Press
HOLIDAY ARTY: GIFT-GIVING GETS OFFBEAT WITH MUSEUM STORES
from New York Post - December 22, 2007
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By BARBARA HOFFMAN
THEY say there's no time like the present. But during that harried haze we call the holidays, there's no present like time - time to do something more entertaining than line up behind a cash register. Something, say, like hitting the museums. Where else can you catch up on van Gogh's letters, the Ashcan artists or Klimt's erotica, and return with a nifty gift - the kind that whispers, "I'm classy, and I think you are, too"?
And when practically everything else these days comes from China, museum shops offer a wealth of one-of-a-kind crafts, some from recycled materials. So you get green points, too!
The New-York Historical Society (177 Central Park West, at 77th Street; [212] 873-3400, nyhistory.org) has gone Al Gore with recycled totes made from old museum banners that have been washed and retooled by the homeless. A piece of the Audubon show banner ($35), perfect for grocery-hauling, is a charity trifecta: It benefits the museum, the needy and the planet. More frivolous (but fun) are the things inspired by the museum's Lafayette show - like fleur de lis napkin rings, Eiffel Tower bookends and a dainty toile hostess apron ($36.95) that fairly shouts, "Let them eat quiche." And who wouldn't lose her head over the Marie Antoinette action figure ($9.95), whose own head pops off with the flick of a finger? It's the perfect stocking stuffer.
Across the street, the American Museum of Natural History (Central Park West at 79th Street; [212] 769-5100, amnhshop.org) is also selling banner tote bags and bound paper journals made from (what else?) odorless, recycled elephant poo ($17.96). And nothing says Save the Planet like a clear glass ornament containing the tinsel-like remains of oxygen canisters reclaimed from Mount Everest by Sherpas. They're just $15, most of which goes, presumably, to the Sherpas (bellsfromeverest.com).
The Museum of Arts and Design (40 W. 53rd St.; [212] 956-3535, madmuseum.org) has bags in three sizes, all from recycled newspaper (the LA Times, alas, since the designer hails from California). Our fave is the "baguette" ($62), the shape and size of a dachshund puppy, with a hidden velcro closure and soft leather straps. There's also a fetching collection of one-of-a-kind scarves ($69 to $400), including a black-and-white felted wool number by Rhode Island designer Jeung-Hwaark, which features tiny crocheted balls. None of this will be available online until January, so you'll just have to visit the museum/store across from MoMA (whose own design store needs no introduction, since it's crazy-crowded as it is).
