What’s New at the New York Design Center

If my social calendar is any indication, the Fall design season appears to be in full swing. Last week, I spent a few hours crisscrossing the showrooms at the New York Design Center, listening to lectures and mingling at their Fall kick-off event, “What’s New, What’s Next@200 Lex.” Included on a busy menu were personal appearances by Vladimir Kagan at Vladimir Kagan Couture, Donna Warner of Metropolitan Home at Ted Boerner, Mariette Himes Gomez introducing her new furniture collection at Hickory Chair, Margaret Russell of Elle Décor at Profiles, and Cindy Allen of Interior Design at Keilhauer. New York Spaces (Cliff Young), Manhattan Magazine, Veranda (Saladino), and Traditional Home (Grange) also participated.

The mixture of media personnel and designers, combined with the hospitality of the showrooms (okay, the wine), made the event festive and convivial, if a bit stressful in an if-it’s-7:15-this-must-be-Profiles sort of way. The only chance I had to relax was at my last event of the evening—the discussion about the set design of “Ugly Betty” hosted by Cindy Allen and Interior Design Magazine. Featuring set designers Mark Worthington and Rich Devine, the presentation offered a glimpse behind the scenes of a top-rated television production, and featured a preview of the sleek modernist sets for upcoming episodes. Both Mark and Rich felt fortunate to be working on a project that affords them so much latitude for edgy creativity.

As a procurer of design myself, I appreciate the work involved in continually producing sets that call attention to themselves rather than recede. Just filling the shelves with themed objects week after week seems like a full time job. I’ve also done business with the New York source they singled out: John Koch Antiques. I’ve only seen a few episodes of “Ugly Betty” but I think it will soon be high on my Netflix queue.