Does Dashing Sell on NYSD?

Photograph by Jeff Hirsch @ NYSD

I’ve been reading the New York Social Diary for 16 years now and have written about this great blog many times on our blog. I ran across a recent edition to their House series, where they showcased a young furniture designer in what has to be the smallest domicile ever featured on NYSD. Making my way through the article set off some alarms. Typically, articles from other regular authors like the late John Foreman, showcased photos essays and the in-depth body of work about the house history or the inspirations brought into the house from the owner or decorators personal history or passions in design or collecting. 

This article was just plain proof it was all about the handsome man who was or was not a former hockey player. Who did or did not learn his craft from his father. Or the obvious dig on the fact he has several IKEA pieces in his little studio. Which I thought kind of took away some integrity of this series with little digs like that or the interviewers questioning towards the hunky craftsman if he’s cabinetmaker or carpenter? Such a question just proves the authors were too distracted by this mans looks to even look at his business website and see he doesn’t make cabinets at all. He does feature a few credenzas but nothing that would be considered a cabinet. 

What really alarmed me about this article is how bias it was, first this is the longest article I’ve seen NYSD do for such a tiny place. And second, I have never seen so many photos of one subject posed in their homestead in one article. The final count was 7 shots and my thought was, this was a little extreme. I went back through previous articles and found most subjects had between 2-4 pics included. I think the two female authors got a little carried away with themselves on this piece. I will admit Mats Christéen is a very gorgeous gentleman and he is very handy with his hands. His work reminds me of good friends work a lot. Mats has some really nice pieces in his home but I think that this choice of a subject was far reach considering previous subjects and their collections. I am sure most of NYSD readers trends towards a female demographic and this is a big sell in the end. I think they could have done a better job by combining this house with another or lightening the load of the pretty face or giving the article more substance.

(I mean the book selection is an odd combination.)