NYC - first impressions

Didn't actually go inside (yet) but MAN I am so excited to visit the New Museum of Contemporary Art, designed by Japanese architects SANAA. It's on Bowery, right near where we're staying. AAgghhh. It is so beautiful. My photos and the dodgy photo-stitch effort just don't do it justice. Better shots here.

dodgy photo-stitch. Sorry.

Just walking around in the sun. The bottom shot is right near where we're staying in the East Village. What is it that makes those NY fire escapes so beautiful to look at? They shouldn't be beautiful but they are.

Oh it appears I have already fallen behind here! Whoops. How neglectful. New York City is a busy and distracting place! However I am making the most of my jetlag... been wide awake since 3.00am, so figured I might as well be blogging :)

We spent day 1 wandering around the East Village and Soho, walking around in a total daze... There is so much of everything. Seriously - you go to buy a bagel and an orange juice and there's, like, 48 different bagel flavours and 18 different orange juices! Not kidding! Decision-making is quite an effort in New York City! Anyway there is too much to filter... but will try to summarise my first impressions -

Jonathan Adler store in Soho - Super-cute, super colourful and super kitsch homewares and furniture. Bit twee and over-decorative for me, but that's their schtick I guess. Still, gorgeous little space with lots of eye candy and pieces ot make you smile! The sales girls were also the friendliest in the whole of Soho!

Droog NYC - High-concept just hit a new level. Amazing space - see shots below. I don't know what was actually for sale, it was more like a museum of kooky pieces... no price tags in sight. Super snobbish staff, so taking photos was pretty terrifying... hence most of the shots here are from the Droog website.



Loved Droog's flat-pack furniture... cute also how they're displayed the pieces alongside the flat-pack sheets.

Crate and Barrel and CB2 (Crate and Barrel's more contemporary offshoot?) - not so inspiring. Kind of Freedom-furniture meets Ikea? I was a bit disappointed. :(

Bloomingdales - Awesomeness. Bought some sunnies. Marc by Marc Jacobs for US$98. !! that seems cheap to me..? Good things on sale - up to 40% off! Great for menswear actually. Makes you realise how lacking good menswear is in Melbourne! Gord had his eye on the Helmut Lang and APC jeans...

Design Within Reach - Eames and lots more licensed twentieth century stuff. Gorgeous showroom, nice staff (there was lots of snobbishness in Soho so anyone who smiled at me gets a mention!). I don't quite get the 'within reach' thing though. Is that supposed to mean it's affordable? It seemed pretty swish to me. Confused.

Taschen bookshop Soho - brillant. SO cheap, so good. How do they do it? Gorgeous design books starting at US$15.00. And that's not even a sale price! I fell in love with New New York Interiors. Why are books so big and heavy?

APC - everyone said to go here, and Gord swear by APC jeans so we had to visit. But... must say... I don't quite get it! Don't get me wrong - it's a gorgeous loft-like space, characterised by wide rustic floorboards... (so rustic and uneven, in fact, that they were quite a tripping hazard!). Amidst all the other Soho retail offerings, APC definitely stood out for its stylish yet restrained feel and classic, super-simple fit-out. But... the clothes.... so young and girly and floral...! I don't know.. they didn't grab me.

APC shop. Love those rustic floorboards! Shots from here.

Does this look like a film-set of what? The sun hitting the cobble stones... the huge floor to ceiling windows in this shopfront. I love New York windows! That truck on the left with the steam coming out it's exhaust looks totally staged. Then on the right some dude is sitting on a chair on the 'sidewalk' just working on his laptop...?


I think this is the sales office for the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) / Rem Koolhaas' ambitious development at 23 East 22nd st. I just liked the Neon signs, really. Also the proposed tower they're designing is pretty cool too... see below. (Shots from ArchDaily, more info there.)