The 2008 International Art and Design Fair got underway at the Park Avenue Armory with a gala preview on Thursday night, and hundreds of enthusiasts and collectors showed up at for an advanced look at this year's selections. The Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture celebrated the fair (and the school's continued involvement with the 108-year-old event) by hosting "Design Design," a post-preview dinner for 125 just three blocks south at 583 Park Avenue.
Honoring the design school and the work on display at the fair was a hefty order to fill when conceiving the evening's decor, so designer DeJuan Stroud turned to BGC's fair exhibition, "Knoll: Furnishing Textiles in the Clothing Context." Designed by Proenza Schouler, the display showcases the various designers making use of Knoll textiles and even incorporates them into a wall installation.
Overseen by the center and Kara Minogue & Company, designer DeJuan Stroud—with help from center trustee Charlotte Moss—draped the dining room in fabrics sourced from Knoll, including tapestries that hung from the room’s three walls like modern coats of arms. The place settings contained fabrics of different textures—on the tablecloths, runners, napkin rings, and programs.
Tickets to the dinner (costing as much as $25,000 for a table) bought a meal culminating in a seasonable main course of maple-braised short ribs and benefited the BGC Scholarship Fund. Although the dinner only lasted one night, the exhibition that inspired it remains on display through October 8.
