Jack Frost is already nipping at our nose (at least in New York City), but in these dark economic times, who can splurge on chestnuts, much less an open fire on which to roast them? As news of cancelled holiday parties continues to trickle in, the mediabistro.com mothership wants to know who will be singing yuletide carols and/or dressing up like eskimos this season, and so the hunt is on for The Media Parties That Will Go On, Come Hell or High Water.

If your company is still planning a holiday party, tell mediabistro.com here. Fill in the short form, and don't be stingy on the details. (Will there be open bar? Homemade cookies? Top shelf alcohol or just beer, wine, and pretzels?) The assumption will be that your holiday party is closed to non-company attendees, so when asked for info that does not apply (i.e., "How to RSVP") just write "N/A" in those fields. Then, in a week or so, the mediabistro.com elves will compile the entire list and present it for all to view in the new events newsletter, The Press List.

♦ Spread some cheer and submit your holiday party ♦

Photos: UnBeige

It was a dark and stormy Wednesday night in Manhattan, but those who made it to the doors of Element, a 19th-century bank turned 21st-century nightclub, needed only to utter the not-so-secret password ("Design Observer") to be welcomed into the whirl of designers, drinks, music, and residual election glee that was the eminent design blog's fifth anniversary party. Editors Michael Bierut, William Drenttel, and Jessica Helfand were on hand, with Helfand signing copies of her exquisite new book, Scrapbooks: An American History (Yale University Press), which made us want to go straight home and collage. Meanwhile, Bierut looked poised for service in a novel cabinet post (Interior gets its own Department, why not design?) in a dapper orange tie, an Obama-themed "Mission Accomplished" badge, and a non-partisan USA lapel pin of his own design. We told him about all the positive feedback we had heard about the Men's Vogue-commissioned pin's slightly subversive flair, and he confessed to having had a bit of designer's remorse (read: endearing modesty). "I sent them three designs and then was about to go back and say, 'Forget the third one,'" he told us. "And of course, that's the one they picked."

Speaking of selection processes, Drenttel helped us to understand how the Zon Hearing Aid could possibly have bested Design Observer in the competition for this year's People's Design Award, which is decided not by an esteemed jury of design stars but by online voting. Blame it on Facebook. After several failed attempts to send a last-minute e-mail about DO's front-runner status for the award, Drenttel gave up, only to have the e-mail arrive in the inboxes of all approximately 1,500 members of DO's Facebook group—in quadruplicate and on the day after voting had closed. When hundreds of members abandoned the DO group in frustration and/or complained about the (accidental) e-mail barrage, Drenttel went about sending notes of apology to each person who contacted him. The result? "Facebook suspended my account," he said. "They thought I was spamming. I couldn't access my account for three days." There's always next year.

A couple of quick news morsels before you settle in to watch the election returns:

⇒ Art dealer Richard Polsky has inked a deal for a sequel to I Bought Andy Warhol, the 2003 chronicle of his quest to acquire a Warhol canvas. The art world veteran's new book, coming soon from Other Press, will be entitled I Sold Andy Warhol (Too Soon). According to Publishers Marketplace, it will focus on the shift in power from dealers and galleries to auction houses [cut to shot of Damien Hirst in a bathtub filled with champagne, skulls, and diamonds] and on Polsky's own experiences selling his prize Warhol painting.

⇒ Whether or not your candidate pulls out a minimum of 270 electoral votes tonight, we can all celebrate the fifth anniversary of Design Observer. Michael Bierut, William Drenttel, Jessica Helfand, and the rest of the DO crew are throwing a party tomorrow at New York City club Element. The fun kicks off with cocktails and book signing at 7pm, followed by music curated by Kevin Smith (aka DJ Chroma), design/disco diva Debbie Millman, and Helevetica director Gary Hustwit. Because you haven't lived until you've spent the night in a 19th-century bank building with Michael Bierut and a 36,000-watt sound system.

Photos: UnBeige

In the cloying words of Dave Matthews (one of the only stars not in attendance at last night's National Design Awards Gala at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum), "So much to say, so much to say, so much to say." Let's start at the beginning (and on the meta level—our favorite!), with the event design, once again sustainably masterminded by designer and event planner David Stark. Inside the tent pitched over the museum's Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden, Stark got creative with items from Party Rentals, Inc., adorning the space with a rainbow of chair cushions (4,000 of them); glasses (3,000); spoons, forks, and knives (4,000); and plates (6,000). Think Ellsworth Kelly goes to Party City. The theme continued at the afterparty, for which Stark collaborated with teen participants in Cooper-Hewitt's Design Directions program to whip up more repurposed rainbow decor, including a wall of 200 framed napkin monochromes and chandeliers crafted from 1,000 colored glasses (both are pictured above, at right). All the pieces were returned to Party Rentals today, good as new.

