus I love me an iconic chair.  These pink Hans Wegner Wishbone chairs come from SUITE New York.  They enlisted twenty top designers to create a one of a kind cushion to be auctioned off to benefit Breast Cancer Research Foundation.  These chairs will be on display at Barneys in New York starting with a kickoff on October 7.  A pink version of the chair (minus the cushions of course) will be available at SUITE New York with 20% of the proceeds going to BCRF.

I’m just loving the creativity that went into these cushions.  It definitely inspires me to try something crazy in my own house.  Now if I only had a Wishbone chair to experiment with…

Chairs on left from Kelly Behun, Julie Hillman & Tori Golub respectively.  Chair on right from Alexandra Champalimaud.

Chair on left from Celerie Kemble.  Chair on right from Amy Lau.

Chair on left from Lulu DK.  Chair on right from Sara Rotman (you may remember that I showed her super fabulous Hamptons house a little while ago).

Chair on left from Annie Kelley.  Chair on right from Kelly Wearstler.  Not sure I’d want to sit on this one, but Kelly is fabulous as ever!

Chair on left from Allegra Hicks.  Chair on right from Alexa Hampton.

Photos from Interior Design and Suite NY

If you didn’t see yesterday’s post, first of all you should and second, I’ll give you a quick recap.  This past weekend I went up to Brimfield, MA for the thrice yearly Brimfield Antique Show.  It’s an incredibly huge antique show and flea market with vendors from around the country.  Offerings included gorgeous antique furniture, porcelain, fiestaware, vintage clothing, hardware and so so much more.  Yesterday I showed you some of my favorite furniture and home accessories.  Today I’m going to show you a slightly different side of the market – interesting, unique and fun pieces to add a little character to your house.  Enjoy!

I loved all the colors from these antique spools.  Almost better as an assemblage than individually.

These are antique typesetters letters.  Another collection I love seeing together rather than individually.

There were tons of antique crates all around the show, but I particularly liked these.

These antique glass bottles were so pretty but I had no idea how expensive they can be.  There were a few from the early 1800′s that were $300!

These wings were huge and would look amazing hung on a really high wall.  Such a cool statement piece.

I love antique hardware.  It adds so much more character to a house than modern hardware just can’t.  I’ll definitely be back when we’re ready to buy door knobs for our apartment.

This truly is a bicycle built for two.  I can’t imagine anything more fun to take for a spin on the weekends.

And of course something for the kids too.  How cute is this?

As I said before, I love crates.  For a more industrial metal alternative, I found these.

The inner architect in me would have LOVED this set when I was a kid.  Although I did enjoy the Barbie townhouse that I did have.

I love using letters for decoration and these antique bronze ones were especially nice.  If only I could have found an E, T, R & A to go with the P!

Stay tuned for my upcoming guest post on music mag Fader.  I’ll be showing the really unique and crazy things we found at the show.

Photos by Lee Boykoff

This past weekend I traveled up to Brimfield, MA to check out the thrice yearly Brimfield Antique Show.  It’s a massive show that lasts an entire week with vendors from all over the country (and a few outside the country too).  I was amazed at just the sheer amount and diversity of offerings.  You could buy anything from furniture, dishes and old crates to dolls, antique hardware and chandeliers and so much more I wouldn’t even be able to fit it all in one post.  Some of it was complete junk, some valuable antiques and some items just waiting to be discovered.

Our main objective was to get some things for our apartment, but also managed to take a ton of photos so you could get an idea of what the show was like.  Today I’m bringing to you Part I of the Brimfield Antique Show Roundup of my favorite pieces and booths.  Today I focused more on cool furniture and home accessories.  Tomorrow I’ll show you some of the random and amazing things we found.  (and for the really random & weird, I’ll be guest blogging for music magazine Fader in the coming weeks so stay tuned for that one).

I loved these dining chairs.  The ultrasuede fabric would have to go, but they would look amazing reupholstered in a fun print.

I love crates – I think they both have so much character and are so useful.  These boxes were actually used at one point in the jewelry industry but I think they would be great for an office.

If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll know it’s no secret how much I love Adirondack chairs.  So you can imagine how excited I was to find a two seater!

I loved this funky coat rack.  Too bad we already own one, otherwise this would have come home with us (probably much to my husband’s chagrin).

These pendant lights were refashioned from old screens.  Individually they’re interesting, but as a group they’re super cool.

No antique show would be complete without vintage fabrics.  They were a bit feminine for my taste but there were a few cool patterns (one of which you just might see show up at my apartment soon…)

There were tons of antique clocks around, but I thought these three were especially nice.

There were tons of cool lamps around too.  These were just a few of what I found.

These looked to me like vintage Emeco chairs.  The seat upholstery was screaming to be changed but otherwise were in great shape.

