Jan 4, 2013

Accent on Design Brings Influx of New Home Resources to NYIGF

An influx of cross-category home resources – a mix of furniture, lighting, textiles and tabletop products – will be presented by 12 companies newly juried into Accent on Design® at the winter 2013 New York International Gift Fair® (NYIGF®). This juried collection of nearly 200 contemporary and innovative product suppliers, representing all gift, home, and lifestyle categories, runs Sunday, January 27, through Wednesday, January 30, at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

“Diversity, in addition to design excellence, remains one of the hallmarks of Accent on Design,” said Christian Falkenberg, NYIGF director and GLM vice president. “It’s also a market for new design innovation, which we’re fostering through A+: The Young Designers’ Platform, and our recent collaboration with Red Clay to redesign the Accent on Design Award.”

The 12 companies accepted by the Accent on Design Selection Committee this winter include: Artek (furniture and lighting); Atipico (home furnishings); Emoi Lifestyle Co. Ltd. (home and office accessories); Essent-ial (home and office accessories); Humanscale (lighting); MQuan (ceramic art and objects); Nouvel Studio SA DE CV (glass tabletop); Opiary (American made, handcrafted terraforms); Pappelina AB (plastic rugs, home textiles and lighting); Teraforma (tabletop, housewares and home accessories); Urbio (modular storage system); and Wrapped LLC (wrapping paper and stationery).

In addition to these first-time participants, Accent on Design also welcomes the return of five companies – Acrylic (accessories, jewelry and bags); Built NY Inc. (bags, totes, and cases); Fatboy® USA (home accessories); LEFF (clocks); and Reisenthel Accessories (carry bags) – following a hiatus from the New York market.

Winter 2013 Accent on Design Selection Committee members are: David Alhadeff of The Future Perfect; Ilene Shaw of Shaw + Co! Productions; Kathy Thornton-Bias of MoMA; and Laura Young of Areaware. In addition to jurying applicants for Accent on Design, this group also selects participants in A+™: The Young Designers’ Platform at Accent on Design.

Additionally, NYIGF has partnered with Red Clay, a collaborative product design studio, to commission a new design for the Accent on Design® award, which has taken three different shapes since its inception in 1985. From nearly 30 designs submitted by the Red Clay online community, the “A-Twist,” designed by David Kanegsberg, an industrial designer from Pacific Palisades, CA, was selected as the winner. Beginning with the August 2013 market, the brass sculptural artwork, which mimics both the curves in the letter A and the Accent on Design logo, will be presented to winners of Accent on Design Awards for product design excellence, innovation, and creativity.

Beyond exhibits, market highlights will also include presentation of a special seminar, “Design Concept to Market: A Holistic Approach for Success,” on Tuesday, January 29, for product designers, manufacturers and entrepreneurs. Moderator Joanne Domeniconi, co-founder and chief discovery officer of Daily Grommet, will lead the discussion about product design, development and delivery to market, with subjects including selection of ideas and designers to execute, market research, licensing options, patents and IP, manufacturing and marketing and distribution. Panelists include Sandy Chilewich of Chilewich; Debera Johnson, founder of Pratt Design Incubator for Sustainable Innovation; Pablo Pardo of Pablo; Paul Rowan of UMBRA; and Stephanie Tourand of Red Clay.

For more than 25 years, Accent on Design has been the industry’s leading source of design-driven gift, home and lifestyle merchandise. Its dynamic, juried collection of 200+ contemporary and innovative products is presented semi-annually as one of 10 divisions the New York International Gift Fair®.

NYIGF is the nation’s premier gift, home and lifestyle marketplace, with 2,800 exhibiting companies featuring an extraordinary breadth and depth of design-driven home fashion products and complementary giftware. The winter market takes place Saturday, January 26, through Wednesday, January 30, 2013, at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and Passenger Ship Terminal Piers 92 and 94. Some 35,000 attendees from all 50 states and more than 80 countries worldwide are expected. Information and registration is available online atwww.nyigf.com.