apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Ohh I was there as well, pestered the poor saps about the Breckenridge trailer design.

Hey can you stack'em?
ans- Uhhhh go to the website

Can you make it a double wide?
ans- don kno go to the website
So can you change the layout? - since there is only one closet.
ans- Uhhhhh don kno

So there was A-one class yoyo's at the laptops computer stations and below the huge video/demonstration area. Real boneheads.

I'll just love their large format printed contact paper that they stuck everywhere. It was such a joke. It made me think what was this all about again?

The furnishings were cheap and small. Except for the vintage stuff - again I pestered the target people again. I was such the brat.

Oh my gosh - what was up with that patchwork moose head?

I too love Target. But my buying lately has decreased... there's only so much one can do with it. For those of us in non-Ikea towns, Target is pretty much the functional equivalent when it comes to lighting and furniture. I like their dishes and bedding, sometimes, but I am tired of their furniture.

A few notes- After asking repeatedly about some of the items on disply, I realized that everything I liked was a prop, not for sale at Target.

It strikes me that the Breckenridge 400 sq ft. units will end up on top of condo buildings as private cabanas for sale to condo owners. (If you haven't heard, they are doing this on the top of the 70 washington condo project in Dumbo. So much for free common roof areas.)

Lastly, the people working there really WERE nice. After complementing them on their cool "lamp" t-shirts, they gave me one! It is a pic of the lamp with green and pink striped shade, seen in the Contemporary unit. Sweeeeeeet!

right, the patchwork moosehead--must . set . on . fire . nooow! I was at a Target the other day looking for a picture ledge, which, by the way, I didn't find, and took a trip around the store. they have some nice dishes, a couple of passable hassock things. I didn't see much else that looked appealing.

Wow, it's too bad Target didn't step up their game a little for the big city. Maybe they just focused on their proprietary lines--which I agree are not always up-to-par, quality-wise.

It's a shame they didn't mix in some of the stuff that's been up on the "Red Hot Shop" portion of their website--like the Eva Solo grill, Blik wall appliques, Francis!Francis! X-5 cappuccino maker, BluDot and Offi furniture and accessories. Maybe since those products are web-only offerings, they didn't fit into the packaging/marketing scheme of the pre-fab home set-ups?

Looks like my love affair with Target is slipping, too. But, hey, at least they carry the full line of Method cleaning products!

Hmmm, the Target fan in me wants to believe SOMETHING interesting/good came from this (but I did not attend, so I defer to those who did).
Sounds like their gamble to have "real" items in a cartoonish theatrical setting missed the mark, but I could see where it might have worked, or at least come closer.

I do like seeing what they used to paint a "domestic" picture... an inviting bed, a well-laid table, the proverbial hearth, and a kitchen (as/if only embodied by a kettle, but I think that an apt icon).
I am guessing that attending this AFTER ICFF would not be the way to give this its "fair" due...this had to look alarmingly 2-D after the ICFF overload. But had Phillippe Starck premiered HIS version of a stuffed patchwork moosehead in the aisles of the Javits Center, it probably would have made every ICFF highlights reel around. (remember his garden gnome furniture?) Context is everything!
And don't forget, not EVERY Manhattanite got to visit Javits, either!

I still think they get points for finding another way to get Target on the NYC radar, without resorting to opening another chain-giant in the midst of Manhattan.

I also did not attend, and also would hope that at least something positive came from it - but Martha's post - "must . set . on . fire . nooow!" - made me (literally) laugh out loud.

I like what Target is trying to do, and hope this exhibition was simply something that didn't quite work out as planned, rather than an augury of a downward slide. My main criticism - as someone who has been to the new NYC Target many times - is that their in-store displays of home decor items (furniture, carpets, window treatments, etc.) are abysmal (the items are dirty, battered, and look absolutely horrible), and the stock is often either low or non-existent; it does not entice people to buy there. After having seen their ubiquitous catalog (in newspapers everywhere) a few week backs, which was quite well done, I was left wondering if they are simply trying to sell via the internet, as the stores are often so uninviting, as noted.

Mmm. The consensus that the goods seem lesser in their improvised settings seems accurate, from the pics.

I kind of like the line-art dollhouse art effects, though. It doesn't work here, but I can see it working in a playful home, with actual direct natural light.

