Greater New York

Cindy Allen -- Interior Design, 9/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Every year, when Interior Design returns to New York, the city welcomes us anew. From all vantages, the immense, awe-inspiring landscape emerges before us. Rich in talents of every kind, New York is still the quintessential symbol of creativity. We learn this as we walk its avenues, shop its stores, meet in its offices, and visit its lofts. The experience of New York triggers a rush of exquisite taste and ineffable beauty.

And yet, no matter how close we are, the city has the uncanny ability to be ever so unexpected. At every step, New York surprises even the savviest street-hound with its decorative wealth that keeps acquiring new looks, solutions, and trends. Designers and architects are the protagonists in this perpetual cycle of renewal, traveling from around the world to contribute their unique visions to the city.

As the magazine's new editor in chief, and a New York girl with a driving passion for its ever-changing moods, I am thrilled to present—together with my nonpareil team of editors and contributors—the September issue. Our pages reflect New York as the epicenter of style and innovation. But New York style is not just Manhattan style, and we have followed its influence to the outer boroughs and distant commuter oases, journeying to those farthest points where New York design meshes with rural living in singular new styles. In doing so, our September portfolio of projects offers perhaps a model—rigorously discriminating, but by no means limiting—of how design can examine, flourish, and expand its influence. Others will soon follow.

The unstoppable progress of design into the heartland of American taste and aesthetics will be one of the magazine's important missions during my editorial tenure.