When former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and your company share the same office address, it’s a safe bet that the building will resemble something of a fortress. Nevertheless, some 200 loyal IDNY members and guests braved midtown crowds and tight security to hear about the work of a National Design Award winner and a French–born, Brooklyn–based furniture designer at Herman Miller’s NYC headquarters.

Headliner Laurene Boym (at center), Co–Founder of Boym Partners and recipient of the 2009 National Design Award, poses with Sakura Moriya (left) of Uhuru Design and friend following her IDNY presentation. Boym spoke in great detail about the time, experimentation and handcrafted styling involved in perfecting the series “Timeless Objects” and later raffled off a set of Babel Blocks, a collection of five wooden painted figurines reflecting “New York’s religious and cultural diversity.”

Speaker Francois Chambard of UM Project joins the crowd after his presentation to answer questions about his work. Chambard gave away two of UM’s City Pendant lights.

David Wetzel of UM Project and BOA, Founder and Head Designer at Object Interiors, chat over an Abita Beer. Studios UM Project and Object Interiors are staple constituents of Brooklyn’s young and flourishing design community.

Co–Founder and CEO of Designer Pages, Jacob Slevin (center), poses with his brother, Maury Slevin, and friend, Patricia Brizzio, architect at SOM.

Zachary Feltoon, Founder of design studio David Zachary and former IDNY speaker, gabs with Michala Monroe of M | Monroe Design. The two were seen canoodling later at the Night Hotel where Designer Pages hosted the event after party.

Jean Wang, Senior Designer at Calvin Klein Home, and Michelle Licardo, Designer at Calvin Klein, smile for the camera after the design talks. Both were guests of Francois Chambard, who has begun developing a series of tabletop objects for the brand’s Home Artisan Collection.

FIT student James DeSantis and Michaela Hogarty, secretary of FIT’s Interior Design Club, join a growing number of New York City design students attending IDNY meetups to network with design professionals.

Emerging artist and designer Amelia Arsenic of Destroyx.com, a blog–based website dedicated to the latest trends in style, design, fashion, art and “anything aesthetic”.

Lara Hannigan and Gillian Bell, Herman Miller’s dynamic duo and IDNY event liaisons.

Rebecca Lewis of Designer Pages, Marc Kusher of Architizer, Kristina Rinaldi of Rinaldi Interior Design, Ghislaine Vinas, designer and writer for Interior Design Magazine, and Patricia Brizzio, architect at SOM.

More IDNY pics on flickr