11/29/06

Home accessories as modern art--with prices to match.

by Contributor

The Scene
After an expansion that tripled its floor space, Moss's homage to Alessi, Phillippe Starck and other names too esoteric to mention has solidified its position as the premier design store in New York. Whether or not you can afford the goodies on display in this white-box space--and there are affordable items at the small, cute end of the scale--there's always pleasure to be derived from the mix of quirky inventiveness, pretension and sheer beauty on display here.

The Goods
After all, where else will you find lovingly arranged tableaux of the modernist home with captions by Baudrillard? Or plates designed by Cindy Sherman? Or 19th-century china so disgustingly kitsch, it could be by Jeff Koons? Or window displays worthy of a surrealist Barneys? And, aside from the high-priced pseudo-art-objets, Moss is packed full of design classics you can actually imagine in your (ideal) home--just make sure your credit is good before dropping by.