Centerpieces

Flower-free centerpieces showed more superhero images and served as holders for IML's devices.

Blush-colored anemone flowers added a soft, delicate contrast to the sharp edges of the geometric centerpieces.

Later in the evening, spotlights lit up to reveal burnt-out cars and trucks with plants spilling out of them.

At Stella McCartney's Resort 2013 presentation, a large cart overflowing with roses and peonies stood near the entrance to the venue. As guests left, they were given small bouquets or single stems as festive gifts.

For the City of Hope "Spirit of Life" gala in Los Angeles, Namevents turned a parking lot adjacent to Geffen Contemporary at MOCA into a dinner space meant to evoke a high-end nightclub. Guests sat in lounge areas with plush couches and blankets, and dinner was served on glass tables with programmable LED bases. On some tables, tall glass vases designed by Chris Matsumoto were filled with water and stones in colors that echoed the hues on the invitation.

For the dinner, held inside Streisand's home, the summery atmosphere featured neutral tones and fresh-picked centerpieces.

The Mint Agency used sand, shells, and bowls holding live fish as centerpieces at the September premiere dinner for Spring Breakers during the Toronto International Film Festival.

Lucite tables were filled with natural objects like sea shells.

Rebloom removed damaged or wilted flowers before delivering them to customers.

The second annual AT&T National in Washington in 2008 included the Chevron chalet, where a golf ball and a bit of grass decorated the bottom of a floral display.

In October the Field Museum's annual gala in Chicago had a diamond theme, complete with tiered crystalline centerpieces atop illuminated mirror boxes, surrounded by mini vases of blush cymbidium orchids.

At the American Ballet Theatre's fall gala in New York in October, organizers topped tables with glass bowls lit with single candles and draped with black star calla lilies.

At the Whitney Museum of American Art's fall gala in New York in October, event producer Van Wyck & Van Wyck grouped several small arrangements of pink flowers in clear glass vases instead of topping tables with one large floral centerpiece.

The Alfred Mann Foundation's annual fund-raising dinner in L.A. in October had a Chinese theme. Each table was topped with a centerpiece of white orchids and bamboo stems hung with miniature paper lanterns.

At the Hammer Museum's seventh annual "Gala in the Garden" in L.A. in October, table toppers included low rectangular vessels filled with black sand.

Rows of paper rectangles spelled out "in" words at the Boston Brigham Women's Hospital "In Party" fund-raiser in September. Upon closer inspection, the centerpieces listed facts about the programs the fund-raiser would benefit.

In October, the Harman Center for the Arts' annual gala in Washington had centerpieces made of twigs strewn with crystals, votive candles, and fake butterflies. Some square tables had cut-outs to accommodate towering 15-foot trees.

At the New York Public Library's annual Library Lions benefit in November, lamps, candles, and living plants served as tabletop decorations.

The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards in October got a bold look from a custom graphic pattern made of the names of previous award winners. The blue and white print was incorporated in several decor elements, including vases for the floral centerpieces.

The “Facing Center” iPad centerpieces from Keep Interacting allow organizers to incorporate photos and other information into an event’s table decor. Launched earlier this year, the iPads display a slideshow of photos, product images, sponsor information, or other content provided by the event’s host ahead of time. Then, at the event, the company provides a photographer to take photos that are instantly added to the display. Using the touch screens, guests can also share the images on social media, send them via email, and order printed copies to pick up from a kiosk on site.

At a 50th anniversary party for Dior Nails, 2013 BizBash Innovator Garin Baura created a performance-art-style centerpiece inspired by artist Holten Rower’s layered, colorful poured paintings: As various courses came out, staffers also served platters of brightly hued flowers which were scattered onto the all-white table. “People were taking flowers and throwing them around—it loosened things up and made the dinner experience more playful,” Baura said.

The 13th annual Friends of the High Line benefit, held at New York’s Pier 57 in May, centered on photographs of the High Line taken through the years. In lieu of the event’s usual foliage-heavy centerpieces, printed photographs were scattered atop raised Lucite platforms, which were eventually also used to hold the night's family-style dinner platters.

In Miami, the dinner tables at a Star Trek-theme vintner dinner—one of 17 celebrity chef-helmed events at private homes held as part of the 13th annual Naples Winter Wine Festival in January—offered centerpieces with iPads embedded on the sides that displayed the evening’s menu, updating as each course was served.

At the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum's Butterfly Ball in Chicago in May, the gala had a farm-like atmosphere. Tables were decked with miniature gardens potted with tomatoes, colorful peppers, asparagus, and kale; around the centerpieces, fairy lights in miniature Mason jars added to the elegant yard-party vibe.

