It’s the moooost wonderful tiiiiiime of the yeeear!!
Yes, I’m singing.
Halloween is of course, (I suppose predictably so), my favorite holiday. And this year it’s even scarier because the election is just a few days after!
So I thought I’d commemorate this, my most sacred of holidays, with a few pieces I was unlucky enough to stumble upon in the most unlikely of places. And I’m still shakin’ in my combat boots. If you intend to read further, don’t say I didn’t warn you:
Oh, ICFF, how the industry gets a-twitter over you! We hustle and bustle over to the Javitz to buy $9 cups of coffee and stand on our feet for 16 hours straight. And it is thrilling. It is tweetable. It is enough to make me fall out of a window.
But really, it’s good. There is a genuine energy that hits you when you ride the escalator down to the wild,
neon-carpeted yonder. Beautiful work is on display. Interesting people are mingling about. Connections are being made. Ideas are being shared.
So what was this year's particular breed of buzz?
There were designers from the newest breakouts to the oldest veterans who created stunning booth spaces with rich, inviting designs. And then there were the people who made you cock your head and say "Hurnnugh?"
In fact, that is why I have taken so long to put in my two cents about New York City's most exciting design event. (Aside from the fact that I always take several months to put in my two cents about anything.) I have been in catatonic shock from the "huhs?" and the "a-what nows?" of this year's show. Plus, I admittedly go for the shock value, and knew there would be no better time of year to share these finds than now.
This time, you see, the designers who missed the boat and crashed their aesthetic hard-drive right before the show... well, those people had a theme: The Horrifying Horrors of ICFF.
Crashes of lightning and claps of thunder! Bats flying from beneath hand-woven silks and salvaged ocean wood tables! Behold…
Horrifying Horrors of ICFF #1: Chairmageddon
BRC Designs has some interesting stuff, some novel fanfare. At least they're thinking out of the box. But when that box is covered in remnant body parts from the house of wax, it's easy to flee. Enter the Risen in 30 Days Collection, actual pieces of zombie furniture—made from concrete poured into holes in the ground, and lifted out of the mold 30 days later. On second thought, pretty cool—as long as you don’t have PTSD.
Horrifying Horror of ICFF #2: Oh My God, My Wife is a Lamp
After turning the corner from Seatpocalypse 2012, right when I thought I was safe, the creepy, hollow bump of a heartbeat rose up around me. Was I hearing things? Was I finally losing it? Maybe those bloody chairs were just a figure of my imagination!
No, I was standing in front of the sterile, psychological experiment better known as the Al-Hamad Design booth. Right there, yes right there, stood the dead body of a woman-turned-lamp.
Bring on the Rorshadts good fellows at Al-Hamad, because I am going certifiably insane.
Horrifying Horror of ICFF #3: BeetleJuice, BeetleJuice, DingleBerry
The lingering haunt of dead woman heartbeat music stuck with me as I moved on to what I hoped to be breezier pastures. And then, this:
I will let you come to your own conclusions about this, um, object. Any description I have is decidedly NSFW. Didn’t catch who made this one, but I’m assuming it’s the man in the PJs. That’s both of them, by the way.
Maybe I just don't "get it," you know? That's always the fear with high-handed design. It's not for the plebes, and if you don't like it then you, sir, are a plebe.
It's the same with any extreme political stance. “Damn the rest who don't understand my viewpoint. They're just trying to hold me down.” Well, no. Actually, we just think you're off your rocker and we wish you'd pipe down a bit.
The only difference is, I hope these designers keep on doing their thing. The House of Horrors is a lot more fun than the Been There Done That Estate, of which there is always plenty. Just next time maybe try and make a lamp or a chair out of Rush Limbaugh.