From a Gilded Age penthouse to a raven-inspired lounge, Boutique Design New York (BDNY) returns to the Javits Center November 8-9 with more than 100 first-time exhibitors and three fully built hospitality environments. For this edition, more than 700 brands will fill the floor with products and ideas for projects ranging from independent hotels and restaurants to global lifestyle and luxury brands, all gathered under this year’s theme, “Designed to Be Remembered.”
The theme looks past the big gestures to the details, materials, and moments that make a space linger in a guest’s mind. Visitors will find fresh introductions from exhibitors, settings built to be lived in rather than looked at, and the designers and brands behind some of hospitality’s most distinctive hotels, restaurants, and lifestyle spaces.
Those first-timers are introducing new collections for the hospitality market that span sustainable products, innovative technologies, handmade seating, and custom indoor and outdoor furniture. Among the newcomers are AP Collection, coEco Panels, Frankford Umbrellas, Natuzzi, and Sixinch Americas. The show also reaches well beyond New York with exhibitors from more than 55 countries, including Croatia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Portugal, and Spain. Korea and Norway will each host a dedicated country pavilion for the first time, giving attendees a fresh way to meet those design communities.
New this year, BDNY has also enlisted The Curators, a group shaping some of today’s most talked-about hospitality projects, to guide the conference program. Over two days, sessions will examine the business, design, and cultural shifts changing how hospitality is conceived, created, and experienced. The group draws voices from across the industry, among them Mark Eacott of Ennismore, Lori Mukoyama of Gensler, Krystel Sam of Hilton, Brittney Hepler of Choice Hotels International, and Susan Nugraha of Tao Group Hospitality.
The most immersive way to see that idea in action is BDNY’s signature Designed Spaces, which turn parts of the show floor into fully built hospitality environments where exhibitor and sponsor products appear in context rather than on a pedestal. This year’s program brings three collaborations: Ennismore with Avenue ID, IHG with Crème Design, and Preen, Inc. Each offers a distinct take on concept, materiality, and how a space feels.
Spotlight: Inside Ennismore’s The Gilded Dare
At Booth 1873 The Gilded Dare, created by Ennismore with Avenue ID, reinterprets Gilded Age glamour through the lens of an old-world Manhattan penthouse. Expect surprising materials, contemporary forms, ornate detail, and a playful more-is-more approach to luxury.
For Mark Eacott, Ennismore’s Global EVP Design & Branded Residences, the starting point was bringing the SLS brand to New York through a penthouse idea. SLS is contemporary and playful, he says, but its sensibility reaches back to 18th-century Baroque. The team set out to channel that spirit through contemporary materials with a twist: intricate detail, bold forms, and layered patterns, with a little over-the-top thrown in.
“We talked about SLS as arriving at the Met Gala,” he says. “It’s very see-and-be-seen, a very showy brand.” Visitors move through a grand arrival into a living area, and then on to a further living-room setting.
Behind the drama sits plenty of practicality. Mark says the team wanted to avoid creating “a big box,” so the space is broken down into zones flexible enough to hold 40 people standing for a talk or a handful settled in for a quiet conversation. Power sockets are built into the seating so visitors can charge a phone or laptop between meetings.
A commissioned stained glass piece, revealed for the first time at BDNY, was also made to speak to New York and Manhattan. Ennismore has used stained glass in other properties, including in Dubai, but this one was created for the city, with the artwork produced by a London-based maker.
Ennismore worked with Avenue ID, the Los Angeles interior design firm it has partnered with on SLS and other properties, alongside sponsors and suppliers behind the millwork, carpet, lighting, and flooring. “Everyone’s put blood, sweat, and tears into it,” he says. In the final days, the team is layering in accessories for the shelving, music, drinks, and small takeaways for guests.
Once the doors open, the space becomes a working venue. The company will host talks and activations there, while it also doubles as a spot for attendees to catch up on email between sessions and stop by for a conversation with the team. Topics include how a lifestyle brand can scale without losing its soul, and the growth of Delano, whose Miami Beach icon reopened this year.
Those talks reflect the question running through Mark’s work: how a lifestyle brand can scale without losing its soul. Ennismore now has 15 brands, and he works closely with the brand team to make sure an SLS opening in Mexico, the Maldives, or Hong Kong carries the same DNA while still feeling individual, with a local or regional touch. It’s a fine balance, he says, especially in the US, where people often feel lifestyle can only be done as an independent or one-of-one.
The challenge has grown quickly. SLS, which began in Beverly Hills, has expanded to Dubai and now Bangkok, and Mark says it keeps evolving, extending into branded residences and offices beyond its lifestyle-hotel roots. Delano is moving fast as well: the original South Beach property reopened in March after a reimagining, followed by Delano Dubai and new signings that include Puglia and Marrakech.
In the end, Mark measures success by experience.
“We’re not judged on our renderings, we’re judged on the product,” he says. “What matters is how the space feels once people are inside it.” That, he says, is what he is most looking forward to finding out.
BDNY 2026 takes place on November 8-9, 2026. Register to attend at bdny.com
