Today’s big announcement: Pantone‘s 2014 Color of the Year is Radiant Orchid! Described as a color that “inspires confidence and emanates great joy, love, and health,” PANTONE 18-3224 is a bold hue that truly stands out from the reigning colors of the last few years, which have tended toward oceanic blues and greens, or summery brights.

So what can Radiant Orchid do for interiors? A room with Radiant Orchid walls will sing spring all year long! If you can’t make the leap with paint, a few choice accessories can easily add new life to a more toned-down space; the 2014 Color of the Year pairs well with olive, deeper hunter greens, and neutrals such as gray, beige, and taupe. It can also look gorgeous in a space that’s already light and bright in combination with turquoise, teal, and light yellows.

Photo Courtesy Daniel Haim.

According to Pantone, the color of the year selection requires careful consideration of color influences from all over the world, including the entertainment industry and films that are in production, traveling art collections, hot new artists, popular travel destinations, and other socio-economic conditions. Influences may also stem from technology, availability of new textures and effects that impact color, and even upcoming sports events that capture worldwide attention.

We can’t wait to see what designers from all industries will do with Radiant Orchid in 2014!

This week in Miami is crazy as Art Basel, Design Miami/ and more take over the Design District.

Yesterday, I attended the VIP preview, hosted by media sponsor Luxe Interior + Design, of Miami Project. They created three different lounges for collectors and VIP guests, all decorated by Arcterior Design, Avant Design, B Pila Design, bchome, Carriage House and Casa Interior. These beautiful places provided the perfect respite and as I traveled from one exhibitor to another.

While I loved everything I saw, I must admit that I became smitten with the two artists below.

Just look at the amazing mountains pictures captured with an iPhone and enhanced by apps.  They demonstrate how art is accessible to everyone!. The artist – the well known Penelope Umbrico – teaches at the School of Visual Art in NY.  On Saturday, she will be at Untitled in Miami Beach for a public talk.

Another favorite, Paul Villinski, who is famous for his works with butterflies and cans, on different supports. Does everyone remember the head board of Serena’s bed in Gossip Girl? If you are a DIY art enthusiast, his butterflies are available also in boxes so you can decorate your home by yourself.

The art fair is open through Sunday, December 8. Be sure to check our Facebook page for more of our favorites!

~ Post by Cecilia Fortuna

We’re primping for tonight. Held annually at Manhattan’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Interior Design‘s Hall of Fame is one of the industry’s most anticipated events (we often refer to it as the design industry’s prom). Cindy Allen and her team sure know how to bring the industry together. Over 1,300 guests will be there to honor the new inductees, who are selected from a nomination body of previous Hall of Fame members. This year, Paul Masi and Harry Bates of Bates Masi+ Architects; Colin Burry of Gensler; and Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu of Neri&Hu and Design Republic will be added to the esteemed list. A special Leadership Award goes to Kenneth Wampler of The Alpha Workshops. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Council for Interior Design Accreditation and The Alpha Workshops through a donor-designated grant for DIFFA, Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS.

Design-Calendar is proud to welcome its newest blogger, Cecilia Fortuna! Hailing from Milan, she will be covering international news & events! First up, Belgium in NYC!

D’Apostrophe, a NYC-based supplier of high-end European residential and contract furnishings, is celebrating this holiday season in style. The showroom, which is moving to a new uptown location next year, is raising a toast to the Belgian brand BULO and its 50th anniversary.

The party, held on Friday, December 6 at 394 Broadway, will mark the US launch of O Mr. President; an environmentally-friendly desk/side table that can easily live with you for the next 50 years, as well as a series of three short films exclusively created by Frederik Heyman & Wout Bosschaert for MoMu3 x Bulo.  The short films infuse the rich collection of the ModeMuseum (MoMu) Fashion Museum in Antwerp with digital life by using 3D scans and manipulations – visually combining Belgian handcraftsmanship, digital technology and renowned fashion.

Click here to RSVP!

With urban populations exploding all over the world, housing will pose a crisis for future city residents unless new residential towers are built. Therefore, Metropolis Magazine, the Steel Institute of New York and the Ornamental Metal Institute of New York are asking: What is your vision of the living cities of the 21st century?

Students and professionals are encouraged to submit proposals for the inaugural Living Cities: Residential Towers of the 21st Century Design Competition. All proposals must use a steel structural system, be 30 to 40 stories, and be sited within the five boroughs of New York. Considerations of changing workforce demographics and tenant lifestyle amenities with the role that a building’s form and features play related to constructability and sustainability are vital.

The winner will be awarded $10,000 and invited to present their proposal at the Institutes’ conference in New York City.

Deadline: January 3, 2014

For more information and to register, visit www.metropolismag.com/living-cities

MODU, “Dust Wall,” 2013

Know your rights. Air rights, that is. That was the focus of Weather (Un)Control – an eye-opening installation by MODU presented by the Storefront for Art and Architecture as part of Marfa Dialogues/NY last week.

