A Market Where Nothing Arrives in a Flat Pack

The design edition pulls in the furniture, lighting and object dealers, which changes the shape of the market. Larger pieces sit in the schoolyard where there is room to walk around them. A lamp or a side chair here has usually passed through two or three homes already, and the dealers can generally tell you which decades. Newer work from local designers shares the same aisles rather than getting its own tent.

You come in off West 77th Street and the bigger pieces announce themselves first. Dealers open at ten, and furniture moves slower than clothing, which makes the browsing less frantic. A measuring tape is worth bringing. Nobody will hold a chair for you while you go home to check a doorway. Sellers talk you through condition honestly, including the parts that need work.

The market runs on Sunday, October 4 at 100 West 77th Street, a short walk from the 79th Street stop on the 1. Admission is free. Work out how a piece gets home before you buy it. There is no delivery desk. It fits people furnishing a room slowly from things with a history, rather than ordering a matching set. If you wanted same-day shipping, this is not that.