Ciao Bella!
The Italians moved out of the Javits Center and onto the Hudson River piers this year, and it's a bit of a mystery why. We won't go into all the different theories here, but the place was a bit of a ghost town, and the exhibitor smiles seemed a bit forced. Lots of sweet Italian furniture of course, but the end of the second pier (92) climaxed with an absolute thud. Gaetano Pesce, who just two days earlier stood as an absolutely brilliant and inspiring ringleader at Material ConneXion's Malfatto symposium, built his "Pesce for Lunch"—a heartbreakingly disappointing food-as-furniture-and-landscape indulgence. Ugh. So where will the Italians be next year? Well, it's a pretty short pier...