| EVENT REPORT 02.11.08 5:03 PM |
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| Asian Flavors |
| Fanciful lanterns, vases, Buddha sculptures, and bamboo dotted this year's flower-filled Orchid Dinner benefit for the New York Botanical Garden. |
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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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PHOTO GALLERY |
 | Lanterns appeared frequently, including the orchid and calla lily-filled iron piece from Kevin Hart Design.
Photo: Gustavo Campos for BizBash |
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 | Cooper, Robertson & Weatherly Interiors used an oversize Chinese lantern as a large-scale flower container.
Photo: Gustavo Campos for BizBash |
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 | Architect and designer Campion Platt's all-orange setting included Buddha statues as well as paper lanterns, fans, chopsticks, and a mirrored dining surface.
Photo: BizBash |
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 | Barclay Butera followed the Asian trend and created a dramatic statement with an enormous Chinese vase filled with red and orange orchids.
Photo: Gustavo Campos for BizBash |
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 | Towering stalks of bamboo dominated the Bernhard Blythe table for Baccarat, which included a nestled crystal Buddha statue.
Photo: BizBash |
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 | Interlocking patterns popped up in a few places, including the chair covers at the Michael Berman for Kravet table.
Photo: Gustavo Campos for BizBash |
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 | Sherrill Canet's setting played up interlocking designs with lattice-patterned linens.
Photo: Gustavo Campos for BizBash |
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 | A huge lantern filled with orchids served as the centerpiece at the Sherrill Canet table.
Photo: Gustavo Campos for BizBash |
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 | For the Safavieh setting, Thom Felicia weighed down napkins with horse-head statuettes instead of rings.
Photo: Gustavo Campos for BizBash |
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 | Michael McKinnon added feather trim on napkin rings (and also atop the backs of chairs).
Photo: Gustavo Campos for BizBash |
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Far Eastern looks showed up in Campion Platt’s table filled with Chinese lanterns, folding fans, chopsticks, and Buddha statuettes. Barclay Butera chose to show off an enormous blue-and-white Chinese vase (packed with an abundant spray of orchids, of course). At the Baccarat table, a solemn crystal Buddha graced the centerpiece, which consisted of a towering display of green bamboo.
Of the many interesting tables, we noticed a number of other strong visual elements, including lanterns (some done in a Chinese fashion, as with the centerpiece at the Cooper, Robertson & Weatherly Interiors setting, others simply as elegant structures to mix with orchids). Many colors and species of the flower appeared not only among Asian-influenced settings but also set amid fabrics and accessories with interlocking patterns (elegantly done at Philip Gorrivan’s table for Highland Court, where table and chairs featured golden linear designs on white fabric, and also appearing in Campion Platt’s napkin rings of repeating silver rectangles).
Other trends in effect for the dinner were various interpretations based upon light fixtures, with Jamie Drake’s novel use of compact fluorescent lightbulbs as vessels for orchids (an explosion of flowers emerged from the bulbs set within a mossy base) and Stephen Miller Siegel Architects’ floor-lamp-as-centerpiece with a shade covered with blossoms.
Behind the scenes, the Garden's Jennifer Rominiecki, vice president for individual giving and special events, oversaw the benefit, and Carolyn Englefield, Veranda magazine's editor at large, served as decorations chair. The magazine cosponsored the dinner (replacing now-folded House & Garden), as did Tiffany & Company and the Bank of New York Mellon. Dan Dahl, formerly of Gotham Gardens and now part of the newly formed firm Bowman Dahl, once again served as design coordinator.
While the fund-raiser aids the Garden's orchid collections and research efforts (it raised more than $630,000), it also serves as a kickoff of sorts for the upcoming Orchid Show, which comes to the Bronx organization's Enid A. Haupt Conservatory and its library's Orchid Rotunda on February 23.
We have more ideas and photos from the Orchid Dinner here.
—Lisa Cericola & Mark Mavrigian
RELATED TOPICS
New York Botanical Garden, Tiffany & Company, Veranda, Bank of New York Mellon, Baccarat, Kravet, Safavieh
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