I really liked these green chairs, maybe not in that fabric, but the shape is interesting.  Now if they were reupholstered in something unexpected, they would be super cool.

Last but certainly not least.  These nightstands are fantastic, especially those drawer pulls.  They would look amazing on the set of Mad Men.

Photos by Lee Boykoff

I’ve talked before about the virtues of vintage, flea markets, antiques, used, or whatever you want to call it.  I think buying used rather than new is one of the most eco-friendly things you can do.  My husband and I decided to put our money where our mouth is and head to one of the largest flea markets in the US to show you the offerings (and hopefully pick some stuff up for us along the way!).  The Brimfield Antique & Flea Market Show takes place three times a year and has been going on for more than fifty years.  I’ll be blogging about our experience all next week so make sure to check back.  If you’re curious about what’s out there, send me your shopping list and I’ll bring back pictures!

You thought I was done with my New York International Gift Fair favs, but fear not, I have a few more amazing vendors for you. Again, my camera died, so no actual pictures of the show, but thankfully they all have good websites and pictures.  Here are another five vendors that give their eco best.

You can hang just about any plant from these planters from Boskke.  While the containers aren’t necessarily eco-friendly, the whole concept of bringing more green into our lives sure is.  This system allows you to grow plants where you otherwise might not be able to.  Even with my horrible luck, I might even have a fighting change trying to grow something.

I have to say that this pillow from Creative Women was one of, if not my absolute favorite pillow of the show.  I know what you’re thinking.  It’s so simple.  But there’s something about the texture, the little ruffles, the color and of course the green-ness.  It’s absolute understated elegance.  Sigh.

I have yet to do a post on bags.  I’ve been holding off because there are SO MANY people selling eco-friendly bags out there (some more eco-friendly than others if you know what I mean).  When I do finally get around to picking my top ten, Fluf will definitely be in that list.  Their fabrics are beyond chic and their bags are really well made.  What’s not to love?

I have to say I’m a sucker for contrasting welts, cording and borders.  If you don’t know what that means, well, all I’ll say is that these organic cotton towels got it goin’ on.  They’re from Joel Fitzpatrick and come in a variety of border colors.

No post is ever really complete without an area rug.  These outdoor rugs are super colorful (not as evidenced by this picture, but trust me they are) made from polypropylene recycled from soda bottles and can be hosed down.  Patterns range from traditional to what I’m a fan of, graphic.  They come from Mariachi Imports.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this second round of eco-friendly products from the New York International Gift Fair.  There were so many amazing vendors there, it’s hard to fit it all in a couple blog posts.  I’ll be following up with detailed posts about these and other vendors from the show in the coming weeks.  Stay tuned…

I just got back from the most amazing whirlwind anniversary weekend with my husband (more on that later) and straight into the whirlwind New York International Gift Fair.  For those of you who don’t know what the Gift Fair is, let me tell you.  It’s a huge show with tons of vendors selling everything from stationary to tabletop products, bedding & linens to baskets, baby products to furniture and jewelry to bags and much much more.  I went to take a peek at the fair yesterday to see what kind of eco-friendly offerings there were and boy was there a lot.  I was actually quite excited about the vintage look that seemed to pervade much of the Home show.  While I know these products weren’t actually vintage, I’m happy it’s the look right now.  One more excuse to buy used!

Unfortunately my camera decided to run out of batteries so I don’t have pictures of the show for you, although that is a picture of my loot above (I know, I know, taking all the catalogs is not very eco-friendly, but when you have a memory like mine, it’s necessary).  Thankfully the vendors have amazing websites, so I’m going to use some of their pictures instead.  As a quick tease, here are a few of my favorites below.  I’ll be posting more about these and some of the other vendors I saw in the next couple weeks so stay tuned.

This blanket comes from D. Bryant Archie Textiles.  They sell the most beautiful throw pillows and blankets from 100% alpaca or linen.  And D. Bryant Archie herself is absolutely lovely.

These pictures absolutely don’t do this linen line justice – Libeco makes the most gorgeous linen I’ve seen.  They make pillows, kitchen towels, bath towels, table linens and more.

I actually saw these “stones” from Ronel Jordaan recently at one of my vendors showrooms and was amazed at how real they look.  They’re felted wool made to look like giant stones.  You can sit on them or just look at them.  They’re sold through Amaridian.

I loved these fair trade baskets from Swahili Wholesale.  They’re made by women in Swahili out of grasses and pieces of old prayer rugs.  And they come in tons of colors.

I’ve known about Stray Dog Designs for a while but it was so great to see their products in person.  It was great to see their newest line.  Plus, I have to say their photos don’t nearly do their light fixtures justice.

Okay, that was your quick tease for now.  More details about these and other wonderful eco-friendly products to follow.