New York Design Shows: Full of Courage and New Gifts

Every August thousands of gift shop owners and buyers travel to New York City to ready for the upcoming holiday season and to discover new gifts, home goods & design books to stock up their store. The two major events of the season, Shoppe Object at Pier 36 in Downtown Manhattan and NY NOW at Javits Center in Midtown gather hundreds of brands and makers from around the world who eagerly showcase their latest products.

Shoppe Object

Pier 36, August 14-17

Created to service progressive retail and design community, the show curates around 450 brands and makers and by this edition has become a real buzz of the town for discovering tasteful and innovative gifts and home goods.

The show is located at Pier 36 in the Seaport district of Manhattan. An hourly shuttle bus conveniently transports visitors to and from Javits Center in Midtown Manhattan where the other show, NY NOW, takes place

Each visitor to the show gets a handband

Candles by **LOHN** (meaning “scent” in Estonian)

Reversible glass vases by **Block Design**

An island of vendors focusing on brands from Japan

Portable wireless Table Lamp Ichi by **Fujita**

Blockitecture, a architecture game by **Areaware**

Happiness Pillar Candles by **Areaware**

**Flor de Maria** presenting CDB-infused chocolate

Rechargeable USB lighters by **The USB Lighter Co.**

**Onyx Coffee**, a coffee roster from Arkansas who I’ve been subscribing to for the past few years

Whimsical creatures by UK designers **Donna Wilson**

An array of colorful and curious brooches by Belgian-based brand **My Bob**

Elevated apothecary by **Hudson Made** from Upstate New York

NY NOW

Javits Center, August 14-17

First NY NOW gift show with masks off in years was planned to be a blast with hundreds of brands and thousands of visitors. While the show remains large in scale and has been making some buzz, many of the important brands and tastemakers that I expected to see, were not there.