Aug 23, 2011

5 Offbeat Design Picks From a Flash Sale GuruBy Janelle ZaraArtInfo.com

New York, NY – As Bradford Shellhammer knelt on the floor of the Jacob K. Javits center during the New York International Gift Fair, he was fishing for something special in his purple and white striped backpack. What he pulled a out was a gadget not terribly dissimilar to ’90s fad, the Trapper Keeper, to show one of the fair’s exhibiting designers: a Grid-It organizer, a board covered in elastic bands that neatly holds and displays the contents of your backpack. “This is one of my favorite things ever,” he said. “It keeps everything in your bag organized!”

In between shopping for designer goods, he was essentially doing what he does for a living: spreading the word on a design object he adores. Shellhammer, together with co-founder Jason Goldberg, runs Fab.com, a members-only flash sale site specializing in design. Since its official launch in June, Fab.com has unequivocally exploded onto the design scene. In two months, the design e-tailer skyrocketed its membership 800 percent to half a million customers, selling wares ranging from New York-made biodegradable umbrellas to handcrafted Nepalese furniture.

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