Are you wacky for modernism? And you’re in New York, or will be coming during the holiday season? If so, you must plan a visit to MOMA to see their new exhibit, Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity. Until it was shut down by the Nazis, Bauhaus was a hotbed of creative thinking, re-examining all the ways of modern life, and influencing everything from architecture to fashion, from painting to furniture-making. This ambitious survey tries to get at what Bauhaus was through exhibits, a “lounge,” and hands-on art-making workshops.

The image above, from the show, is Oskar Schlemmer’s “Bauhaus Stairway.”

See more at www.moma.org

Over on the forum, the Sheffield School just announced a new design contest.  Following up October’s “Fall Color” contest, which ended this past weekend, is the new contest for November.

This time around, in celebration of the upcoming holiday season, we decided to make the them of the contest “Holiday Party Decor”.

The task: Imagine a space, any space.  It can be your home or event, any place you would want to host a holiday celebration.  Then let us know how you plan to decorate the place.  Be as creative as you want and feel free to choose the holiday that most inspires you.

To submit your decor theme, post a description of your party decoration on the forum - in the November Design Contest thread.  A simple description will do, though we encourage the use of any photos or sketches that help explain your ideas.

The contest will run until December 1st, at which time the winner will receive a Sheffield School t-shirt, as well as the Williams-Sonoma Holiday Entertaining Book.  Read more about the contest on the Forum.  Good luck to all.

As promised, another installment of my BizBash Expo review - this time, with a focus on the great fabric and furniture vendors that were exhibiting. Perhaps its a sign of the allegedly abating recession, but glitz and glamour were certainly a trend for the stalwarts of theatrical fabric and event supply and furniture rentals. Take a look!

Powerhouse fabric companies Dazian and Rose Brand - think backdrops for theater productions, Broadway, television, events, and awards shows like the Oscars - showed vibrant textiles covered in crystals, bedecked with glitter, and strung with LEDs.  Both booths were so uplifting! Of course, the bread and butter of these companies is their basic black duvateens and white cotton ducks and sheers - these inexpensive fabrics are used constantly to drape and hide staging, AV equipment, lighting trusses, and more.

My beloved Party Rental, Ltd. set up a table absolutely choked with pieces from their burgeoning rental collection. Party Rental rents everything from basics like tablecloths and chairs to specialty items like glass chargers and miniature porcelain salt dishes. Their glass and crystal-laden table definitely had wow power - I could barely capture it with my little camera!

Speaking of glitz and glam, the booth for Signature Event Rentals flaunted their specialty: over-the-top furniture and decor rentals. Signature is the place to go for things like mirrored tables, stamped leather chairs, gold and silver lame couches, oversized crystal lamps, and quilted luxe furnishings.

There were many other rental companies in attendance, but two most worth mentioning that I was not able to photograph are Ruth Fischl - the Queen of exquisite fabrics and accessories - and Taylor Creative, THE place to rent clean, modern furniture and props.

The other week I had an opportunity to check out what is by far one of my favorite industry events: the annual NYC BizBash Expo, held at the Javits Convention Center - one of five annual trade shows hosted by BizBash across the country.

Based here in NYC, BizBash is a national media company with outlets both online and in print that has quickly become the go-to source for information, trends, forecasts, and insight into the events industry. In addition to the Expo, BizBash has a Hall of Fame and Event Style Awards program to recognize and reward top vendors.

The tradeshow floor of the BizBash Expo floor brought together thousands of event professionals and exhibitors - everything from event security firms to venues to fabric companies to floral designers.  I met loads of people and took loads of pictures, and will be sharing a small taste of what I saw here on Stylehound.

First up? A truly unique vendor category: all kinds of performers, performance artists, and dancers for hire. Hiring these talented folks is a popular way to add character, atmosphere, and entertainment to an event. Does that seem farfetched? It isn’t! We have worked with professional performers for all kinds of events.  A favorite personal example: for a book launch party, we once “rented” actors dressed in turn-of-the-century costumes to act as guests from an bygone era.

Here are some of the myriad performers I captured at the Expo:

This gent was dressed as a Christmas tree - and was on stilts!

Another chap, juggling - and also on stilts!

Don’t worry, she was on stilts too!

Then, there were performers in incredible, perception-altering costumes:

These performers were from ACROBACK Productions, the firm that provided general atmosphere for the Expo, and BONGARBIZ.

There were also a handful of ladies from one of my favorite companies, the Screaming Queens.  Take a look at their table lady! She was literally standing in the center of a round table on casters that allowed her to walk through the event, offering all kinds of treats on her tabletop.

Of course, some of the exhibitors in costume were not performers at all, they were just dolled up to attract attention or - let’s be honest - for the sheer fun of it! I have a feeling a mix of those factors was at play for these two gentlemen hamming it up at the New York Zoos and Aquariums booth (a rental venue).

