| EVENT REPORT 04.01.09 2:42 PM |
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With Move to Architectural Digest Show, Diffa Raises Awareness and Foot Traffic (and Still Delivers Design Ideas)
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 | Michael Tavano's graffiti-inspired room for the New York Design Center
Photo: Emily Gilbert for BizBash |
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FROM NEW YORK
On Monday night, Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (Diffa) hosted its annual Dining by Design gala at Pier 94—the culmination of five days of events based around tables created by artists and interior, event, and fashion designers. This year, the organization was approached by Architectural Digest to be a part of its home design expo, affording showgoers a chance to also check out Diffa’s installations. "I think running concurrently with the Architectural Digest Home Design Show is an incredible experience in every way. People who are coming to the show are interested in design, but might not have known about us,” said Peggy Bellar, Diffa’s director of special events.
This time the number of tables dipped from 39 to 32, but pairing with Architectural Digest and lengthening the public viewing time to three days helped double foot traffic. “Certainly, this year is a tough year for everyone, and it is great to join forces and expand opportunities for exposure,” Bellar said. Diffa estimates the amount of money raised, however, dropped from $1.031 million to $750,000.
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Diffa Dining by Design, Diffa, Benjamin Moore, Stolichnaya Elit, New York Design Center, Architectural Digest, Rockwell Group, Kravet |
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| NEWS 09.17.08 11:50 AM |
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Emmy Parties and Suites: Who's Going Where
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 | The scene at HBO's 2007 Emmy party
Photo: Gabor Ekecs |
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A scant couple weeks after MTV's Video Music Awards brought a less-than-staggering number of big events into town, the 60th annual Emmy awards show will take to the Nokia Theatre on Sunday night with an anything-but-underwhelming slate of parties and suites on its heels.
On Saturday night, Entertainment Weekly's sixth-annual pre-awards bash, presented by Revlon, will take to the Beverly Hills Post Office. ID-PR is handling publicity.
Sunday night following the awards is when the crush of competing events takes over town. The Academy of Televsion Arts & Sciences' Governors Ball will be held in the Los Angeles Convention Center's West Hall with a "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend"-inspired look, produced by Sequoia Productions. Meanwhile, TV Guide’s sixth annual party will take over the Kress, with design by Event Eleven. And HBO's party will take over the Fountain Plaza at the Pacific Design Center with over-the-top design, as is typical, by Billy Butchkavitz.
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Emmys, Gift Suites, Going Green, TV Guide, People Magazine, ET, HBO, Architectural Digest, Entertainment Weekly, YouthAIDS, Environmental Media Association |
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| NEWS 09.16.08 8:00 AM |
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Emmy Event Design Preview: Governors Ball, ET, HBO, and More
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 | A preview of the centerpieces at the Governors Ball
Photo: BizBash |
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With so many competing Emmy-related events on the night of the show—and so many celebrity guests attending them—event producers tend to go downright decadent when it comes to design. Here, a sneak peek at the looks behind some of Emmy night’s biggest events, plus the show's glittering greenroom:
Dwight Jackson, co-chair of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Governors Ball committee, found his design inspiration for this year’s diamond anniversary ball in Marilyn Monroe’s performance of “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” in the classic film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Jackson turned to Sequoia Productions’ Cheryl Cecchetto to produce the event, which will feature diamond-shaped chandeliers hanging from the ceiling of the Los Angeles Convention Center’s West Hall, and Schiaparelli pink (the shade of Monroe’s dress in the musical number) tablecloths and roses on tabletops spread throughout the 147,500-square-foot space.
TV Guide’s sixth annual party will take over the Kress, where event designer and producer Tony Schubert will channel Japan in his creation of an outdoor Zen-like garden complete with koi ponds, bamboo walls, and oversized bonsai trees. Other Eastern-influenced decor elements include a red drawbridge guests will have to cross in order to enter the event, 20-foot-tall images of cherry blossom trees, and a centerpiece in a tented area made out of 1,000 origami cranes.
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Emmys, TV Guide, People Magazine, ET, HBO, Architectural Digest, Hearts on Fire, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |
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| THE WALKTHROUGH 05.08.08 3:02 PM |
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Oceanfront Del Mar Estate Opens for Events
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 | The estate has an oceanfront location.
Photo: Kevin Roche Photography |
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For intimate, opulent events, a private oceanfront estate in Del Mar called Grand Arches is now available for booking through Estate Weddings and Events. Paige Rense, editor in chief of Architectural Digest, built the luxe, 7,000-square-foot San Diego home 26 years ago. A family now owns the space, and its plush decor includes fireplaces from France’s Loire Valley along with artifacts from Europe and Asia.