At the 125th anniversary gala for the National Geographic Society in June, the “Land, Sea, and Sky” theme inspired an array of custom tables and toppers, including glacier ice sculptures. Select Lucite tables were not topped with any decorations, but instead held water and plant life, or natural objects like seashells.

Instead of centerpieces, David Stark Design created lazy Susans rimmed in white LED lights that made sharing the antipasto easier at New York’s Robin Hood Foundation benefit in May.

Fifteen fashion and interior designers each designed their own table at the Partnership With Children’s Gala in April. Interior design firm Paul and Martha L.L.C. created an attention-grabbing tabletop by using a $90,000 sculpture of pink roses as a centerpiece. Created by artist Will Ryman, the oversize flowers were made of materials including plaster, paint, and aluminum mesh.

The Starlight Children's Foundation hosted its Starlight Gala, sponsored by Toys "R" Us, at Toronto's Fairmont Royal York Hotel in April. The event’s circus-inspired ideas included dinner tables topped with miniature Ferris wheels that held cupcakes with colorful frosting.

Centerpieces were appropriately made of glowing, vintage photo slides at the Art Institute of Chicago’s Snap Gala in October, which benefitted the Photography Gala Fund.

Centerpieces at the Whitney Museum of American Art gala, held in October, encouraged playful interaction, featuring silver paint cans holding breadsticks and also Sharpie markers that guests could use to draw on the canvas tablecloths.

In March, guests at the California Science Center’s Discovery Ball dined under the wings of NASA’s retired Endeavour space shuttle. In keeping with the space exploration theme, illuminated tables were topped with celestial decor elements like mini solar systems in glass bowls.

Russell Simmons’s Art for Life benefit, held in the Hamptons in July, featured an idyllic theme—“Field of Dreams”—that came to life in the whimsical centerpieces. Floating kites suspended over each table and anchored to wheatgrass flats had colorful signs on their tails that held the names of artistic vocations such as “dancer” and “poet.”

Held in April, the Catalina Island Conservancy Ball’s campfire theme was reflected in the decor, which included centerpieces of illuminated apothecary jars filled with the makings of a classic campsite snack: s’mores.

For a holiday event for Herbalife, Sterling Engagements designed tabletop vignettes using metallic and glass objects in visually interesting and varied shapes.

At a screening of the James Brown biopic Get on Up in Washington in July, André Wells incorporated such objects as old-school-style microphones and records into floral centerpieces to channel the movie’s musical premise.

Floral and event design company Amaryllis hosted an industry New Year's Eve party in Washington where a golden bust surrounded by an orb was part of an effort to weave in some statement-making European flair.

For an event for Munchkin baby products in Los Angeles in November, Jeannie Savage of Details Details used toys on the tabletops to "evoke childhood memories," she said, for the bloggers, event planners, and influential mom guests in attendance.

At the Miami Heat Charitable Fund annual gala in January, A Joy Wallace Catering, Design & Special Events created a tropical-looking table with centerpieces comprising Mokara orchids, calla lilies, and roses with accents of blue thistle—all built around a 3-D acrylic cube that encased replicas of the three Miami Heat championship rings.

For the 2010 St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School's sports-theme benefit in Washington, held in the school's gymnasium, centerpieces were oversize versions of athletic objects by commercial sculptor A.J. Strasser.

The Bafta Los Angeles Tea Party, held on Golden Globes weekend in Los Angeles, used various decor pieces and objects to advance its British theme—including a Union Jack-splashed tea kettle holding white roses.

During Golden Globes weekend this year in Los Angeles, W hosted an event at A.O.C. in celebration of its picks for so-called "Hollywood It girls." Covered glass dishes on the tabletops provided feminine flair alongside pink blooms.

At the Lakewood Ranch Community Fund gala in Bradenton, Florida, in 2007, coffee beans filled cigar boxes on high-top tables to match the event's tropical theme and mood.

In what could be described as a meta interpretation of a traditional floral centerpiece, David Stark used twine to create flower-shaped centerpieces at the Museum of Arts and Design's Visionary Awards gala in New York in 2007.

At the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS' Dining by Design benefit in New York in 2012, David Stark's installation for Benjamin Moore used real books and hand-made pop-up books to highlight the concept behind the brand's slogan: “A whole new chapter in paint color technology is being written.”

In September, the renovated Riverside ballroom at Austin, Texas's Radisson Hotel & Suites Downtown opened with a food-centric event that saw produce contained in veggie cartons as decor.

Rock candy made for a more budget-friendly and unexpected—not to mention edible—centerpiece at Chicago's Children's Ball in 2008.