THE 2012 NEW YORK GIFT FAIR ON TRACK SHOES

WHAT WE WISH WE COULD ORDER

We only gave ourselves the weekend to do the New York Gift Fair. For anyone who has been there you'll sympathize with the absurdity of this statement. For those who haven't attempted the Fair lets just say it would be like saying you gave yourself the weekend to eat a dessert at every restaurant in Manhattan. You can't do it and don't try and tell me you could. Even if you aren't stopping at one single booth to buy something the amount of merchandise that you need to scan is unimaginable. Fortunately the venues are broken up into areas that somewhat follow a set of general descriptions. This helps to narrow down the aisles that are mandatory to see and those you can afford to skip if you're going to do the fair as a sprint rather than a marathon.

At Home is mostly furniture and accessories for the home; oh, a stray vendor trying to sell aprons with the catchy phrase, "Mr. Good Lookin is Cookin" might pop up in the mix but pretty much everyone conforms to the title of the area. We've learned that general gift is pretty much a bunch of awful ceramic figurines of big-eyed angels and fart cushions. New York's Newest is a mess of vendors with not much to contribute to the discussion of new unless it means new to the list of the 100 worst items of the show. They wisely have shoved this area off to the most isolated pier. It's kinda sad walking the aisles here. Most of the vendors sit on cold metal folding chairs eating garlic laden Chinese food while talking to their hands. None of these items made it to our wish list. However these items did:

These metal mirrors were spectacular. The picture might not give you a true sense of their size and impact but they were beautiful. Unfortunately, at a retail price of $1000 we had to pass them up...this time.

Go Home had one of our favorite furniture pieces, the Bucher Wardrobe. We could see a whole wall of these lined up in someone's library. Based on the old ice cooler, the bulky hardware with the wire shelves and the glass-fronted doors was impeccably styled with beautiful silver pieces. If you look really closely you can see a very handsome older man reflected in one of the glass doors hoping that reflection will have the powers of Dorian Grey's mirror and at the least return his hairline back to 1985. Check them out at:

http://gohomeltd.com.

These cashmere throws by Yak Mountain Looms were so luxurious I'd even consider jumping under the covers with Snooki if she were wrapped up in one of these. The fringe detail is perfect and they come in over sixty colors. Their rep told me if I didn't see the color I wanted I could give them a pantone chip and they'd match the dye, a decorator's dream. But that kind of quality and customization comes with a price, one I didn't even dare to ask.









WHAT WE DID ORDER

Saturday, our first sprint through the market in our track shoes, didn't leave us with having written a single order. We saw things that peeked our interest but not enough to make us plunk down an opening order. We were holding out for that "wow" item that was going to make us stop in our tracks and sign on the bottom line. On Sunday we found just that thing. Who knew it was going to be napkins that would make us cross our legs with excitement. Rick saw them first from across a packed aisle of scurrying buyers. Sold on rolls like paper towels were cocktail napkins, dinner napkins and placemats made of very fine linen from My drap. Perfect for parties, these napkins come either 50 to a roll for the cotton cocktail size or 12 to a roll for the linen dinner and placemat versions. You simply tear them off at the perforated line. They're reusable, up to six washes and they come with a printed stitch line that makes them appear as if you bought them at Bergdorf's in the fine linen section.

The sixty degree weather in New York was so misleading we thought we had missed spring and were going to be way behind in turning our backyard into a courtyard for our garden center. It was panic that pushed us into Gold Leaf's booth. In the center of their booth we found these gorgeous earthenware pots; enormous pots, made from a chocolate clay in these huge contemporary shapes. These pots were so delicious we bit on them and you'll be seeing them at the shop this coming garden season.

We filled another void at the store when we found flatware that works with all our contemporary tabletop items. We'd been looking for something you wouldn't find at your local department store bridal registry department. It ain't easy, but in Prestige Cutlery & Gifts booth the owner, a big Jewish guy with a yamaka and wild sense of humor, told us these eating utensils were the "bomb". We think so too.









WHAT MADE US LAUGH
Running the aisles of the show is so tiring that by the end of the day you can reach a point where you just become giddy. Everything looks hysterical and these items kept the laughter rolling - in a good way.

Everyone is trying to go green and there were plenty of vendors at the show cashing in on the trend. Crocs are quickly becoming the Tickle-me-Elmo castaways of the past decade. Millions of pairs of rubber shoes were ending up in landfills across the nation until these imaginative dumpster divers found a way of turning rubber into gold. All of these rings are made from melted down Crocs and molded into fashion accessories even Paris Hilton would be proud to wear.

Sara Gallo created another alternative use for something Carrie Bradshaw would die for. When Emmy was little and before Polly Pockets came into vogue she loved her Barbies. We had four-dollar Barbies, Stewardess Barbies, Pilot Barbies and Collectable Barbies. The one thing they all had in common was by the second day after purchase they were shoeless. Where these shoes ended up heaven knows but barefoot and braless they were. I have no idea about the bras but now I know where all those shoes went. This jewelry was a hoot. Bracelets made from thousands of tiny Barbie shoes. What grown woman wouldn't want a shoe collection for their wrist rivaling that of a Beverly Hills housewife, if only in miniature.

From shoes to underwear, the laughter kept right on coming. The boys at the Candi Factory have designed the coolest cotton u-trau for men and women. The designs are either humorous or a little on the bawdy side and the color palettes are both sophisticated and fun. Even at my advanced age I could feel about thirty years younger in a pair of these boxers.

The organizers of the NYIGF selected a panel of bloggers to search the fair and come up with their Bloggers' Choice awards from the Accent on Design section. This winning product, now mind you they only picked six out of millions of possibilities, is called Bang by Bitplay. This could be the new hot item for next Christmas. I'm not sure but the NRA may have been the seed money behind this one. It's the newest entry into the violence market. I think I'm going to stick with the clapper: clap on, clap off...the clapper. Lights out.

A VALENTINE EVENT FOR THE WOMAN IN YOUR LIFE
On Thursday, February 9th we're holding a sale featuring the bags of Schulabag, the jewelry of Black Button Studio, and special Valentine gifts for your last minute shopping. There's going to be buckets of beer, mules in mason jars, and noshes to keep the hunger away so you can focus on finding the perfect Valentine gift for that special someone. Whether it's for your lover, your mother, your best friend, your daughter or yourself, if you find it we'll wrap it for you.
5 - 9 at the store: 1227 East Wilson between Few and Baldwin

THE GALLERY

Make Up Mirror, 1953
Thurston Hopkins, photographer
Represented by Photographers Gallery