New York on My Mind

Only in Manhattan can you arm yourself with a camera and bolts of fabric, hit the street-21st and Sixth to be exact-and literally bump into Matthew Modine...

Cindy Allen -- Interior Design, 9/1/2010 4:19:00 PM

Only in Manhattan can you arm yourself with a camera and bolts of fabric, hit the street-21st and Sixth to be exact-and literally bump into Matthew Modine. That's exactly what happened with our location shoot for "Close-Up." Of course, I asked him if he wanted in the photo but, with a friendly N.Y.C. wave, he smiled and moved on. So we settled for our own brand of street theater.

Acting aside, the city invariably yields a bumper crop of talent, which our annual New York issue assiduously harvests. No easy task from the get-go. Come summer, as you all head to the mountains or the beach, my staff fans out to all points around the five boroughs in search of the most original design on offer, whether it's a Karim Rashid boutique or a Perkins Eastman trading floor for the New York Stock Exchange. This is our home turf, after all. We greet every story with great expectation, and we feel an extra sense of accomplishment when we ship the issue off to the printer who will scatter it to myriad good hands, yours.

As I write this letter, we're actually a week late on press. But that's because, unlike those skinny magazines you've been seeing on the stands lately, we're 303 pages strong, a damn good reason for a party! (We're having one at the Ghislaine Viñas town house featured on the cover.) I was also reminded recently by my friend Jay Sweet of Boyd Lighting, who came in from San Francisco for a visit, that I have a personal reason for a celebration. How could I forget? This issue marks the beginning of my 10th year as editor in chief of Interior Design. The time has gone by in a nanosecond, and it continues to be an honor for me to celebrate your work and your achievements, which are not only shaping our universe but also enriching our lives.