Alberto Levi

NYICS 2016 | Preview

Michael Christie 6 September 2016 17 May 2023

The New York International Carpet Show (NYICS) gets underway in New York City this 11-13 September 2016 and even before the show starts it’s as though – to quote Star Wars – there is a ‘great disturbance in the force.’ As the original autumn New York City rug and carpet show there has, in years past, been a certain caché to exhibiting and attending the show, which was in no small way, due to the disrupting nature of the show when it first broke from the then stranglehold of the Atlanta Markets in 2004. By adding an ‘Antiques Pavilion’ during this year’s show, the NYICS once again attempts – to quote Star Trek – to ‘boldly go’ into the great unknown by presenting antique and collectable carpets alongside new production. While this is not uncommon in showrooms, this is a novel approach worthy of note for what it may bring to the trade show environment and marketplace in general.

Do We Need More Design? | Op-Ed

Alberto Levi 27 May 2016 17 May 2023

Lately I have been asking myself this question over and over again. Perhaps because I live in a design-obsessed city, as revealed by everything from the foam patterns on one’s morning cappuccino to the style of pyjamas one wears at night. Perhaps because we just experienced ‘Milan Design Week’, a stellar event which exhibits – on a grand, theatrical scale – the myriad of possible configurations of this word ‘design’. Perhaps because furniture design has become more responsive to commercial tastes, therefore influencing designers to come up with more of the same, without much venturing into unchartered territories.

Different Stripes | Reuber Henning

Michael Christie 9 April 2016 17 May 2023

‘How many striped rugs have we seen before?’ begins REUBERHENNING’s Birgit Krah as if she was the one asking the questions. ‘Some are nice, a lot are boring, but stripes have always been fascinating to me. It’s a timeless pattern found in fashion, furniture, and art, even in nature. Never out, always in, the design remains classic and modern, conservative yet freaky all dependant upon how you wear it or [as is the case with carpets] which apartment we put it in.’