Max, I wish you'd be clearer in your opinions.

I tried to go down there but the enormous Target bus stopped running from Javits down there. One of my coworkers also said it was quite the disappointment. I did like the hanging fixture in picture #14, but I can see how the rest of it could look chintzy in person.

Um, I don't really think you're supposed to take the patchwork moosehead seriously. Just let it go.

Ok the Target people were sweet, but if Target was going to put people in the center next a huge video presentation - they should 'know' the product.

I didn't see it, but a patchwork moosehead SOUNDS clever. I guess it wasn't? However, oddly, I have a fascination with antler chandeliers and all this other stuff that I find somewhat grotesque if I actually think about it. I really love the Erich Ginder stuff, because it's faux grotesque.

Haha! HAHAHHAHA! HA! HAHAHAHAH!!! (Sorry)

Train wreck, or mobile home wreck, or just wreck wreck. No matter what you call it, it was HORRID!
It was so sad to see target stuff next to interesting vintage pieces.
The whole thing looked like horrid Saved By the Bell bedroom sets

I stopped on grand street monday morning with high hopes and max you're right, it ain't so grand. How could a company with great advertising and an impressive roster of designers put together such a mishmosh. it's too bad, these products would look better out of this cartoonish setting.

Dee--
Do you have something funny you'd like to share with the rest of the class?

(smile)

< Do you have something funny you'd like to share with the rest of the class?>>

[Methinks the lady hath stolen the patchwork moosehead]

"Dee--
Do you have something funny you'd like to share with the rest of the class?"

[Methinks the lady hath stolen the patchwork moosehead]

It irritated my girlfriend to no end that the closets were fake and not being used for clothes and to that end, there was no room in the place for a vanity. What about the spaces themselves? Totally sweet, I say.

Martha--
Di you ever find your picture ledges? (I tried to email you but it got bounced back)

This whole thing just confirmed some of my suspicions about people like Starck. I now put both he and Karim Rashid in the same slop bucket.

Terrible.

Everything I liked was stuff that wasn't target. In fact, one pair of chairs still had a price tag on them- $3500 for the pair! Hardly a price you'd see at target. Wonder where they sourced the vintage from.

But isn't that mix exactly the point? Aren't they in effect saying, "Look, our stuff can fit into your life, without having it look like the only place you shop is Target?"

Okay, I had a different vision of the patchwork moose, now that I've looked at the slides--but it does seem obvious that it was just a bit of silliness. It doesn't look so awful in the pics, but then, I wasn't there--and I also feel like it's TARGET, for goodness sake. I mean, I love Target, but it IS cheap, when you boil down to it. (So is Ikea, West Elm, and anything else that is considered afforable, because particle board can only do so much.) But I guess it must have been really bad in person.

"It strikes me that the Breckenridge 400 sq ft. units will end up on top of condo buildings as private cabanas for sale to condo owners."

Are they really doing that in Dumbo? I saw three "oversided load" trailers going by on 2nd ave during dinner last night...

Dorio, "After asking repeatedly about some of the items on disply, I realized that everything I liked was a prop, not for sale at Target." my experience EXACTLY!

I took notes and a few pictures and then went online when I got home to find my favorite items - no luck.

I then googled the item, still no luck. Finally I went back to the open house on Tuesday and tried to get info from a very nice Target team member. She finally figured out that it was just a prop and gave me the contact details for the open house set designers. So I now have to contact them to see if I can buy this prop.

wow i didn't have such a violent reaction. i thought it was fun and cute - lots of interesting little touches like the hand-sewn pieces with target logos lovingly embroidered onto them... that stuff was great. i love that target doesn't take itself too seriously. as fiona pointed out, it's a discount store when it comes down to it. if you went expecting high design, of course you'd be disappointed. i had hoped for some clever interpretation of affordable design - and i think target fullfilled on that.

Yay, natalia!!!

I always thought the whole point of Target's reinvention of itself these past few years was that good design could be affordable. The problem is Target's version of good design isn't holding up in this setting. Maybe they make it *too* affordable.

There's no pleasing you people.

The beauty of Target is that you can take their pieces and add them to your QUALITY furniture, design or decor. If you use all Target merchandise, you end up with a discount store look. If you use a few pieces, your room can look pleasantly eclectic.