On January 12, Clo and Charles S. Cohen, owners of DCOTA (Design Center of the Americas), hosted a private grand opening gala to celebrate the launch of the first ever DCOTA DesignHouse.  A crowd of 400 social and design luminaries from Miami to Palm Beach gathered to view the cutting edge designs and to toast the 2010 Stars of Design:  Sam Robin, Max Strang, Carlos Betancourt, Nicholas Varney, Jeff Blakely, Robin Hill, Laura Paresky Gould and Vladimir Kagan, who were honored on the same evening.  Among those in attendance for this fabulous event: Charles S. Cohen, Erika and Vladimir Kagan, Robin Hill, Brad Ford, Brian Patrick Flynn, Sophie Donnellson, Julia Noran, Norma Quintero, Tina Carlo, James W. Murphy, Nicole Lozano, Diane and Aristotle Aris, Gary Hutton, James Wall, D. Ashlee Harrison, Jilian Sanz, Irvin Lippman, Diane Sepler, Jeff Blakely, Phoebe Howard, Bonnie Barnett and Robert Kagan, Jeff and Gina Sabean, Katie Vecellio, Iran Issa Khan, Marnie Goldberg, Michael Kirkland and Sandy Krakoff.

This gala benefited three outstanding museums, representing each of the three counties of South Florida, The Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach; the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, Broward; and the Vizcaya Museum, Miami/Dade. The entire run of the DesignHouse will also benefit these outstanding cultural institutions.  DesignHouse will be open daily, Monday through Friday, from 10:00 a.m. through 4:00 p.m., through June 11, and select Saturdays throughout the run (Saturday, February 6- Saturday March 6, and April 10).

Spilling Secrets

Secrets of Aspen, VH1’s new docu-soap aired its first episode on January 3^rd, at 10:00 p.m. The show, which is set in Aspen, Colorado, stars two Miami natives: social butterfly, Erin Newberg, and interior designer, Benjamin Alopari, commonly referred to as  “BenErin,” who appear for the first time on episode 2, airing Sunday, January 10. Newberg and Alopari are throwing a party to celebrate the launch of the new series at Burger and Beer Joint on Sunday at 9:00 p.m. The event is sponsored by Moet & Chandon.

Luminaries will Shine at DCOTA

Design Center of the Americas will celebrate the fourth annual Stars of Design Awards, and the opening of the inaugural DCOTA DesignHouse on Tuesday, January 12.

Read the rest of this entry »