Bailey House Uses Paper Doors to Drive Home Shelter Theme at Annual Auction

Nearly 1,000 attendees gathered for AIDS nonprofit Bailey House's annual auction and party February 22 at the 69th Regiment Armory. Geoff Howell once again designed the event, this time doing a variation on last year's balloon-and-paper idea. Instead of soaring skyscrapers, the event designer created a giant chandelier of paper doors with hanging keys to coincide with this year's shelter theme and what Howell described as "having your own door with a lock on it makes all the difference in the world."

Throughout the evening, guests bid on 325 auction items, including Robert Mapplethorpe's "Rowboat" print and a four-night stay in Paris with exclusive tickets to Jean Paul Gautier's couture show in July. The event raised more than $500,000.