Stay tuned for more on the 2008 NDA Gala as we sort through our photos, napkin-scribbled notes, and commemorative cookies.

Design types gathered last night in Gotham for the presentation of the James Dyson Awards. There wasn't a bagless vacuum in sight, but Dyson's own fondness for efficiently picking things up came through in the U.S. finalist, the "Rake n' Take." Designed by Southern Illinois University Carbondale senior Ryan Jansen (pictured above), the newfangled rake not only gathers leaves but also picks them up with the help of a flexible rake head. In addition to Dyson Award finalist honors, Jansen's design won the nationwide Eye for Why Student Competition sponsored by Dyson and the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA).

"I've raked lots of leaves and there's always the problem of how do you get the leaves up and into a bag," said Dyson (pictured below), in the clipped British accent that we can't help but associate with top-notch cyclonic suction. "Ryan has solved that problem beautifully and in a way that no one has thought of before."

Jansen and his professor, Walter Hargrove, were on hand to answer questions about the rake's clever cam lock mechanism and the slide sleeve surrounding its elongated handle, while design historian (and SVA D-Crit faculty member) Russell Flinchum, New York Times reporter Phil Patton, and new IDSA executive director Frank Tyneski inspected the prototypes. We also chatted with the multitalented Tucker Viemeister (one of the Eye for Why judges) and former UnBeige editor Eva Hagberg, who both agreed that raking leaves was an often frustrating but potentially pleasurable task to which everyone could relate. Skeptics were directed to a pile of faux leaves that had been brought in for the occasion. It was enough to make many Manhattanites recall fondly the concept of a backyard.

Thanks for the invitations, New York design community (or in some cases, not having a list at the door). Here's where we found ourselves drinking free toddies this week...

Rockwell Group
Address: Bowlmor Lanes
Crowd: Rockwell Group employees
Specialty Cocktail: Bullshot, served by "celebrity bartender" Laurie Rosenwald
Big Sightings: Maira Kalman, Tucker Viemeister wearing a Santa hat
Just Missed: Chee Pearlman
Highlight (pictured here): A video kaleidoscope created by James Tichenor and Joshua Walton that projected snowflakes cut by partygoers onto huge screens around the room. No word on how many Bullshots were served before bare butts were also projected around the room.

Debbie Millman's SVA Class
Address: Millman's swank pad
Crowd: Students, former "Design Matters" guests
Specialty Cocktail: Champagne (for those of age), as double-fisted by Felix Sockwell
Big Sightings: Chip Kidd, James Victore, Tobias Frere-Jones
Just Missed: Joyce Rutter Kaye
Highlight: Millman giving signed copies of 100% Evil to her students, which were doodled on more by Christoph Niemann and Nicholas Blechman, both in attendance.

The Architect's Newspaper
Address: The well-appointed loft of William Menking and Diana Darling
Crowd: Architects, writers, architect-writers
Specialty Cocktail: Real egg nog, with fresh grated nutmeg
Big Sightings: The lady design journalist power trio of Julie Lasky, Julie Iovine and Eve Kahn
Just Missed: Teddy Cruz
Highlight: The view.

Good Design Party
Address: Good pop-up store
Crowd: Green design consultants, graphic designers, Mr. T fans
Specialty Cocktail: Organic wheat vodka with Izze sparkling clementine juice in biodegradable cups made from corn
Big Sightings: Emily Oberman, supercute young'un Jonathan Harris presenting the Whale Hunt
Just Missed: Bobby Martin giving his slam-dunk presentation again
Highlight: Mike Essl showing off his world's largest Mr. T memorabilia collection, including a clip from VH1's "Totally Obsessed" where he and his co-collector eat a 20-year-old box of Mr. T cereal.

AIGA NY has opened their annual holiday party up to the masses, so what was once a simple party for AIGA members will now be the THE/ NEW/ BIGGER/ ANNUAL/ AIGA/ NY/ HOLIDAY/ DANCE/ PARTY/ FUNDRAISER/ SPECTACULAR on December 9. And might we also add FREE FOOD/ GRIND-O-RAMA/ PASS OUT ON STAIRS/ SAY INAPPROPRIATE THINGS TO YOUR BOSS/ HIT ON DEBBIE MILLMAN.

