| 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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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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RELATED TOPICS
Diffa Dining by Design, Diffa, Benjamin Moore, Stolichnaya Elit, New York Design Center, Architectural Digest, Rockwell Group, Kravet |
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| THE SCOUT 04.02.08 4:20 PM |
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Diffa's Place Settings That Popped
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 | Kravet Inc. used Lucite-topped books as place settings.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash |
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Books, picnic baskets, film reels, logs, and fabric encased in plexiglass were among the unusual props and decorative devices that topped tables at Diffa's Dining by Design event at Skylight. Here's a look at some of the most striking settings.
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Diffa, Diffa Dining by Design, Allsteel, Apherea, Fashion Institute of Technology, HOK, Kravet, The New York Times |
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| EVENT REPORT 04.02.08 3:44 PM |
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Diffa Showcases Big Tabletop Designs in Smaller Venue
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 | David Stark's dining environment for Benjamin Moore was made mostly out of paint swatches and paper.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash |
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This year, Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS’s annual Dining by Design fund-raiser moved from its most recent home at the Waterfront to the downtown venue Skylight. The new location had a strong impact on the experience of walking through the showcase, which recruits a slate of designers and sponsors to build imaginative dining environments.
Compared with the Waterfront, with its exposed brick and steel beams (and the benefit's previous homes at the Hammerstein Ballroom and Roseland) Skylight's big white box provided a brighter, less distracting background for the designers' intensely layered creations. And the new site's smaller size necessitated a tighter collection of tables (cut down from more than 50 to 39) that made for a more focused—and more easily navigable—forum for locating trends and gathering ideas.
“It’s always a challenge to find a venue here, and for us, [Skylight is] a very user-friendly venue, with two load-in points—plus it’s a blank canvas for us; it’s a gallery,” said Diffa’s special events manager, Steven Williams. “It’s a little more exclusive because it’s smaller, and we have more sponsors this year.”
So, speaking of trends and ideas, how did the designers fill the new location?
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Diffa, Diffa Dining by Design, Architectural Digest, Benjamin Moore, Beringer, Domino Magazine, Gourmet magazine, Hewlett-Packard, Kravet, Nautica, New York Design Center, The New York Times, Skidmore Owings and Merrill, Stolichnaya Elit, Vivienne Tam |
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| EVENT REPORT 02.11.08 5:03 PM |
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Asian Elements Dominate Orchid Dinner
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 | Cooper, Robertson & Weatherly Interiors' table
Photo: Gustavo Campos for BizBash |
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At Thursday's Orchid Dinner, the flower-filled fund-raiser the New York Botanical Garden hosts every year at the Rainbow Room, designers drew upon an old standby look, incorporating Asian elements into a large number of the 35 featured tables—with numerous decorative nods to China, perhaps playing up Chinese New Year, which began the day of the benefit.
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New York Botanical Garden, Tiffany & Company, Veranda, Bank of New York Mellon, Baccarat, Kravet, Safavieh |
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