Top event, interior and fashion designers went wild in Hammerstein Ballroom when decorating the space for Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS' annual Dining by Design benefit. Each designer was allotted an 11-by-11 foot space—and, for most of them, cash and accessories for the table from a corporate backer—to create an eye-catching environment through tabletop design and surrounding decor. Minimalist met extravagant as the designers implemented their themes, and made sure to leave room for a container to chill champagne (Champagne Taittinger was an event sponsor, after all). The result was a room full of design inspirations for event planners.
One of the favorites was Preston Bailey's "Chateaux de Glace" for Taittinger. Bailey tented the table with soft, shimmering champagne-colored cloth and adorned it with small glass ornaments grouped together to suggest champagne bubbles. Paintings of champagne flutes and more glass bubbles decorated the inside of the tent. Bailey covered the table with oversized glass candelabras and a shiny champagne-colored cloth decorated with hundreds of glistening discs.
Vivre for Salviati's innovative display had a clear, industrial-looking table on top of a raw wood base and a glue installation by Eve Suter hanging from the ceiling. Clear cubes filled with colorful glass items served as chairs. To add some dramatic color to the table, Urban Flora drilled holes into the Lucite tabletop, then stuck individual flowers through them, with stems resting in a colored glass holders on the table's bottom tier.
Other designers veered away from traditional tables and chairs. Furniture retailer West Elm opted for small square cubes paired with quilted pillows to serve as single-seat tables. The tables had circles cut out of them for easy access to the champagne bottles chilling inside. (The only drawback: guests had to chow down on Creative Edge's seared breast of Magret duck entree from the floor.) David Rockwell opted for benches—covered in Astroturf creating the feeling of sitting on a mini golf course—to accompany his long retro-style booth.
One extremely popular theme was the use of patterned plates. Two of the many examples: Dransfield and Ross's table used ornately detailed paisley and feather print plates, and Michael Tavano's table had round black-and-white ones with female faces printed on them.
Event sponsor Elle Decor opted for a tropical-themed area, and the magazine's editor in chief Margaret Russell decorated it with vibrant floral-print plates stacked on wicker hot plates and napkins tied with leis.
A silent auction followed dinner, and a group of benefit-goers joined the dinner crowd for the Bubble Blast after-party.
—Jill Musguire
Photos by Stillman Jefferson Thomas Digital Photography
See more photos from this event...
Read about last year's event...