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RELATED TOPICS
Architectural Digest |
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| Q & A 03.27.08 8:01 PM |
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Design Center Organizers Add Architectural Digest Partnership to Westweek Event Series
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 | Westweek's Genevieve Morrill and Whitney Sisler
Photo: Courtesy of the Pacific Design Center |
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Each year in early spring, thousands of design professionals flock to West Hollywood for Westweek, an internationally recognized trade show for the design industry. The Pacific Design Center plays host to this show, which kicked off Tuesday and officially concludes tonight, with some exhibits continuing through tomorrow and various others open to the public through May. In charge are PDC vice president Genevieve Morrill and director of marketing Whitney Sisler. This year marks Morrill’s ninth Westweek, and Sisler’s first.
How did this year's partnership with Architectural Digest come about, and what does it mean for Westweek?
Morrill: It’s our first time working with AD. Charles Cohen, the owner of the PDC, met with Paige Rense, editor in chief of AD, and they decided that it would be a very powerful strategic alliance. The program is the largest and strongest it’s ever been. One feature AD has brought is open auditions: It is the first time that we’ve had an opportunity to bring in new emerging designers who want to showcase their work to AD editors with the hopes of being published. It’s like American Idol for designers.
Sisler: There are some exhibits that have never been shown before—like the Harry Benson exhibit, his first large show in Los Angeles. He is the premier, iconic photographer in many ways but hasn’t really enjoyed the name acclaim in the past. And AD has brought the Oscar greenroom to the PDC and re-created it in its entirety. That’s something nobody gets to see [except] the celebrities, right before they hit the [Oscar stage].
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Pacific Design Center, Westweek, Architectural Digest, American Society of Interior Designers |
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| TOP 100 EVENTS 02.29.08 11:23 PM |
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Southern California's Top Art Events 2008
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 | The Hammer Museum's Gala in the Garden
Photo: Stefanie Keenan/PMC |
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1. Museum of Contemporary Art Gala
MOCA’s much-cooed-over galas are often works of art themselves. The October 2007 event honoring Takashi Murakami at the Geffen Contemporary included a performance by Kanye West and an appearance by honoree Marc Jacobs—along with a guest list full of art-, fashion-, and entertainment-world influencers. The exhibit went on to set opening-week attendance records.
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Southern California's Top 100 Events, Museum of Contemporary Art, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Orange County Museum of Art, Pacific Design Center, Architectural Digest, Art Museum Council of Lacma, San Diego Museum of Art, Festival of Arts, Venice Family Clinic |
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| NEWS 02.14.08 12:08 PM |
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Oscar Preview: Architectural Digest to Host Dorothy Draper-Inspired Greenroom
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 | AD's greenroom plans for the Oscars
Rendering: Courtesy of Architectural Digest/Dorothy Draper & Co. |
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With the strike officially over, the Oscars are officially on; let the endless parade of comforts for celebrities begin. To that end, Architectural Digest has chosen interior designer Carleton Varney, president of Dorothy Draper & Company, to create the Architectural Digest greenroom at the Academy Awards. It's the sixth consecutive year that the mag will produce the backstage lounge for Oscar presenters and honorees. Load-in commences on February 19 and continues through the rehearsals and awards telecast on February 24.
Varney’s design inspiration will come from the Dorothy Draper-designed Arrowhead Springs Resort—a property that movie stars and film-industry types roamed in the 1940s. Further inspiration comes from her sketches for the Beverly Hills Hotel. This year’s Architectural Digest greenroom will feature flat-panel LCD HDTVs from LG Electronics, New Zealand wool rugs from Nourison, and fabric and furnishings from Kravet, including sofas and slipper chairs upholstered in bright red and white satin.
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Architectural Digest, Oscars, Award Season, Dorothy Draper & Company, LG |
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| NEWS 09.17.07 12:11 PM |
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Emmy Greenroom Goes, Well, Green
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 | The English countryside-inspired Emmy greeenroom.
Photo: BizBash |
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Touches of green—of both the decorative and the eco-friendly varieties—dominated the backstage greenroom at last night's Primetime Emmy awards. Architectural Digest, which partnered with the award show for the sixth consecutive year, turned to designer Timothy Corrigan, who created the English countryside-inspired space using furniture, pillows, and drapery in shades of green. He incorporated environmentally sound elements like 100 percent organic carpeting and upholstery, reclaimed wood from a Huntington Beach football stadium for the room's wood-paneled walls (Corrigan’s team actually had to scrape bubble gum from the stadium planks to make the wood greenroom-ready), and what Corrigan calls the “ultimate green product”: antiques.
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Emmys, Architectural Digest, Going Green |
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