Ten percent of New York City buildings sustained storm damage from Hurricane Sandy but while the authorities focus their attention on rebuilding, there is one lingering effect that goes completely unnoticed: air contamination. Dust in Sandy-affected buildings – including asbestos, silica, and gypsum – lingers in the air and even worsens with the rebuilding that follows. With no government agencies monitoring indoor air quality, oversight has been left in the hands of insurance companies who rely on visual inspections and rooftop monitors to measure indoor and outdoor air quality.

To demonstrate the inefficacy of this approach, MODU designed an indoor weather system to literally shine a light on the invisible air contamination around the city. Using static electricity and air samples from the same sites as the EPA’s post-Sandy monitor locations in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island, the system generates “dust wall” drawings that only become visible under ultraviolet light. This is the air that New Yorkers are breathing. It’s time to take back our indoor “air rights.”

Photo credit: Brett Beyer

Photo credit: Brett Beyer

The principals behind MODU are no stranger to climatic installations. They were the brains behind the Exhale Pavilion, which you may remember as the glowing, shape-shifting open air installation at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2010. To see more of their work, visit http://moduarchitecture.com

Feeling lucky? Who says #13 has to be associated with bad luck? I for one, don’t think so! I’m getting ready to spend [my birthday night] with my D-C gals, the editors of New York Spaces, the amazing team at Axor NYC and a few hundred or so industry friends. Like any Axor NYC event, there will be delicious food and speciality drinks. This time, the creative liquid concoction uses Wodka (yum!) There will also be some fun give-a-ways including a chance to win a Hansgrohe Select Hand shower and Axor kitchen faucet.

I know I’m biased and all (being born on Friday, the 13th), but let’s all put away our superstitions tomorrow. It doesn’t matter if you believe that a horse shoe brings good fortune or breaking a mirror means you are doomed for the next seven years; let’s just enjoy this good ole opportunity to party!

It’s been a fun weekend and we are back for the final day of Boutique Design New York (BDNY). If you haven’t made it to the Javits Center yet, you are in for a treat. With double the floor space of last year, BDNY offers a 56,000 sq ft gallery of inspiration for hospitality interior design. The 2013 show features a curated selection of statement-making design product for hotels, restaurants, spas and casinos. In addition to over 400 exhibitors, the show offers an impressive seminar program. Today at 1PM, architect Gonzalo Bustamante, founder and creative director of Gonzalo Bustamante Design Works will lead a panel discussion on how make night clubs and bars stand out in a crowd. He will be joined by Joshua Spitzig, senior architectural lighting designer, Focus Lighting as well as Joseph Lodi and Angelo Poulous of Anthem SSL.

The fun ends at 5PM – unless there is an after-party (the hospitality industry tends to like those!!)

See you there!

Hansgrohe/Axor shows off the sexy Axor Starck Organic collection by Philippe Starck in booth #509.

Stacy Garcia Lounge (booth #629). Photo courtesy of Boutique Design New York.

Taste of T is in two days!

From Allmilmo to Wood-Mode|ACK, the showrooms of the Architects & Designers Building will once again be buzzing with chefs from some of New York’s finest restaurants. Among the participants will be world-class chefs including: Jeremy Bearman of Rouge Tomate; Franklin Becker of The Little Beet; Emma Bengtsson of Aquavit; David Bouley of Bouley; Rebecca Charles of Pearl Oyster Bar; Ariane Daguin of D’Artagnan; Mario Danieli of Sant’Ambroeus; Carmine DiGiovanni of Greenwich Project; Alex Guarnaschelli of Iron Chef America; Kerry Heffernan of TV’s Top Chef Masters; Shaun Hergatt of Juni; Matt Lambert of The Musket Room; Sarabeth Levin of Sarabeth’s; Bill McDaniel of The Red Cat; Marco Moreira of Tocqueville and 15 East; Alfred Portale of Gotham Bar & Grill; Raffaele Ronca of Rafele; Soulaphet “Phet” Schwader of Khe-Yo, Bryce Shuman of Betony; Roxanne Spruance of Alison Eighteen; Luke Venner of BLT Fish; and Isao Yamada of Brushstroke.

The evening’s activities are being presented in conjunction with T: The New York Times Style Magazine. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to God’s Love We Deliver, the non-profit organization committed to providing meals to people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other serious illnesses.

Last week, the New York Design Center and 1stdibs hosted a celebration of design industry legends Ellie Cullman and Mario Buatta. The two signed copies of their recently published books.

The Detailed Interior: Decorating Up Close with Cullman and Kravis takes a look at everything from classic NYC pied-a-terres and townhouses to vast Connecticut estates, airy Floridian mansions to luxury ski retreats. Graceful and balanced, each project created by interior design firm Cullman & Kravis is illustrated with lavish full-color images, illuminating the effect of the room as a whole as well as providing close-up shots of precisely detailed spaces.

Similarly, Mario Buatta: Fifty Years of American Interior Decoration is filled with shots taken for the foremost shelter magazines as well as unpublished photographs from the designer’s own archives.  Buatta shares his insights into his process, his own rules for decorating and personal stories of adventure along the way.

The evening affair also included a little shopping – with a percentage of the proceeds of the evening’s sales benefitting the New York School of Interior Design.

Alexa Hampton & Tracey Pruzan