Japan By Design | ICFF

The design junkie in me will always take any opportunity to wander the aisles of home design stores to daydream about my future Manhattan penthouse (and vacation home on the beach). So, of course I had to say yes (!) to my invite to join the ICFF opening weekend festivities with JETRO (the Japan External Trade Organization) this past Saturday.

Allow me this and I promise not to diverge too often...

Arrived just in time to catch some of the overview.

Make your own laminated cherry wood lamp!

Each kit comes with 10 pieces which can be interlocked to create pendant lamp shades of any size.

Kirico uses strong, surprisingly light weight, and sustainable Paulownia wood in their home designs.

Moving would be super easy if all my furniture was made of Paulownia wood.

Beautiful ceramic tiles at Kenzan.

Convention goers test out tiles at Kenzan.

I love these guys. Last year there was a huge giraffe. He was replaced by a horse this year. At D-torso.

I am a sucker for any type of container. Kaikado fashions gorgeous, air tight canisters out of tin, brass, and copper.

A business that was established in 1875, Kaikado's containers are durable and designed to oxidize over time, resulting in beautiful finishes. I especially love the copper ones, the finish evolves to look like rusty red lacquer in a few short years.

At the Tanihata booth a representative was cutting away at a piece of cedar.

Upon closer inspection, I realized that everyone was invited to construct a keepsake using a traditional Japanese wood working technique with the tiny pieces of wood he was slicing.

So pretty =)!

I love hand-dyed fabrics.

Not in the Japan pavilion, but I thought it was super cool, this wall paper is made of stone. By Trove.

My favorite part of ICFF is the Design Boom Section. It's full of little treasures specially curated from all over the world. This is the Johnny Herman booth where they were showing Wooden Popsicles and Light Bulbs. Not practical but very cute!

This is a clever little Iphone case by Stre-it! Helsinki, the wings can be repositioned to make a more gamer friendly grip.

I love color too. The Kohler/ Jonathan Adler lounge. You can't tell from the photo but the seating was made of cute clawfoot tubs with the sides cut out.

May and I both agree that we need to have John Klein studio build one of these rope trees for us as well.

Today is the last day, and the only day it's open to the general public. International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) at the Jacob Javits Center-- go check it out!