In conjunction with the National Stationery Show, the Javits Center also plays host to the International Contemporary
Furniture Fair, Surtex and Supply Side trade shows. Today I took advantage of Paul's attendance to quickly peruse the
offerings at the ICFF and I was completely blown away immediately upon entering the showroom.
Swarovsky crystals had their booth front-and-center to the door I entered through and it was such a dazzling display of
crystals that I went no further. At first glance, one cannot help but notice the modern crystal chandeliers that cover the
"ceiling" of their 20 foot square booth space in the center of the room. To say that the crystals were sparkly is a
complete understatement, it was a ceiling of glimmer, shimmer and shine and I was smiling to the point of tears.
I have a particularily splendid affinity for Swarovsky, some lovely memory from my childhood when my Mother would
play hostess to her daughter on a once-yearly-fake-sick-day from school. We would dress especially for this day and she
would do up my hair with extra curls. She would even wear makeup and allow me to polish my nails. By ten o'clock we
would be ready to head toward downtown Milwaukee and to spend the morning at Marshall Fields department store. The
four levels of shopping was a world of delight for me, and riding the wooden steps of the old-fashioned escalators was
sheer delight. To this day, I ask most people if they recall wooden stair escalators and most say they don't usually notice
those sorts of things. I then never mention the smooth conveyor belt escalator I once rode on in Boston Store
downtown, I figure they wouldn't remember anything like that either.
At Fields we would have coffee and cocoa and croissants at the downstairs bakery and then slowly make our way up to
the top floor, stopping at every department in between to pick up something for Paul, Dad and the two of us. Once our
day at Fields was over it was Tea Time and my mom would take me to Watts tea shop where we would discuss china
patterns and gaze at the Swarovsky crystal dispaly on our way to the tea house on the second floor for tea and cookies.
I loved looking at china patterns but it was the brillantly lit, glittering crystal display that I anticipated seeing on each trip.
For my 13th birthday, my mother took me to Watts and let me pick out one small crystal animal. Since I had a parakeet
as well as a fond memory of the sixties-styled-owled-curtains that recently were removed during the remodeling of my
bedroom, I chose a small crystal owl made from two balls of clear crystals and had black crystal dots for eyes, a silver
metal beak and little crystal wings completed the creature which stood barely two inches tall. To this day, the treasured
owl sits at my father's home and on every visit back, I pick up the owl and Remember.
Anyway, I digress. The Swarovsky Crystal display...
Okay, several dozen gorgeous chandeliers crowded the "sky" of their booth, an outdoor theme that celebrated the crystal
in nature and in stone. There was a real waterfall cascading down the right side of their sign, the water dropping into a
square metal pool that seemingly flowed into a blue crystal pool lighted from below. The two were, in fact, separate
pools, but the way in which the display was constructed made me want to bend down and run my hands through the
crystals to make sure they weren't wet. They were not. Stepping onto the raised display floor, I looked around me at the
sparkling carpet below, crystals were migrating about and within the booth everything seemed on fire. The floor below
me was a mixture of wood and porous tumbled marble and every crevace was filled with crystals of varying sizes. The
tumbled marble looked especially delicious, sparkling in random as I walked about. Positioned around the pathways were
tree stumps, the chopped wood had been cleaned of bark and the cracks in the wood were stuffed with large two to ten
carat crystals. It was The Crysal Factory and it was beautiful.
I made my way back to my own booth upstairs and awaited the store owners who would visit. Today I was wearing my
orange Indian patterned silk dress and had my hair pulled back. My feet were, admittedly, killing me as I stood there in
brown espadrilles and greeted many people who represented stores that I admired. I also spoke with members of the
press, including some of Martha Stewart's people, press from In Style, Traditional Home, Home & Garden and Town &
Country magazines. It was an exciting day and I found out that these press people expected to take back with them
samples of one's work to feature in upcoming articles. I was handing out samples left and right, luckily my assistant
Krista had helped me pack an extra box of loose cards.
Keeping fingers crossed because free press ain't bad.
-t