What are the exciting reasons aspire had the best NYCxDESIGN ever in 2024? Like many of our favorite design community developments, this started with a great collaboration. The talented team behind aspire design and home joined forces with NYCxDESIGN. Together, we created GRID: The Official NYCxDESIGN Festival Guide. We were proud to craft this useful reference for anyone attempting to navigate the festival’s multi-borough abundance. The process also helped us shape a line-up of aspire Design Tour events that proved a perfect complement to NYCxDESIGN’s plans. Read on for a taste of what team aspire cooked up during this ultimate celebration of design.
Because There’s No Business Like Showroom Business
Design pros know that NYCxDESIGN encompasses so much more than what’s going on at the Javits Center during ICFF. As the city comes alive with design, it is an opportunity for our bustling design showrooms to call attention to their most exciting offerings. Our events officially kicked off May 16 via an extravagant designer brunch with Fisher & Paykel — where aspire editor Deborah L. Martin welcomed guests amidst mouth-watering treats served from top-of-the-line pieces for the kitchen.
Meanwhile, over at the D&D Building, aspire Design Tour attendees toured the Innovations showroom for an up-close look at the company’s full assortment of wallcoverings, which include everything from capiz shells and upcycled newsprint (good news only) woven together by hand, to natural materials like cork and grasscloth, to vinyls that mimic everything from leather to beaded glass.
Back at the A&D Building, the aspire Design Tour continued at Ferguson, where the crowd oohed and aahed in a beautifully designed kitchen space where the refrigerator was expertly turning out cappuccinos. Then, we got a double dose of design as we explored Florense‘s furnishings with their fatto a mano (or “handmade”) touch. Why a double dose? Because Florense was also hosting a pop-up presence from Studio M — among them the beautiful Gusto lighting collection from César Giraldo, who would also guest at another special event. (More on that later!)
As Our Whirlwind Tour of the A&D Building Continued…
We nearly lost a few tour members among the sleek and spacious showroom of Poliform, where we could have happily moved in to any of the room vignettes — even the super luxe closets. Fortunately, stragglers caught up in time to experience the symphony of color and texture at Hastings Bath Collection, where pieces like their award-winning Allegro Console are available in an eye-catching collection of 44 vibrant hues.
On our next stop at the Edward Fields showroom, we learned about the inspiration and intricate, hand-sculpted approach behind the Reverence edition of area rugs, designed for the company by Fernando Mastrangelo. We also got a behind-the-scenes look at how Bennett Leifer’s dramatic foyer design for this year’s Kips Bay Decorator Show House came to life employing Edward Fields carpet from floor to ceiling.
And we raised a glass at True Residential during a guided tour from the granddaughter of the company’s founder. The crowd was absolutely absorbed as she traced the brand’s rise from purveying commercial refrigeration for soda pop to offering some of the world’s most beautiful pieces of refrigeration available to homeowners.
Because We Love Partying Like It’s NYCxDESIGN
Many NYCxDESIGN events greet attendees with a celebratory air, but evening events tend to be particularly festive — coming as they often do on the heels of long days spent running around the city. For example, our busy day of showroom tours (described above) culminated in a visit to Ethan Allen, where we co-hosted a celebration with the brand that Newsweek has named America’s number-one retailer in premium furniture. The gathering also boasted a particularly premium attendee — Chairman, President, and CEO of Ethan Allen Farooq Kathwari — who spoke briefly about how the company, founded 92 years ago, has evolved into one of the world’s leading design destinations. Attendees had additional reason to celebrate as the lovely Ethan Allen Midtown Design Center where we gathered is about to celebrate its first anniversary.
The following evening saw multiple showrooms of the A&D Building’s third floor join forces for an Opening Weekend Reception. The theme took guests on an international journey through the designs and cuisines of multiple countries. These included Fisher & Paykel from New Zealand, Florense from Brazil, Studio M Lighting from the U.S., and Cosentino from Spain. Members of the aspire team were on hand to mingle and perform impromptu interviews about the fun and magic of NYCxDESIGN. (Follow us on Instagram to be notified when we release the fun content it turned into.) The evening culminated in an exciting visit from Giraldo, who had just arrived to make his festival rounds.
