“You know, when you think of fashion parties, people think of fashion week, but they always forget things like design week,” says Jonathan, a photographer ahead of me in line for the bar at ” Red Room”, the big one from APPARATUS. party for NYCxDESIGN every year. “The truth is, though, fashion week parties are so full of influencers that they put heirs. People here are really stylish. It elevates the whole room.”
He's not wrong. New York Fashion Week saturates the city with plenty of stylish people, but also tons of people trying to get an Instagram post out of it. NYCxDESIGN, May 16-24, takes a softer tone, but there are no fewer parties. Between all the showroom openings, meet-and-greets, and new brand launches, one party is always the hardest hit list in town: the annual APPARATUS event.
The modernist lighting studio hosts an annual party with a strictly enforced dress code and theme that brings out the best brass in the design world year after year. This year, general manager and artistic director Gabriel Hendifar's vision was “The Red Room”, asking people to come not more red, white or black for the night. When I head to the building around 9:30, there's already a long line down 30th Street, with everyone carefully following the dress code in black boas, scarlet suits and white tuxedos.
Apparatus and Hendifar have turned a lighting company's office and showroom into something of a magic trick. On the outside, 30th and 6th Avenue is unassuming. There are a lot of ugly fabric stores and office buildings that look like they need a good power wash. Even in the lobby, guests slide in robes across a tile floor that would be seen in a high school. Stepping off the elevator, however, a large vaulted door is like a portal to the world of Hendifar.
Inside, the walls are covered in deep red. The ceilings rise, where they are marked by the DEVICE pendants around the room. On a few different tables, it's every red candy imaginable, from red vines to gummy bears to sour lips and red paper rolls. A DJ is playing disco music off to one side and on a large center table is a bronze statue of a man at rest that I recognize from the invitation.
Across a corridor is the large back room where two bars are preparing drinks for people. This is where you see the brightest lights in the design world competing for the same shots of champagne as me. The woman in front of me, a prominent designer I won't name, watches the waiter ration, orders two “for a friend” and as she walks away she lunges at one and winks at me.
Everyone's happiest when they're walking around eating candy and drinking champagne while dressed up fancy. This is just a fact. That's why everyone gets along so well here. During the day, this is just the APPARATUS office staff, and I wonder if they keep it in this subdued lighting for their 9:30am meeting. John Derian walks out of what is normally a conference room. She wears an all-white outfit and talks about how great it's been catching up with people all week for NYCxDESIGN. Everyone gets along in the design world. On a return trip for another Twizzler, I see architect West Chin and after five minutes of catching up, he decides he's going to find a place to watch the Knicks. In the mirrored connecting hallway, expert design consultant Kate Berry is taking a selfie with a friend.
Gadgets aren't “effortlessly” cool (a phrase that gets thrown around way too much), they work really hard to be that cool, and that's a good thing. If there was a party for a few hundred people your office, it would be plastic cups, warm white wine and fluorescent lighting. This group created a pocket dimension on 30th street for people to live in some sort of scarlet fantasy world for one night. As I walk into the main room, the DJ is still playing disco, with a man dancing in front of the booth. As people pull out iPhones to film him, I see someone in my peripheral vision. An interior designer I recognize is pouring Rolo's silver bowls into her purse. We close our eyes and she confesses to me. “I have to go but these are my favorites and it's going to be a long day at the design fair tomorrow.” His secret is safe with me.
