Design Week offsites tend to cluster in a handful of neighborhoods: last night most of the action was in SoHo, and Sunday revolves around the urban grunge/over-the-top environs of the Meatpacking District. Extending a trend we noticed last year, truly new design displays were few and far between, with the majority of "events" being simply a bit of music and some plastic cups of wine in an unmodified high-end retail space.
One pleasant exception, and easily the most worthwhile destination in the area for design seekers, is the the Design 09 show at the 414 Gallery (414 West 14th St.). The space acts as a sort of gallery concentrator, gathering together recent work from IDEA/Brasil, IDSA New York members, Iceland Design Center, designboom, LO-TEK, and a number of other design and architecture studios.
A few favorites are shown above, including one of Fernando Prado's brilliant adjustable lamps, and one of the best examples of a chunky wooden screen we've seen in quite a while, part of designboom's show.