On the Armory floor, booths featuring the work of designers as varied as Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren, Isaac Mizrahi, Todd Oldham, Anna Sui, and Bill Blass mixed with the celebrity throng.
The Stone House 506 Whitfield Street, Guilford (203) 458-3700 Good ATMOSPHERE -- Pleasant dining room, with red tile floor, booths in the center, plain wood tables, views of the water and the marina.
No agenda, no keynote speakers, no public relations crews and no trade floor booths.
His street-floor booth on West 47th Street, amid others dealing in glittering diamond necklaces, bracelets and rings, also has vintage watches for sale, an end of the business, called Master of Time, that Daniela handles.
And at a fourth-floor booth for the Stradlings, dealers in New York, a 1760s British teapot ($11,500) has a rare animal shape on its hexagonal lid; the label speculates that its "ermine finial may be unrecorded".
At the second-floor booth of Vintage Interiors II, a store in Alexandria, Va., a caption by two 1740s Meissen plates ($27,500 for the pair) notes that they belonged to Saxon royals and have a pattern often mislabeled as a crouching lion but "in reality a tiger prowling amongst prunus".
This year with $50M in fresh funding, the company has a slick multi-floor booth with meeting rooms.
THE PLACE On a still-gentrifying street in Williamsburg (near the Lorimer L train stop), the old-time-looking bar has dark wood floors, booths from reclaimed pine and vintage lamps.
Under the two-story ceiling, the decor is postindustrial chic: walls painted brick-red, acid-stained concrete floors, booths fashioned from church pews and a bar made from salvaged redwood.
Why then, as industry conferences from Supercomm to Interop shrink by 50% or more, did the OFC conference promise more attendees, CEOs, engineers, exhibits, floor space, booth babes and lambdas than ever?
This happens in the weeks before CES, but I also recommend working the floor and booths, talking to folks about what's going on, and whether the people manning the booths can hook you up.
