Top 5 Must-Experience Events at Modernism Week in Palm Springs

Modernism Week, the annual 10-day design extravaganza in Palm Springs, offers a dizzying array of events, lectures, films, shopping experiences and architectural tours. Here’s a guide to some of this year’s top desert design experiences:

1. Home Tour

The first-ever Modernism Week official showcase house is organized by designer Christopher Kennedy at his own Palm Springs compound. Explore the indoor/outdoor, John Caranci-designed home that features furniture and accessories from Celerie Kemble, Trina Turk, Lori Dennis, Patrick Dragonette, Thomas Lavin and many others.

Saturday Feb 15, 9 am-3 pm; tickets here. 

2. Pool Side Party

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Catch a peek inside the private residence of Stephen Collins, the former Bravo TV co-host of Property Envy, and the current host of Man About Modernism, a new web series that will debut on Modernism Week’s YouTube channel in February. Englishman Collins will take guests though a tour of his home, which he recently redesigned and decorated with a lifetime’s collection of objects found all over the world.

Sunday Feb 19, 4-6 pm: tickets here. 

3. Film Premiere

Hugh Kaptur, the “starchitect” of this year’s Modernism Week and one of the youngest mid-century architects known, will be honored throughout the festival for his contributions to desert design. The premiere of the documentary Quiet Elegance: The Architecture of Hugh M. Kaptur tracks the designer’s projects in the area, which span more than half a century.

Monday Feb 17, 3-4:30 pm; tickets here.

4. Show & Sale

More than 80 national and international dealers will participate in this year’s 14th annual Palm Springs Modernism Show & Sale. Highlighting the best of 20th-century furniture and art, the show will include Reform Gallery, Off the Wall, Route 66 West and Z Modern.

At the Palm Springs Convention Center, Feb 14-17; tickets here.

5. Trina Turk Lecture and Reception

Modernism Week gets a stylish endnote with Trina Turk. The fashion designer will speak about how the elegant lifestyle of Walter and Leonore Annenberg and design of Sunnylands has informed her own aesthetic. Following the lecture, a limited number of tickets are available to attend a cocktail reception at Sunnylands Center & Gardens, the retreat designed by L.A.-based architect Frederick Fisher.

Sunday, Feb 23, 3:30-6:30 pm; tickets here.