On September 9 & 10, with partner Design is Kinky and the help of presenting sponsor Diesel, twelve of the world’s leading creative minds came, saw, and conquered the Lincoln Center stage. Thehappycorp is proud to say that we’ve wrapped up the last stop in Semi-Permanent’s 2005 global tour, closing things out with a resounding bang. (Our ears are still ringing!)

The highly anticipated Semi-Permanent05 New York conference was a blowout debut and a non-stop weekend, with two full days of presentations, three nights of celebratory parties, and over 1200 people in attendance each conference day. This inaugural New York conference marked the continuing growth and worldwide success of the Semi-Permanent program, and our speakers represented an extraordinary level of diversity and expertise in the design industry. Conference production boldly leapt forward, bringing students, professionals, and aspiring individuals to New York’s finest performing arts venue, Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall.

True to our goal of a global conference, we hosted attendees from all over the map. From the Burton design team in Vermont to the T-Mobile design division in Croatia, from film and furniture makers in Germany to graphic designers hailing from London, Paris, Milan, Rio de Janeiro, and Johannesburg, Semi-Permanent NYC became its own melting pot of creative ideas, backgrounds, and nationalities. With the overwhelming amount of enthusiastic feedback and positive press we've received, we're excited to keep the spirit of inspiration alive by creating an even bigger and better event for 2006.

Photographs by Emilie Baltz unless otherwise credited.

Three leaders share the stage:  Doug Jaeger and Matt Spangler of thehappycorp global with Andrew Johnstone of Design is Kinky. (photo by Emily Alissa Welsch)

Semi-Permanent05 NYC Producer Ben Nabors of thehappycorp global pauses for the camera. (photo by Scott Thrift)

Gearing up for the conference, we celebrated the opening of Paul Pope’s solo exhibition at the Diesel Denim Gallery. (photo by Spanglervision)

Media Temple, Semi-Permanent's hosting sponsor, gathered speakers and friends together at Indochine on Thursday evening to kick off the weekend's events. Shown here, writer Eva Wisten interviews The Orphanage. (photo by Jenny Ebert)

Conference attendees joined us at HOME for the opening night party, sponsored by The Royal Magazine, Vapors, and BPM Magazine. (photo by Jenny Ebert)

An exciting turnout: the size and diversity of our audience proved Semi-Permanent to be as successful in New York as it is abroad.

Day 1 was off to a great start as The Orphanage’s Dav Rauch and Scott Stewart took to the stage. (photo by Emily Alissa Welsch)

Amit Pitaru and James Paterson of Insertsilence

Charlie White, photographer, discusses the character Joshua.

The young skinnyCorp trio modeled the winning SP05 designs from their Threadless t-shirt contest .

Paul Pope, comic book artist and graphic novelist, discusses early comic book inspiration.

Peter Sluszka reviews some of his recent stop-motion animation work with the audience.

Karmaloop.com hosted lunches for the Semi-Permanent speakers both conference days. (photo by Emily Alissa Welsch)

During breaks, the Semi-Permanent crowd filled the promenade as they browsed the store and checked out exhibits from DNA 11 and Aswoon. (photo by Emily Alissa Welsch)

Aswoon created a beautiful furniture lounge on display in the Promenade. Attendees were encouraged to relax during conference breaks. (photo by Emily Alissa Welsch)

The Semi-Permanent store featured items from KidRobot, Turntable Lab, Zakka Corp., Threadless, Design is Kinky, and Dooker.com, along with books from past Semi-Permanent conferences in London and Sydney. (photo by Andrew Johnstone)

Whether seen, tossed, or worn as a mask, thehappycorp’s special edition frisbee was a hit. Every attendee at SP05 received one in their gift bags.

DNA 11 shared their philosophy of “From life comes art,” as their colorful DNA portraits drew in curious conference-goers.

Friday night, VIP ticket holders sipped and socialized at the cocktail party sponsored by Beautiful/Decay Magazine and the Art Directors Club. (photos by Emily Alissa Welsch)

The VIP Cocktail Party. (photo by Howard Lipan)

Cecilia Dean and Greg Foley of Visionaire kicked off Day 2.

Chuck Anderson discussed his business approach as a successful young graphic designer.

Elizabeth Diller, of Diller Scofidio + Renfro

Mateus de Paula Santos of Lobo strikes a pose on stage.

Fafi tells us how best to graffiti without being arrested: do it in broad daylight; they will assume you have permission.

Joshua Davis closed the program with a burst of creative energy.

Speakers, staff, sponsors, and attendees converged at Drive In Studios for a closing night party hosted by VICE Magazine and 2K Sports. (photo by Leo Zacharias)

Farewell, SP05-ers. See you at Semi-Permanent06 New York! (photo by Emily Alissa Welsch)