With the spring art and design market season in full swing, our editors are on the road scouring the world for the best and most beautiful textiles, furniture, watches, jewelry, and art.
This May, I’ll once again be at TEFAF New York, the European Fine Art Foundation’s international show that transforms the Park Avenue Armory into a two-floor immersion into modern and contemporary art, jewels, furniture, and cultural artifacts. TEFAF holds its flagship fair in Maastricht in March; Executive Editor Ellen McGauley had the chance of a lifetime to host designers there this year and will be covering her experience in VERANDA very soon.
As we sort through the mad flurry of spring events, I wanted to share five reasons why this one should be on every designer’s calendar—and why I can’t wait for the Armory doors to open May 15:
The insane volume of goods—we’re talking more than 90 dealers of modern and contemporary art and design in one place. They come from all over the world (including nine newcomers this year) bringing all manner of intriguing contemporary and 20th-century masterpieces. You can peruse 15 of my favorite pieces from last year right here.
The wild storytelling from dealers who love to talk. They are storytellers of the highest order, with so much passion for the pieces they show. The best advice I got last year was to immerse myself in as many conversations as I could squeeze in—and if I hadn’t, I’d have missed out on going down some fascinating rabbit holes, including the backstory behind this Jean-Michel Frank-designed room with straw marquetry paneling presented by Galerie Jacques Lacoste with Feau Boiseries.
The level of luxury, which is unmatched for an art fair. The Champagne, the oysters, the showstopping displays of flowers. It feels a bit like strolling through a bustling European village with galleries—and friends!—at every turn.
The rigorous vetting. Now this is fascinating: For two days before the show starts, TEFAF invites a team of university scholars, museum curators, and other experts to study every item on the show floor for proper attribution, provenance, condition—and the dealers themselves cannot be present. If an item cannot be properly verified or confirmed to be in a condition that is “at the level,” it is removed before a single guest walks through the door.
The rare access to some of New York’s most famous rooms. Designers, don’t sleep on the chance to see parts of the Armory you otherwise cannot access. TEFAF New York remains the only art fair to activate the 16 historic period rooms across the first and second floors—designed by some of the most prominent designers and artists in the 19th century, including Louis Comfort Tiffany and Stanford White—with transformative exhibitor presentations.