Because Design Is at Home in Harlem
NYCxDESIGN proudly bills itself as a multi-borough event, and we were proud to make sure Harlem was well represented in 2024 with the inaugural Harlem Design Tour. Inspired by the cultural richness of the Harlem Renaissance, this immersive event paid homage to the resilience and creativity of the African American community. Guests enjoyed curated trolley, walking and cart tours through Harlem neighborhoods, encountering landmarks including the historic brownstones of luminaries such as Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou. Local artists and musicians showed all in attendance that Harlem’s legacy of cultural expression lives on today. And beloved Harlem establishments such as the boutique NiLu Harlem and historic speakeasy Minton’s Playhouse helped continue the celebration on into the evening.
Because We’re Continuing the Conversation
New York is home to 60,000 designers and architects with 8,000 firms, 1,000 museums and galleries, and 10 of the world’s top design schools. Add to that the many thousands of visitors in town for NYCxDESIGN, and you’ve got a recipe for stimulating design conversations throughout the city. One unique venue where several such conversations occurred was the impressive theater space at Samsung 837 in the Meatpacking District. There, aspire was thrilled to be the media sponsor of the inaugural DESIGNComm Summit curated by Digital Thread Consulting and comm collective.
An empowering afternoon brought together creatives, innovators, and thought leaders in design, media, finance, and technology to discuss vital topics like “AI-powered Tools & Strategies,” “Finances in Design,” “Monetizing Your Brand,” and “Getting Published in an Evolving Media Landscape,” which included aspire deputy editor Jennifer Quail as a panelist.
Because We Kept Sipping and Seeing and Shopping
As NYCxDESIGN sashayed into its second week, we had more showrooms to see — highlighting additional neighborhoods with significant design presence. For example on May 22, we hosted a pair of “Sip & See” events in NYC’s Flatiron and SoHo neighborhoods. During a lovely breakfast at Nemo Tile + Stone, aspire’s Jennifer Quail was joined by interior designer Beth Diana Smith and Nemo’s creative and design director Katie Michael Battaglia for an engaging conversation about modernizing classic design themes for today’s interiors.
We also headed to Original BTC, where Vincent Victorio and aspire’s Paul Hagen raised a glass to the company’s unique lighting offerings and discussed details about their design. For example, did you know that the company’s famous bone china is crafted in Stoke-on-Trent, setting of the delightful reality series “The Great Pottery Throwdown“?
Because of Our Grand Finale
When we awoke the morning of May 23, it was too soggy for a sunrise. But some morning showers were not enough to keep away the crowds from our grand finale: AJMadisonPro Experience Day. Attendees there — including honored representatives from NKBA — had one more chance to experience so many of our favorite things about NYCxDESIGN. There was an exclusive showroom tour with an emphasis on how AJ Madison provides special service to designers and other members of the trade. During an especially lively panel on “Unpacking Unpopular Opinions” — about upholding or outsmarting industry trends — aspire moderator Paul Hagen was joined by designer Leyden Lewis, architect Erika Belsey Worth and AJ Madison’s own Jessica P. Ball. And attendees had one more chance to discover something wonderful with a Maker’s Fair showcasing Brooklyn Roasting Company, DMC Original Art, FOLKUS, Grow House Grow, Jane Pollak, MUD, Shakuff and Vallnez Mozell.
Because of What Comes Next
All of this excitement connected to exploring NYCxDESIGN in the moment is only the beginning of our journey. A vibrant conversation continues between aspire and NYCxDESIGN about how we can continue to use GRID in the months ahead to communicate how the festival reverberates long after the last parties are thrown and installations have been carted away.
The designs we saw on display will continue to inspire more exciting articles in the print edition of aspire design and home magazine and here online. Plus, we look forward to keeping in touch with new design community connections as we craft future opportunities to network and discover at area showrooms. What’s more, in two shakes of an upholsterer’s tassel, we will all be making preparations for NYCxDESIGN 2025.
So thanks again to all who joined us at events or followed the festival through aspire design and home. We love seeking the sublime with you.
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