Isn’t this the phrase we ask all the time in the design world?
One way to find out the answer: Attend What’s New, What’s Next, an annual day of fun at 200 Lex, more formally known as the New York Design Center. At last month’s event, well-known designers, up-and-coming designers, clients, and the rest of the design-obsessed converged on the building’s 16 floors of showrooms to get a peek at what the decorating elite is up to these days. While doing so, they enjoyed scrumptious eats at Kravet, cappuccinos and homemade biscotti at Bakes & Kropp’s kitchen showroom (don’t get me started on the salted caramel!), and mint juleps and New Orleans jazz at Pennoyer Newman’s distinctive garden pots emporium. “Our goal,” says 200 Lex’s president and CEO, Jim Druckman, “is to educate the design community about all the new products available in our 100 or so showrooms.”

On the fourth floor, NYC&G and its sister titles set up a giant progressive library in 15 showrooms, issuing guests a passport to be stamped in each locale as they had books signed by such top designers and authors as Vicente Wolf, Jeffrey Alan Marks, and Chris Madden. Those with fully stamped passports were eligible to win prizes, though this special day of design was a big reward in and of itself. For our coverage of the event, turn to page 104.