Last night marked the kickoff party for Made & State's Domestic: An American-Made Design Showcase, the most prominent showing within Design Week Portland for interior designers. Spread over a total of five rooms and one rooftop patio at The Janey apartments in the Pearl, the hook is that all of the decor products featured are American-made, and in many cases, local.

Essentially it's like touring a model home with deeper intentions, and there's no sales—not until Sunday's final-day pop-up shop anyway (a clothing-focused trunk show will also take place on Saturday). The apartments are studios and one-bedrooms, smaller than I expected, and an easily navigable while sippin' on a glass of wine. If you don't find ogling furniture, wall hangings, window treatments and coffee tables a good time, I don't want to know you it might not be worth the $15 ticket ($20 at the door), but if you are it's a rare opportunity to tap into the interior design culture—unless, I suppose, you hang out in circles where hiring a decorator is de rigueur. I'd heard of a few before going in—Fieldwork Designs, Beam and Anchor, but discovered a new favorite in JHL Design (co-designed by Domestic founder Jasmine Vaughan), which has now inspired me to get chain mail shower curtains. Yes. Think about it.

One complaint is that while the rooms are more natural without them, some kind of labeling system would be helpful. I had fun spotting the artists and designers I recognized, but there wasn't any way to decipher who made the awesome cork-textured chairs in the 2nd floor apartment's living room, for instance, and I think the ability to identify (with) domestic designers/manufacturers can only enhance the desire to work with them.

I snapped a few of my favorite tableaus; hop over to MOD to see them more, plus a bonus-round preview of some of the art and design pieces that will be on the block at tonight's Portland Design Auction.

I spy a painting by Wesley Younie.