Brooklyn's Progress
June/July 2005

The streets of DUMBO were buzzing May 6 through 8 as design professionals and curious consumers headed to the hippest of New York neighborhoods for BKLYN DESIGNS 2005.  Presented by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, the show featured Brooklyn’s brightest design stars.  Designers and manufacturers of contemporary furniture, lighting, rugs and decorative accessories displayed their work in two locations - St. Ann’s Warehouse and the newly renovated and expanded BKLYN DESIGNS Gallery.  

The show attracted 4,400 buyers, architects, designers and consumers.  According to Kenneth Adams, President of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, “Once again the show exceeded our expectations.  The overwhelming feeling was that the show is really maturing. We kept hearing over and over again how impressed the attendees were with the overall look of the exhibits as well as the quality of the work being shown.  BKLYN DESIGNS has clearly staked its claim not only in New York City but in the design industry overall.”

Innovative products on display celebrated new materials and ideas.  Some of the crowd pleasers included: everyspace’s lounge chairs that can be broken down into compact pieces in a matter of seconds; Glide’s high-tech colorful cabinets that use fingerprint recognition for access; Bart Bettencourt’s lights made from recycled scraps of wood; Here There Design’s delicate light fixtures created with innovative abaca fiber from palm fronds; Aswoon’s room dividers crafted in metal and curved wood; Oso Design’s lightweight rolling cement stools; Decoradar’s bucolic wall treatment, that upon closer inspection, featured playful hidden images and Asterisk’s Venetian plastered wallcoverings.

In the words of one visitor, Art Osborne an interior designer from Westport, Conn., “I came to the show last year and was even more impressed this time around.  I met people who live, breath, eat and sleep their craft. These exhibitors are extremely talented and as a designer finding them is truly a godsend.”

Jill Ayers of everyspace, a new exhibitor, said, “We have been so overwhelmed by the amount of positive feedback we’ve received from attendees, not just retailers and buyers but also consumers.  All of our work is modular.  Visitors were intrigued by the flexibility of the design and the materials.”

Manabu Inada of Forest Hills, Queens had this to say: “It’s so interesting to see the great mix of natural materials and cutting edge technology.  Some of these designers are using things like biotechnology concepts in furniture.  The work is very professional and sophisticated.  I am a designer myself, and I learned a lot at the show about how to move my business forward.”

Elana Frankel, Senior Editor for Architecture and Design at Metropolitan Home Magazine and a member of the BKLYN DESIGNS jury, added her thoughts, “I was really impressed with the quality of the products and the exhibits on display.  The show has grown up so much in three years.  It was a pleasure to walk the halls.”

While this year there were 19 newcomers – some that used BKLYN DESIGNS to launch their businesses – many “veterans” also joined the line-up. As Azy Schecter of KEA Carpets & Kilims put it, "This was our third year at BKLYN DESIGNS and we got some great response.  We had a constant flow of people through our space.   We were excited to see that so many people had made it across the bridge for the show.”  Her partner Susan Gomersall added, “It was like a high school reunion for the design world.  Everyone was here.”

Paul Priven, of Zia-Priven Design, was thrilled with the quality of the attendees, “In addition to design savvy consumers, we met with high-level architects, designers and buyers.  It was an ideal target audience for our company.”

According to Scott Braun of Scott Braun Furniture, “We had serious attendees that resulted in more solid sales and new relationships. In fact, I brought a table so new I was still working on it during load in, and sold it by Sunday afternoon.  That's about as rewarding as it gets. It's a pleasure to watch this show get better each year - it's become a ‘can't miss’ event for design in New York.”

BKLYN DESIGNS 2005 was made possible thanks to generous support from the following sponsors: Bosch, Thermador, Gaggenau, Two Trees Management, ABC Carpet & Home, Corcoran Group Brooklyn, Con Edison, Brooklyn Brewery, Time Out New York Kids, Interior Design, Pratt Institute, AIA, ASID and IIDA.  BKLYN DESIGNS receives additional support from Speaker Sheldon Silver and the Brooklyn Delegation to the NYS Assembly, Speaker Gifford Miller and the Brooklyn Delegation to the NYC Council and the New York City Department of Small Business Services.

For more information visit http://www.brooklyndesigns.net/ or call 718-875-1000 ext. 146.