Station Ideas

Santa Monica-based venture capital firm Upfront Ventures hosted its annual Upfront Summit tech conference earlier this month in Los Angeles. Meant in part to underscore the power of the local tech community and the importance of the firm’s location and proximity to the creative and entertainment realms, the event had a distinctly Los Angeles feel. As part of that approach, the lunch included a farmer’s market-style experience, with food trucks, picnic tables, and drinks served on a rustic cart.

At Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS' Dining by Design event in Chicago last year, Steelcase by Nelson set up a playful installation that encouraged guests to take home bags of fresh produce in a farmer’s market-like color-blocked display.

At a 40th birthday party, the JDK Group strung doughnuts as decor above the serving table.

An Illinois bar mitzvah on March 12 had a Candy Land theme. Designer Event Chicago planned the event, as well as the design and concept for a sweets table—actually part of an entire sweets room—over which colorful candies dangled from multicolored ribbons of varying lengths. HMR Designs handled decor.

The Boston Children's Museum’s 2013 gala included a rather meta dessert table: The entire display took the form of a giant cake, decorated with paper flowers, and set with desserts such as cake pops, mini whoopie pies, mini Twinkies, and chocolate-dipped strawberries.

At Be Inspired's "Tassels & Tastemakers" event, flowers from the Hidden Garden decorated a lounge and hanging dessert display designed by A Good Affair.

Vines trailed from the hanging display, and sprays of vibrant florals on the hanging shelves complemented the colors of detailed one-bite desserts from Beverly's Bakery.

An area called the Corrugated Room had a graffiti painting from Chicago artist Hebru Brantley. Arms extending from the wall held round chrome platters filled with salads of cumin and carrots, Mediterranean farro, black beans and avocado, and kale and Brussels sprouts. Guests ate the salads from pie tins, which were stacked nearby.

Servers wearing rubber gloves and navy-blue factory uniforms served butternut squash soup and chili from trash cans. The serving vessels were tin mugs.

At a panini station, attendants used irons and an ironing board to toast ham-and-cheese and tomato-and-cheese sandwiches.

Near the entrance, onion rings and French fries hung in colanders attached to chain-link fences. Guests used hanging tongs to transfer the fried snacks into paper cones.