As you can imagine, the Expo was a lot of fun, but it was also truly informative. Keep an eye on the blog to see more reports from this industry-insider trade show.

Trust James Dyson to come up with the bladeless fan.  Dyson, designer extraordinaire and the inventor of the Dyson vacuum cleaners, has come up with a different method of blowing air to your face.

Using a turbo-charged motor, pressurized air is forced through a narrow aperture and accelerated along the ring-like structure. This creates a jet stream that sucks in the air from all around the fan and multiplies the air flow, hence the name “Air Multiplier”.

Without blades, the air flow doesn’t have the usual choppy effect and travels smoothly to fan your face.  The minimalist ring structure also results in a sculptural effect - a beautiful addition to any tabletop.  Take a look at the Dyson Air Multiplier at their website.

Got a little time on your hands? Then you, too, could spend a week attaching 20,000 Lego pieces to a kitchen island to create an playful look for your kitchen.

That’s what the Parisian design team Munchausen—Simon Pillard and Phillipe Rosetti— did, working with an IKEA base in their own kitchen.

See the details here:

http://www.thecoolhunter.net/article/detail/1628/lego-kitchen

When thinking about the waste we humans create, think about Halloween: all those synthetic costumes used once, never again worn, come November 1st tossed on the trashheap of over-indulgence. And they’re often not designed with as much panache as you yourself could put in them.

It’s time for Halloween to go green. And so much cheaper, and more fun, too, to make your own costume—whether it’s a simple white sheet with eye holes cut out, or a papier mache mask, or a kitty-cat suit using your own yoga clothes. Get the kids involved in making their own costumes, and let them compete to see who can make the greenest! And it’s even more fun as Inhabitat is having a contest for green Halloween costumes, which you can enter here:

http://greenhalloween.inhabitat.com

If you enter, send in a photo of yourself to us, and we’ll post it here, too.

By the way, Inhabitat is definitely worth checking out whether you’re busy making a green costume or not. It’s a site devoted to the dovetailing of great design and sustainability, started by New York City designer Jill Fehrenbacher. They have really cool news about really cool designs help save the planet, like this rocking chair.

http://www.inhabitat.com/

Mark your calendars: on Tuesday, November 10, the Internatioanl Furnishings and Design Association is hosting its annual Rising Stars Interior Design Cocktail/Networking Reception and awards ceremony. It be held at 7 W. 34th Street, 11th Floor, starting at 5:30 p.m.
New York designer Jamie Drake will exchange ideas with this year’s honorees, John Wiley, Sara Story and Shawn Henderson.

For details, go to

http://www.7wnewyork.com/market_information/designerdays.cfm

The Vipp Collection at Design Within Reach

Ever since first laying eyes on a Vipp refuse can, I was in love. The Danish company’s cans are unmatched in their combination of aesthetic appeal with functionality - sharp lines and neutral colors with an easy-to-clean finish and a wide rubber foot pedal. It helps that they have been hand-constructed from quality materials since the company’s inception in 1939.

This month, Vipp is once again teaming up with DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS) and Design Within Reach for CAN IT!!!, an effort to raise awareness and funds. They have asked a group of significant artists, designers, entertainers, and celebrities to transform Vipp bins into art objects, with amazing, and amazingly varied, results.

The final bins are on display at the DWR Tools for Living Store at 142 Wooster Street in Manhattan until October 28th, and are available for advance bidding. On the 28th, the celebration gala and final auction hosted by DWR, Vipp, and DIFFA will take place at the DWR flagship store at 110 Greene Street, with proceeds going to DIFFA’s important work. Bidders will be invited to this otherwise private event.

I had a chance to visit the DWR Tools for Living store last night, and was truly impressed with the bins and the store (which I learned from delightful salesman Steve has only been open a little over a year). If you are in the area, I recommend a visit!

Here are some of my (somewhat biased) favorites:

Jes Gordon

Avi Adler and John Baldessari

David Rockwell

Cole Garett and Yves Behar

All images ©Vipp via If Its Hip, Its Here. More information and images are available there.

One of the companies to fall under the wheels of the economic collapse last year was Shabby Chic, the company that pioneered the look of homey femininity with an elegant touch that reached its popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

But the company has sprung back to life, thanks to a new investor, and possibly thanks to the very economic blow-out that forced it to shut down. The look—infinitely comforting without sacrificing sophistication—was most popular when the economy of the 1980s was in serious trouble. So it may be perfect timing to bring out those distressed white dressers and faux-crystal chandeliers.

As it happens, the Room of the Month on Designer Monthly takes a look at a room done in this style; you can see photos and read about it here:
http://www.sheffield.edu/designermonthly/rooms/room-of-the-month1009.html

We found the article on the New York Times today—the photo below is from the article, and is taken by Art Streiber of Shabby Chic. You can read the article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/garden/15shabby.html