The final chapters of SOFA Fair New York

SOFA New York 2011 was the 14th edition of the Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair, held at the Park Avenue Armory at 67th Street in Manhattan. SOFA New York ran as a smaller companion to the larger SOFA Chicago fair, from 1998 to 2012, and averaged around 40 dealers presenting three-dimensional work that crossed the boundaries of fine art, decorative art, and design, spanning media like glass, ceramics, jewelry, and design furniture. The fair kicked off with an Opening Night Preview honoring longtime collector and patron Judy Cornfeld, who had assembled a notable collection of ceramics, glass, and jewelry over more than 40 years and was a longtime supporter of MAD. This turned out to be one of the final chapters for SOFA New York — the fair returned for one more edition in April 2012 before folding, as founder Mark Lyman later explained that rising rent made the economics of the New York show unworkable, forcing him to "pull the plug" on it while its larger sibling, SOFA Chicago, continued for another decade. Notably, 2011 was also a landmark year for SOFA's sister events; SOFA Chicago celebrated a strong 18th edition that November — together marking 2011 as something of a high-water mark before the SOFA franchise began contracting.