smow design spring: aufgetischt

The NYC Post Police – tailed our every move and word

Your (smow)blog team didn’t become the internationally feared and monitored crew we are simply because we travel the world fearlessly attending opening night parties.
Oh no! We achieved our notoriety on account of our excellent network of contacts among designers, producers, critics and delivery drivers. Nothing but nothing passes us by.

As observant readers may have noticed, during our visit to the ICFF we did spend quite a lot of time complaining about the lack of tables in the press room.

And now we must admit that during ICFF we did solve the riddle.
Magis had of course delivered tables for the press room.

Piggyback by Thomas Heatherwick for Magis

In addition to supplying Chair First by Stefano Giovannoni Magis also supplied their wonderful Piggyback tables by Thomas Heatherwick.

Magis are serious and reliable partner, why would they not supply tables?

Only the Piggyback tables became damaged during set-up and spent the show stowed in a store room deep in the bowels of the Javits Centre.

And no-one from the ICFF organisation sought to seek replacements.

Behind the scenes there was a lot of talk of unions and “official processes”, but for us the fact of the missing press room tables summed up ICFF beautifully and underlines why for us it was the weakest and worst organised of the events we attended as part of the smow design spring.

Which isn’t to be interpreted as direct criticism of those who are responsible for the press work, they are also merely a partner of the organiser, and it is they who carry ultimate responsible for the shoddiness: Along with the Javits Center management.

Tints by Jason Miller – one of the true stars of ICFF 2009

The word on the street in New York was that next year ICFF may do away with the press room all together, which is truly a sad indictment on the show and how seriously it is taken. In addition to the established critics amongst the traditional media – alone the vicinity to the New York Times must, must count – America is home to some excellent design blogs, we name alone Core 77 and design milk as two that we follow and read with interest and which amuse and entertain.

When we think of, for example, Milan where from early morning to late evening texts are written, interviews carried out, pictures edited and videos cut in a dozen languages. And then New York where all too often we sat alone on the floor, or when we had company it was inevitably executives from some B2B publication deciding who to sell advertising space to.

Tablefights – we know just how they feel

Instead of further discouraging reports the ICFF should be actively recruiting those who can bring the products to the masses and so encourage other producers to book space. Or should that ugly, dirty and unkempt space at the back of the hall grow even larger?

We will be back in New York next year, not least because we  want to kick Ami timber at the 2010 Table Fights Championships – if we attend ICFF, however, remains to be seen.

We made a few fantastic discoveries at ICFF not least Jason Miller, Blu Dot and Iglooplay; three discoveries that more or less justified the air fares. But if that alone is worth struggling with a barely functioning Internet and inadequate facilities to promote an event run by an organisation who lack the ability to place two tables is a room – and that despite having rented some 145,000 net square feet to furniture producers – that remains to be seen.