Jan 28, 2009

Gift Fair Offers Something For EveryoneBy Jill ScottNY1.com

The International Gift Fair is back in town, offering up ideas for every taste and style. NY1’s Jill Scott filed the following report.

Lamps, frames and decor galore — the New York International Gift Fair is the largest trade show in New York with 3,000 vendors from all different home and gift categories. And even though it’s open to industry only, we got a sneak peak to see some of the fun things in store for ’09.

If you have a baby in a small apartment, a new changing table may be exactly what you’re looking for.

“Brand new changing table from Sweden from Bo Design made out of birch, it has nice shelves, high sides, is contoured, no sharp edges, and close it up when you are finished,” said Jeannette Purdy, Ameico.

Speaking of changing, how about mugs with heat sensitive paint. The color and the words change depending on the temperature of what’s inside.

If you would rather look at a tea cup than drink from one, there’s a clock from Umbra which is part of a kitchy collection that gives new life to old things.

“It’s a new way of thinking of manufacturing and designing product because we are actually re-purposing found teacups that we get from vintage stores and actually take those tea cups and use it in the manufacturing, so each one is unique,” said Paul Rowan, Umbra.

Green gifts are always a hot item, especially ones that are affordable and multi-functional like one line of home products that is all made from cardboard.

“What I am showing you is our liquid cardboard line, this is material that changes shape, so you buy one vase and you get a couple of hundred different designs. Each piece forms around what’s in it, so each piece has 15 different designs,” said Vahide Pourkay, Cardboardesign.

If you’re one of those people who is always losing your keys, your sunglasses, your cellphone, you’re going to love a new hook product designed to keep everything all in one place.

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