This week, I am in New York City for the New York International Gift Show. Every year, twice a year, designers from all over the country (and the world) travel to Manhattan to show off their newest wares—from lighting and tableware to bedding and furniture.

When I walked through on Sunday, I was expecting the mood to be different, given the dire economic situation all over the country.

With the exception of being less crowded than usual, things were upbeat and busy.

Retailers were shopping for their stores and magazine editors and design bloggers were talking shop left and right.

Even more reassuring was seeing two of my favorite designers, who, a few years ago, were just starting their small businesses and who are now wildly successful.

I saw Gina Wilcox of Eloquent Ink first. I wrote a story about her gorgeous ceramics two years ago, just a few months after she'd gotten things off the ground. I have not seen her since then, but when I found her booth this year, we both ran through the crowd to hug each other. I knew, by looking around at all the people clamoring for orders, that she'd hit the bigtime. She looked so happy and I loved seeing her, and her new designs. The styles below, from her new Orchid collection, were absolutely beautiful:

Later, I walked into Christopher Jagmin's booth, and he was clearly doing well, too. I was introduced to Christopher's designs several years ago while working on a magazine project with his brother , Greg Jagmin, and interior designer Anne Coyle. At that time, he had just prototyped his amazing number plates. Since then, I've seen them EVERYWHERE, in stores and in magazines, and I'm thrilled for him. Images of the number plates follow below, as well as new designs from his new Baha collection:

Christopher has also started a design blog with his brother, Greg. I logged on last night and hope you will too: http://jagmindesign.wordpress.com/

I'll be posting about more great design all week, but I thought this was the best way to start out—by giving a shout to two designers who've worked very hard to make it to the top—in a recession no less!