In addition to Holly's eloquent and necessary guide to Canal Street (one of the best resources a designer ever had, in my limited opinion), I thought I might mention a few less hectic spots to get inspired if you're a designer in town for a few days. You'll at least have Sunday free, right?

Museums:

There's the obvious Cooper-Hewitt, which serves as the design branch of the Smithsonian. One of the few branches of that institution to live somewhere besides the Mall in DC, it fills Andrew Carnegie's former Fifth Avenue mansion with well-selected exhibitions of interest to design geeks. Current shows are both focused on textiles, one guest curated by Dutch designer Hella Jongerius, the other concerning new technological developments in woven materials.

Less obvious might be PS1, a MoMA-affiliated institution just across the East River from midtown Manhattan. It's known for exceptionally daring, exploratory exhibitions, and the current show is one of the best: Greater New York, an event that happens just once every three years, dedicated to young and emerging artists in the Tri-State area. Every time it happens, someone becomes famous, so drop by, and you too could say "oh yeah, I heard of her years ago, before she got big..."

Stores and Showrooms:

Moss is the must-see, of course. It was recently named by Icon magazine as "probably the most influential design shop in the world," and a visit to its oppressively gorgeous, tantalizing white space will make a believer of you too.

For more home-grown flavor, Sublime is definitely worth a check. Sprawling elegantly over a wide-open, three level space in Tribeca, it features furniture and product design from U.S. designers exclusively, some of which you'd be hard-pressed to find in any other showroom.

If your time at Pratt has you intrigued with design in Brooklyn, take the G train up to Williamsburg and visit The Future Perfect. The small but passionately curated selection of goods includes several local designers, as well as work from farther afield, and the sense of irony and humor that permeates it all is downright refreshing.

This is just scratching the surface, but you knew that. Off the top of my head, there's also R 20th Century for midcentury modern, ABC Carpet and Home to see what the fashionable Gothamite is kitting out their overpriced apartment with, The MoMA Design Store for MUJI goods (the only place in the country that sells them, sadly), the Noguchi Museum for..well...Noguchi, and any number of elaborate retail spaces in the Meatpacking District.

On second thought, perhaps one Sunday isn't quite enough for all of this.