Pattern & Palette: Blogfest 2012 Kickoff: 8 Rooms We Love From Pink Eggshell's Top 20 Black Designers

Photo: Pattern & Palette

The design masses have descended upon New York City for the second annual BlogFest 2012! And while the 3-day conference doesn't officially kick off until this afternoon, we got a jump on the festivities at a cocktail party hosted by design maven and muse behind Pink Eggshell blog, Kimberly Ward.

Ward unveiled her 2012 list of top African-American designers at Jay-Z's newly renovated 40/40 club last night -- a drool-worthy design experience in itself -- following up on what is said to be the first list of its kind, which she rolled out just ahead of the blog conference last year.

This year's honorees include newbies like Anishka Clark, whose work was featured in the January/February 2011 issue of Rue magazine; Michel Boyd, personal fave, Real Housewife of Atlanta cohort, and recent nominee for Southeastern Designer of the Year; and Lisa Turner who fought it out on season one of Bravo TV's "Top Design." (What ever happened to that show?)

In an effort to keep the design adrenaline flowing, we flipped through portfolios of all 20 honorees and pulled these stunning vignettes for your viewing pleasure. Check out Pink Eggshell's full list, here, and stay tuned for more dispatches from BlogFest 2012!

Darryl Carter