CITYist

This past Thursday evening, Gary Friedman and Carlos Alberini, the chairman and co-CEO’s of Restoration Hardware, celebrated the exclusive launch of the brand’s highly anticipated new 2012 Spring Collection at a benefit for ACRIA, the AIDS Community Research Initiative of America. The evening featured two bold graffiti art installations by GE-OLOGY and Mat Boal, signature Cipriani Bellini’s and a live performance by British singer/songwriter Edei, who made her New York debut.

Highlights from the new Restoration Hardware Collection include:

The Deconstructed Collection, designed and created in partnership with Restoration Hardware’s newest artisan partners, the Van Thiel family, exposes the soul and inner beauty of the furniture thus creating a new perspective of appreciation. Meticulously handcrafted to reveal the old world artistry of its iner workers, the collection features a distressed solid walnut frame accented with nail heads and whip stitching complemented by rich burlap and antiqued cotton upholstery.

House of Blues, the brand’s first color collection, is comprised of various shades of indigo translated into many hues to provide the perfect accents for your home. Classic and timeless, indigo continues to be an inspirational color with its richness, versatility and elegance.

Big Style Small Spaces features Restoration Hardware’s classic collections with each piece containing the Restoration Hardware design aesthetic, quality and craftsmanship, only smaller in scale. No less stylish, these collections of furnishings are scaled down to work for the most intimate spaces.

And to help celebrate the new collection, more than 750 attendees joined notable guests such as Gary Friedman, Carlos Alberini, Tinsley Mortimer, British Singer Edei, Rebecca Minkoff, Jamie Drake, Margaret Russell, Michael Boodro, Newell Turner, Thom Filicia, Kipton Cronkite, Joseph Abboud, Ross Bleckner, Isabel Rattazzi, Stewart Shining, Glenda Bailey, Charlotte Moss, Mario Buatta and many others!