I dragged my luggage through long corridors, up into the subway, down escalators and carried bulging bags filled with awesome magazines, incredible gifts from BlogFest2012, battled rain and ended walking barefoot in Brooklyn on a particularly pouring evening; I met design celebrity after design celebrity, spoke with amazing people, stuffed my pockets with business cards and toasted many champagne glasses; I met an amazing family owned business (the one and only Kravet), snapped picture after picture, took notes and went to bed at ridiculously late hours, learning about design day in and day out. I came home exhausted but over the moon.
Where in the world did I go????
Two words: Blogfest 2012.
The Kravet Group launched the Blogfest 2012 concept in 2011. It has since become an amazingly popular destination for interior designers and bloggers who blog about design. This year, registration for the event sold out in 4 hours! Blofest 2012 defines itself in these words : Blogfest is a three day tour designed exclusively for interior design bloggers featuring the industry’s top shelter magazines, A-list design celebrities and breathtaking venues.
Follow me as I take you along and share highlights of my trip.
When: Monday May 21st, 2012
First Stop: ICFF -International Contemporary Furniture Fair
Before meeting our Blogfest hosts and friends, we were offered an optional ticket to the ICFF. I took advantage of this time to take a few photos of interesting items.
Stone Source- screen printed Porcelain tiles in incredible colors and patterns.
Stone Source tiles.
More tiles by the same vendor:
I finally saw the famous Family Chairs by Design House Stockholm :
Family Chairs
I loved these sculpted bowls from the same vendor:
Ceramic bowls by Design House Stockholm
I really had to stop and admire the lines by Manulation, a Serbian Designer, making traditional wood carved furniture since 1927, and now also offering a modern line:
Wood furniture by Manulation.
I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw the following work by Asher Israelow:
Spalted Beech Wood Chair by Asher Israelow. Incredibly comfortable and beautiful design. Desk in background is by same designer.
This chair also by Israelow was very comfortable as well and the leather offered a soft contrast next to the wood grain.
And this piece by Wewood, a Portuguese Joinery, made of French oak was superb:
Wewood French oak piece with beautifully crafted drawers would make a nice statement in a room or in an entry foyer. You could put all your keys, mail and small items in it!
Next I gravitated towards wall coverings and fabrics:
Textile Print Designer Julie Kouamo is based in London where she creates wall coverings and fabrics. She likes to create textural patterns mixing old and new dyeing and printing techniques.
Another creation by Julie Kouamo, in which she draws inspiration from printing techniques used in her native Cameroon and mixes them in with photographic elements drawn from nature.
Juju Papers Handmade wallpapers from Portland, Oregon were whimsical and could look fabulous inside a child’s bedroom for example.
Another design by Avery Thatcher of Juju Papers.
Double R Studio eco-friendly wallpapers. Artist Rosa Ruey is inspired by organic shapes and Chinese landscaping painting.
A few close-ups:
Shalimar Pattern.
Viceroy Palace Pattern.
In a very different style, these hand-painted wall coverings by Vahallan Papers were wonderfully textured and imitated metals to a T:
Destiny by Vanhallan Papers.
Urbana by Vanhallan Papers.
This sublime chandelier by Tracy Glover captivated my attention:
Handblown glass Silver lining Chandelier by Tracy Glover.
I am seeing more and more incredible outdoor furniture and fabrics. The following surprised me by their design, which I felt were very accomplished:
Barcelona foozball indoor and outdoor tables. Now, how cool was that?
Close-up view.
Massant outdoor chair.
Another lovely Massant outdoor chair.
Finally, back in the indoor furniture section, I was drawn to these unusual chairs by designer Cecilie Manz for Fritz Hansen:
Soft, curvy, sturdy and comfortable chairs by Cecilie Manz for Fritz Hansen. I love that they are so carefully crafted with soft felt like fabrics, available in dark or light grey for the exterior and warm to cool colors for the inner. A thin band of leather piping follows the edges.
What a way to start my Blogfest adventure! Thank you, Kravet and Blogfest, for this opportunity to visit the ICFF before the Blogfest kick-off!
Until next post…part 2 of Blogfest 2012 with fabulous more designs!
What a return to nature! Lots of innovative things happening in outdoors decoration, and chairs made with polished burl or natural leather! Very interesting parallel with environmental thinking. I like this blog!
Thanks
Thanks so much for visitng, Ghetta! Yes, clearly an interesting design era, with lots of textural elements and a huge nod at nature.
Barbara, I love those sculpted bowls, the leather chair by Israelow and the Juju papers! I’m excited to tag along on your trip through your photos!
That chair by Israelow is an eye catcher – such a nice, warm alternative to the Barcelona chair. Similar shape, but more homey and inviting than the Barcelona Chair’s “waiting room” feel.
And if only you had sat on it, Serra, so comfortable!!!!