In addition to the usual tradition of designer-designed gift-wrap given to all attendees (along with a free drink, cha-ching!) there will be an auction, presided over by none other than author, mole man expert, and Windows-running impresario John Hodgman. Up for bidding are some tasty, tasty treats, like a private tour of MOMA's Design Department by Paola Antonelli and Christian Larsen, custom calligraphy by Marian Bantjes, and the item we'll be sending in a field rep for: Michael Bierut's Voice for Your Phone Greeting.

Really? He has to say anything you want him to? And you get to record it?

We're home safe on non-volcanic soil after our jaunt to Honolulu for the opening of the Vladimir Ossipoff exhibition "Hawaiian Modern." Yesterday we gave you the party report and today, we have the Ossi-party photos.

Metropolis' Paul Makovsky with Ossipoff's granddaughter Keira Alexandra. You heard our fascinating design connection with Alexandra, here's another one: Metropolis ran a story on Alexandra's amazing NYC house back in 1998.

Valerie Ossipoff, the architect's daughter.

Guest curator, designer and overall Big Kahuna Dean Sakamoto.

Raul Barreneche, author of a beautiful book about tropical modern architecture, aptly named Tropical Modern, and Susan Sayre Batton, deputy director of the Honolulu Academy of Art.

continued...

You may not be familiar with the work of Hawaiian architect Vladimir Ossipoff, but let us assure you: He won't be underappreciated for long. A beautiful exhibition about Ossipoff's masterful modern Hawaiian architecture, "Hawaiian Modern," opens today at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. And last night, they opened their doors for a record-breaking crowd as fans, friends and former clients packed the galleries, swarmed the courtyards and lined up around the block. And we spotted guest curator architect Dean Sakamoto, current director of exhibitions at the Yale School of Architecture (and Hawaiian native who actually tried to score a job with Ossipoff back in the day), greeting every single person who came through the door, his shoulders laden with leis.

Members of Ossipoff's family (the architect died in 1998) were also easy to spot due to the amount of tropical flowers strung around their necks, and what a pleasant surprise we had upon meeting Ossipoff's granddaughter, Keira Alexandra, creative director at the Sundance Channel in New York, who's also worked for Number 17 and M&Co., and was the thesis advisor for young design superstar Andrew Sloat (who we'll be moderating at Designism 2.0 in a few weeks). See, the design world is small, even when you're on a little island in the middle of the Pacific.

As the absolutely gorgeous catalog designed by Jenny Chan (above) started flying off the shelves in the gift shop, and glasses of bright pink punch were drained, we began to regret ever having to head back to the mainland. But our UnBeige readers in Honolulu should head over to the museum this Friday night for the local AIA's Habitat party, from 6-9pm. And for those of you in the New Haven area or, say, Frankfurt, Germany, never fear: "Hawaiian Modern" will head your way in the next two years.

Photos and more amazing design connections right this way.

Wow. Last year, we thought that Sean Adams' designer-perfect midcentury modern wonderland was an unbeatable setting for AIGA/LA's annual Fellows launch party. But this year's event, honoring Archie Boston (above), Michael Hodgson and Petrula Vrontikis (also above) was held in what we can only describe as a top-secret architectural landmark. Landmark in the sense that if you ask any architect or designer in the area, they'll know exactly what you're talking about; top-secret only because the owners don't want any press so you probably haven't come across it in the mags. (But it's quite easy to find photos of it if you go looking on the right architect's website.)

In such an inspired setting it was hard not to feel enlightened. Fellows April Greiman, Kim Baer, Keith Bright, Nan Faessler and InJu Sturgeon winded their way through the crowds. Last year's Fellow recipient Adams was there, of course, with Fellow partner-in-crime Noreen Morioka. Hodgson, dressed head-to-toe in Paul Smith per usual (above), gave a gracious speech, as did Vrontikis, stunning in red and black (and matching the painting behind her). But it was Boston's speech that warmed us to the core. After revealing that he was Vrontikis' teacher at Cal State Long Beach and joking that it took her half the time to achieve what he had, Boston gave a heartfelt plug for the design community as evidence of a group of people who truly follow their dreams. Since he's given us some pretty unique insight into that already with his just-released documentary, we couldn't help but wonder about a sequel...how about 20 Outstanding Los Angeles Graphic Designers: The Next Generation?